Week 6 Reading Diary A: Indian Fairy Tales

Indian Fairy Tales

Last semester I wrote a storytelling (Madhavi's Memoir) on The Magic Fiddle. It was a story I very much enjoyed because it is a story of a woman who is turned into a Bonga girl because her sisters-in-law were all jealous of her and plotted against her. The woman then reappears as bamboo where she was then cut down by a Yogi and turned into a fiddle. The village chief then took the fiddle from the Yogi for his son. Everyday the Bonga girl would emerge from the fiddle until the chief caught her. He realized she was both woman and Bonga. Shortly after her brothers all visited and did not recognize her, so she told them about what their wives had done to her saying that her brothers must have known all along, which was all the revenge she took.

I loved the stories so much from the Indian Fairy Tales unit that I was so incredibly excited that I would be able to read it again!

The Lion and the Crane is a great story. The lion needs help but the crane does not want to help him because he knows if he does then he will be eaten. The lion promises not to eat and so the crane helps, thinking that now the lion will owe him a favor. When the crane comes to collect on this the lion tells the crane that the crane should just feel lucky to even be alive. The crane, angered by this, the crane told the lion that he (the lion) was ungrateful, has no gratitude, to serve him as king is useless, and that they are not friends.  It really teaches one to be kind and courteous to others.

Harisarman was a great story! It is a story about lying and deception. Basically the Harisarman stole things from Sthuladatta when no one was around. Harisarman then had his wife tell Sthuladatta that Harisarman had magical powers. Harisarman then pretended to use magical powers to bring back the items that he himself had stolen and hid in the first place, but he blamed it on thieves and such. Harisarman continues to have good luck and fake his magical abilities, and is able to prosper in the world due to sheer luck.

Harisarman (Source)