Extra Reading Extra Credit Week 14

Big surprise that I wanted to read more Jataka stories! I love the Jataka stories. They are still my favorite out of all the stories I have read in this class.

Forest Fire Story

The Forest Fire

I love this story because I drew the moral of the story to be that if you are strong and confident in what you do and believe in yourself, you can do almost anything. The little bird was born weaker than his brothers and sisters in the nest. So one day when the big forest fire came, he was left in the nest because he was unable to fly away. Instead of being scared, he just faced the fire and told it that it had no business here. The fire then turned away and the little bird was safe and lived happily ever after.

The Noble Horse

I liked this story because I think it teaches an important messaged about perseverance and also mercy. The horse sacrificed himself for the good of the kingdom even though he knew it would result in his ultimate death. That was inspiring to me. Also, when he is dying he tells the king that they should not kill all of the enemy but instead show mercy and allow them to return home promising that they will never return again.

The Noble Horse
Source: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000000078449;view=2up;seq=152

Ted Videos - Style, Story Lab

Videos

The power of creative constraint:

I liked this video because I had never thought about constraints as being something positive before. This took something that I used to view as being very negative and put a positive spin on it. Constraints can actually be so beneficial because they force us to expand our knowledge and think of alternative solutions to an issue. If we never faced constraints that we were forced to find ways to overcome, we would never have come up with a lot of our more beneficial ideas that we have today.

What makes a hero:

I liked this video because this is a topic that I have visited in the past. I think it is a very interesting concept that I am always amazed goes so unnoticed. I think that it is interesting because it tells us a lot about human beings. It tells us that we like this cycle that is being told in these stories regardless of who the main character is. We enjoy this plot so much that we can watch it over and over again without getting tired of it. It also says a lot about how creative writers are. The fact that they can take these very similar storylines but somehow keep us on the edge of our seats the whole time proves that they were creative enough with their input to the story that it almost tricked us into believing that we had never heard this story before.

Examples of modern day fictional heroes
Source: Video

The pleasure of poetic pattern:

I liked this video a lot because it started with a physiological reference that really drew me into what it was discussing. It talked about how we are innately intrigued by patterns because we are made up of patterns and reputations. Our heart beat and our breath has pattern. We also see repetition in everything we do from letters in the words we use to the words that we use in our language! So cool to draw from anatomical knowledge and relate it to writing somehow.

Week 14 Reading Notes - Part B Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales.

The Patient Buffalo

I really liked this story because it presented a new moral that I hadn't seen in the other stories. There once was a buffalo and he is standing peacefully in the shade and day after day a monkey comes and  tries to provoke him. It seems like nothing ever works to get a rise out of the buffalo. The monkey tries day in and day out and the buffalo ignores him and remains calm. One day a fairy comes to tell the buffalo about how strong he is and if he wanted to he could teach the monkey a lesson. The buffalo instead replies that why should he? The monkey is weaker than he is and does not have much brains so it wouldn't be fair. I think this tells a very important message about how just because we can do something doesn't mean that we should do something.

Story

The buffalo and the monkey
Source: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales.

Week 14 Reading Notes - Part A Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales.

The Monkey Bridge

 I really liked this story. In this story there is a large group of monkeys who are all living very happily by a large mango tree. This mango tree supplies enough fruit to feed all the monkeys. The king is sure to warn everyone that they shouldn't let any of the fruit fall into the river because if they do, the men down stream will find it and search for the tree that it came from. They do a great job of keeping the fruit out of the river for a long time. Until one day, one gets away from them unnoticed and then men downstream find it. They go searching for the tree and they find it. They decide they should kill all the monkeys so that they can have all the fruit and the tree to themselves. The monkeys are trapped at the top of the tree because if they come down they will die. The king monkey uses himself as a bridge to help the other monkeys escape and they are all safe. The man king sees this and is so amazed by the monkey kings good deed that he decides not to harm any of those monkeys.

Story

Monkeys in the Mango Tree
Source: Inayat. Twenty Jataka Tales.

Week 13 - Story, the Turtle and the Two Geese

One day long ago there was a little turtle. He wasn't even alive for very long when he became anxious to leave the nest. He was always a very curious little turtle. His exploring led him to another nest, this nest was quite different from his nest however. This nest had a lot of long feathers in it and it made a lot more noise than his did. As he ventured in further he discovered that there were two little beaks bobbing up and down in the nest.

"Well hi there!" he said to his newly discovered friends. He was instantly met with two big smiles of two baby geese not much bigger than he was.

The two geese and the curious turtle grew up together and made the fondest memories. One day, the turtle overheard other people around the pond talking about a much bigger pond that was miles away. It had better weather, less dangerous predators, and more berries and grass to munch on. The turtle was instantly very curious and intrigued by this. He went to his geese friends immediately and told them all about it. They were quite hesitant at first but they had also heard a lot of good things about this place. The turtle finally convinced them and they got ready to set out the next day. However, when the turtle went to climb up on one of the geese backs, he realized that he didn't fit like he used to.

"Oh no! How am I going to go with you guys now?" The turtle sadly asked.

"Wait right there!" One of the geese said.

The geese quickly returned with a very strong stick and explained that the turtle need only hold onto the stick the whole way and they would carry him. The turtle thought this was a great idea and grabbed on.

When they were not far into their journey, a group of children down below started to jeer at the turtle. They said turtles shouldn't be in the sky, they should only be on the ground.

This made the turtle feel said inside but he was smart and knew not to open his mouth. Instead, he let the children jeer at him and continued on his journey.

After another days journey they made it to the beautiful new pond and they lived happily ever after.

Story
Jataka Tales
by  Ellen C. Babbitt

Reading notes - Part B Jakata

The Quarrel of the Quails 

This is another Jakata story with animal characters and a moral. In this story, there is a group of quails. The hunter has learned that if he makes the sound of their leader, they will all gather together and it will be easy to catch them. He continues to do this until the quail leader realizes what is happening. He tells the quails, next time the net is thrown over them, work together to fly to the nearest thorn bush and leave the net there and escape. This works for a while. Until one day, the quails get in a fight and stop working together. When they stop working together they stop communicating and the plan doesn't work anymore. Then they are sold by the man.

Story

Reading Notes Part A - Jataka

As soon as I saw free reading the first thing I wanted to jump to was more of Babbitt's Jakata stories. I think that these have continued to be my favorite stories because they have a lot of animal characters and always have a fun moral attached to the ending. 

The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking

This story is about a turtle who once had two friends that were wild geese. One day the geese were telling the turtle about their beautiful home that was quite a ways away. They told the turtle that they could take him to it if he wanted to come with them. The geese said that he could come with them but only if he keeps his mouth shut the entire way. The geese gave him a stick to hold on to and told him that it is very important for him to not say anything the whole trip. Then some kids from down below tease him for looking ridiculous and he responds back to them. When he responds, he opens his mouth and drops down to the ground below because he wasn't holding onto the stick anymore.