Week 6 Essay

This week I read the stories from Indian Fairy Tales, and it was amazing! I really enjoyed how much more flexible this week was in reference to the readings, and being able to read a grouping of different stories really helped to grab and focus my attention. There were a lot of great stories to choose from, so it was definitely a difficult decision to pick which story to write about. 

There were so many stories that I loved during this weeks readings. I felt as though the morals of the stories where very applicable to real life. Like the story The Talkative Tortoise was a hilarious way of somewhat combining two stories, or imbedding a story within another.  The original story is Aesop fable called “The Tortoise and the Ducks.” Basically there is a tortoise that cannot stop talking and these two ducks want to show the tortoise their home. They decide that the tortoise will hold onto a stick with his mouth while the ducks hold it on either end and fly. Unfortunately the tortoise is unable to hold his tongue for long, opening his mouth to sleep, and thus falling to his death down below.

In The Talkative Tortoise there is a king that will not stop talking, not even to let another person get a word in edgewise. The king’s advisor wants to teach him a lesson about the dangers of talking too much and luckily for him that tortoise suddenly falls to its death in the middle of the king’s courtyard. The king then realizes that it was the fact the tortoise could not hold his tongue that caused him to die, thus the king became a man of little words. It is kind of a great way to teach one to be a better listener and to speak less.

How the Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner was definitely my favorite story though. Stories about kindness are ones that always grab my attention because I feel as though humanity has lost its good. This story is definitely a perfect way of teaching one about the value of showing kindness toward others.

Talkative Tortoise falling (Source)