Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part B

THE TWO PIGS
two little pigs see woman
woman takes pigs oh no
says shell be their mother, is she going to eat them?
she was nice to them
men ask for pigs she says no
omg she’s going to let them take one
pig spoke and everyone listened, no longer drunk
king takes pigs and bathes them in water ?
some powerful pigs
taught the whole land the lesson of love

THE PATIENT BUFFALO
monkey keeps trying to make buffalo mad, but buffalo doesn’t budge
fairy tells buffalo of his strength and power asks why he doesn’t kill the monkey
buffalo says he doesn’t want to punish the monkey he is small and not smart
fairy used powers to drive monkey away

cute story, but too short and don’t know what I could even do with it

THE SARABHA
sarabha is a deer
king wants to catch him, not succeeding
sarabha wants to save king after he falls in chasm while chasing to kill the deer! pretty nice deer
they make up
deer saves king, king is grateful
deer asks that no one hunts in the forest king agrees, happy ever after

i love how animals are always teaching humans lessons in these children tales, its cute and sweet and honestly relatable. obviously a talking deer would never come save and speak words to a human, but idk some how its just easy to connect with

THE GOBLIN TOWN
shipwreck
women cooked for them housed them
then turned into goblins
heard a voice saying a flying horse would save them
those who believed would be saved, those who didn’t stayed on the island

kinda a scary story with a happy ending, teaching to believe

THE GREAT ELEPHANT
beautiful elephant hears men, dying, offers to help
great elephant told them what to do but then disappeared
elephant died for them so that they would have food to eat
happy ever after

sacrifice

THE FOREST FIRE
family of quails, one baby only eats seeds
fire in woods
7th baby who only ate seeds couldn’t fly away (wings never grew)
baby is brave says don’t come this way flames you see i am alone and cannot fly
fire went other way
happy ever after

cute

THE END OF THE WORLD
hare thinking about end of world, hears fruit fall from tree runs and runs and runs because he thinks it was the world ending
all the animals of the forest believed hare and ran with him
wise lion stops them asks who saw the earth breaking, comes back to hares, lion says it must have been a fruit falling
lion took hare back to show him everything is fine
went back to hundreds of thousands of animals and all lived happily ever after

learning a lesson of not making rash decisions, not acting impulsively,

Bibliography

Twenty Jataka Tales. Link to reading.

Author: Noor Inayat

The Sarabha. Image Source: Bable.

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part A

Bibliography

Twenty Jataka Tales. Link to reading.

Author: Noor Inayat

THE MONKEY-BRIDGE
monkey ruler, rocks and river and valley and honey
happy monkeys
fruit tree
don’t want men from village looking for it
fruit falls
want to find it
find it, monkeys, king orders to kill and eat monkeys and mangoes
chief finding way to save them
king sees chief break his back for his monkeys, has him come down to bathe and clothe and feed him
rule with love for they are your children
chief dies and king learns lesson

i really like this story but it’s told so well, that I’m not sure that i want to mess with it or remake it. but ***

THE GUILTY DOGS
king with chariot and horses,
dogs come at night and chew leather harnesses
king ordered to kill seven hundred dogs that were in the city
chief dog
wanting to save them
common theme of love, i like it
chief tells king royal dogs did it
wise
proved him right king saved all the city dogs
happily ever after

i could change this into a story about a family, a king being a mom or dad, the royal dogs being ornery brothers chief being sister or friend or something

BANYAN
golden deer
forest
palace
king hunting, not golden ones
doe w baby
more love <3
golden deer takes place of doe, king agrees to never kill another animal and he ruled with love

THE TORTOISE AND THE GEESE
geese carying tortoise
he fell (hearing kids in village laugh at him)
counselor told king that he fell because he could not hold his tongue, directing message at king
king learned only to speak when needed

not so interesting

THE FAIRY AND THE HARE
wise hare teaching others
animals get food for others, hare has nothing
offers himself as food
fairy took place of beggar and hare jumped into flames of fire, fairy created test, flames were fake, hare was honored across the land

i could modernize this make it realistic or keep it as a children’s story and change it up, i like this one

THE GOLDEN FEATHERS
father leaves, promises daughters wonderful things on his return
meets fairy, changes him into a goose with golden feathers
could no longer search for riches
lets family pluck his feathers one by one
mother gets greedy say they need to pluck all the feathers
feathers grew back and he flew away

not a good ending, kinda sad

Golden Goose Feathers. Image Source: Featherbuy.

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part B

HOW THE MONKEY SAVED HIS TROOP
THE HAWKS AND THEIR FRIENDS
different animals on different shores of a lake
lonely hawk
hunters come
wake birds, want to eat for breakfast
father hawk goes to kingfisher for help
kingfisher put out fire hunters made it again
“ “
“ “
tired, goes to get turtle

guessing he’s going to get help from all the animals on the lake

turtle pulled them in water
now lion
saved them
“friends in need are friends indeed”
team work, true friendship

THE BRAVE LITTLE BOWMAN
man with a crooked back

THE FOOLHARDY WOLF
lion ate buffalo
hungry wolf, servant,
deal
food
you scratch my back i scratch your kind of deal
wolf gets greedy wants to kill his own elephant, lion gets angry shuts him down
but gives in eventually
wolf tries, misses, gets killed by elephant
“you will no more come forth in your might, you foolhardy wolf.”
lion was wise and knew what would happen, but wolf had to find out for himself

THE STOLEN PLOW
town and a village trader
village leaves plow with town
town sells it for money lies about what happened
** bad karma
drama
village takes town son
says a bird took him lies
now court
village calls town out
judge settles it both get their stuff back

should’ve just done the right thing in the first place

THE LION IN BAD COMPANY
another lion and wolf wanting to be servant
ignores parental advice against wolves and lets him come back home with him
took kings pony for wolf
archer waited for lion
lion dead wolf safe goes back home

?
douche wolf

THE WISE GOAT AND THE WOLF
THE PRINCE WICKED AND THE GRATEFUL ANIMALS
THE ELEPHANT AND THE DOG
dog and elephant bffs
farmer wants dog, buys it
elephant refused to eat or bathe without dog
aw separation anxiety best friends
king told whole nation about the dog and to set it free
happily ever after elephant and dog

Bibliography

More Jataka Tales. Link to reading.

Author: Ellen C. Babbitt

Elephant and dog. Image source: BoredPanda.

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part A

Bibliography

More Jataka Tales. Link to reading.

Author: Ellen C. Babbitt

the girl monkey and the string of pearls
queen getting in lake w king, giving servant her pearls sees a girl money in trees, wanting to snatch the pearls
someone lesser or below you wanting what you have, envy, jealousy, theft
guard falls asleep perfect time for monkey to swoop in
guard suspects girl monkeys - cover being blown
all the monkeys got the bead traps, made jealous girl monkey come out with her pearls, green and pride and jealousy for the L
caught

the three fishes
thoughtful, very thoughtful, and thoughtless were their names
leave home to go somewhere else, VT says should go back
cautious sibling.
of course they don’t listen and get caught in a net
VT wants to save them, so mad at someone for being an idiot, but having to save them bc you love them
yay
after that they listened and all went home

the tricky wolf and the rats
big rat is chief
tricky wolf is gonna catch them, waits then plays tricks on rats so they will have sympathy to eat him
deceit, trickery, mean
ate last one out every time
selfish, deceitful
whah chief rat tricked and bit his neck and killed wolf
sneak attack, least expecting it, student outsmarts the master

the woodpecker, turtle, and deer
friends
deer trapped by hunter, ugh
woodpecker suggests turtle gnawing at trap
friends helping friends no matter what the risk
woodpecker flew to hunters house and hit him in the face when he came out
team work
woodpecker outsmarting hunter
turtle bleeding but deer breaks free just in time
turtle got caught :(
deer wants to save him
saved him, get away from hunter live happily together
happily ever after story **

the golden goose
poor fam, goose gives her golden feathers
charity, kindness
greedy mourned the golden feathers
greed never wins - theme and lesson

the stupid monkeys
no

the penny-wise monkey
aw king was gonna take over a little kingdom, saw a monkey drop peas and lose all of them over one
learned a lesson from the monkey
decided to be grateful for what he had and went back home i could definitely make something of this

the woodpecker and the lion
lion bone stuck in throat while eating
offers to save life but is too scared to get eaten, lion says he won’t eat him
woodpecker got it out, but lion didn’t even say thanks
uh oh
woodpecker asked something of lion, he said no i already did the best thing for you didn’t eat you
hmm, don’t want to write about that

Penny-wise monkey. Image Source: TonyKinsey.

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India Part D

SACRIFICED TO VARUNA

brahman digging for water, never finds any
working so hard, failing again and again, tells son, he’s sad
sacrifices son for water

i was liking this story until the sacrificing of the son


JOYABATI— THE GIFT OF JOYA
girl out on a mission - girl power - well wishers
rich mans mansion, guy won’t accept food from daughterless rich guy, asks him for a daughter
has daughter searches for joydev
get married
he’s being protective
take care of child - aw


THE WIFE WHO USED TO EAT THE LAST MORSEL
daughter in law all her babies died in the cradle because she ate the first morsel before the gods and thats sacrilegious
her mother in law took care of it
after she stopped sinning, she had lively babies <3

The Wife Who Used to Eat the Last Morsel. Image source: Archive.

Bibliography

Sacred Tales of India

D. N. Neogi

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India: Part C

the gift of ascetic
king has 3 queens, no child = evil/sinful life
ppl don’t want to see him
king overhears convo and locks himself away
like someone who is insecure about something finds out that other people notice it too, and now they’re embarrassed and ashamed —
man comes along and gives a drug that will make him have kids
“cured” (plastic surgery, weight loss, makeover, etc.)
one queen gave birth to a conch shell???? then it turned into a son
surprise
gave away conch shell son because of the deal the ascetic gave them
sacrifice/lost
**hope
prince might be killed - bad luck in this family
tricked them, killed the killer and happily ever after

i like this story and it would be fun to write about

the suns twin sons
rice can’t dry because of rain and no sun, girl prays that sun will come out, and bribes the sun to own her (marry her)
???

the consequences of generosity
brahman woman and milkmaid are friends, one rich and one poor
poor asked for picture of a god so she could worship and rich one complied
poor became rich rich became poor
like opposite karma? she did something nice for her friend and ended up losing everything because of it
she was cooking and burnt to cinders - where is this going…?
confusing/odd story

the gander-eater
poor mama just trying to provide for her son, him realizing he does not have what the others do
omg, sassy kid!
son gets food for himself, mother cooks it, then son goes to prison for killing the bird - yikes
finds goddess who can set son free - big surprise
set free

Bibliography

Sacred Tales of India. Link to reading.

Author: D. N. Neogi

Sun God. Image Source: Pinterest.

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India Part B

bride of yama
lost bull, sister helping brother - **
stolen bull
they had to perform a ceremony to get the bull back
family member gets kidnapped, kidnapper makes you do something to get them back - don’t really want to write that, but could just change details of this story
Kausik became king, sister went to forbidden place
mom being punished for sins, king can help her but refuses
i could modernize all this, but I like this story so maybe i could just change some details
mom lived, i could maybe make it so that king does help her and that would change the ending

goddess who devoured elephants
woman doesn’t like her husband
could change the goddess granting wishes to God, (Christianity) and changes the wishes to prayers
switched to king in prison cell
i don’t like this story as much

i like the bride of yama and think i could change some of the details to make a good story out of it. i could modernize it just ab it, but keep the main plot and all the characters just change minor things

Bibliography:

Sacred Tales of India. Link to reading.

Author: D. N. Neogi

The Goddess Who Devoured Elephants. Image Source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: Sacred Tales of India Part A

divine brothers
7 wives - i could make it about 7 sisters instead or 7 anything really. I’m not sure how much i want to change it yet
wishes
6 wish for days at their father’s, 7th and youngest states that she doesn’t have a father’s house to go to
ill probably change what the first 6 wish for to something like money or something materialistic. then also change the 7th’s wish to something less shallow
ill follow the plot in that the 7th person’s wish will come true
or i could focus on the fish the wife in the original caught and how they were actually divine serpents. i could re do that part but i think I’m gonna pick one or the other
came to her as “brothers” - to be loyal to her for she nourished them before (how sweet)

snatched from death
king did sacrifice so to be able to conceive and wife had daughter - couldn’t find a fit man for her to marry so they let her choose - could keep the general story but make it more modern and relatable ?
daddy wants to invite all the princes so she may pick, she tells him off (typical thing for a teenager to do when her parents try to “help” in a situation like so) so i could definitely modernize this. says she’s in love with a hermits son and he’s outraged
big surprise, he’s not who they thought he was. * i probably would abandon the curse that the hermits son is under because I’m not sure of a way i could modernize that other than maybe like he has cancer and is expected to die in the near future ?
princess is in love
yay they got married
he died

by itu’s favor
glutton is mean - wife bakes him cakes he is greedy and says he will banish her daughters if they eat his cakes
:-( he banishes them
tough luck for these girls - did nothing wrong, lives ruined by a mean man, **
i don’t really like this story
just as i read it, i can’t even picture what i would make of it. I’m not making any connections

Bibliography

Sacred Tales of India. Link to reading.

Author: D. N. Neogi

Illustrator: P. Ghose

Serpents. Image source: Colossal. 

I chose this photo because the Divine Brother's first take the form of serpents and later return!

Reading Notes: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution (videos)

I liked watching the epified episode videos because even thought the drawings were simple it helped me visualize. just seeing the embodiment of what is going on in the plot of the story really helped me to grasp and follow the story more. it kept me interested.
It’s cool seeing how different people have altered the story and how they tell it differently.

Epified Mahabharata. Image source.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata part D

Bibliography
PDE Mahabharata. Link to reading.

arjuna son dies *
bhima’s son dies !!! *
drona’s head cut off, could do something with that. not literal,
i like the description in the scene where Arjuna and Karna meet …
i could make that into a situation where a friend is telling a friend not to do something because there will be consequences.
for some reason when i was reading the part where Duryodhana can stay under water for as long as he wants, I thought of that show I watched as a kid called H2O where the three girls turn into mermaids when they touch water ? lol. i could have fun writing something like that
Ashwatthaman killing the Pandavas while they sleep.. this story is so vengeful and evil kinda
consequences the jewel was taken from ashwatthaman
Bhishma telling everyone how to rule when he dies, mother or father or grandmother or grandfather dying of a disease or cancer, giving their family members advice etc.
not a fan of horse sacrifice
I am pretty sure this is really embarrassing, but I had to look up what a mongoose was…
i could change the animal and the story he told and make it more fun and cute *
the ganges river turned ouija board???????
everyone is dying literally everyone
i really do not like all the bad vibes and evil spirits that are present before Krishna dies, and i don’t think i would be very good at writing a story from that

Duryodhana in the lake. Image source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata Part C

Bibliography

PDE Mahabharata. Link to reading.

pandanvas in exile
krishna’s visit - debate, modernize into a church setting or family convo
Arjuna in Swarga - journey in new place beautiful, learning, growing,
the pandavas in the himalayas and arjuna meets back with them after his own journey, group of friends lost a friend to something else but found their way back ..?
bhima and hanuman meeting, like long lost brothers or cousins or twins or idk people with some strange unknown connection, modern view
they’re all drinking the water and all dying like what. i could twist this into modern day like when people see someone making a mistake and even after that they still make the same mistake. i could think up multiple situations to fit that
“the voice”
the scene with Draupadi is almost raped is an intense one, but I’m not sure i could write a story about rape, and in this situation, i don’t know what else I would do to change it - i don’t think i would want to change it. so ** no
krishna trying to make peace instead of war when war is inevitable - could modernize, business setting, school, family
arjuna and krishna relationship, change dynamic of it like best friends or siblings or something
krishna and karna !!!!!! ah !
krishna encouraging arjuna to fight ****** would be fun to modernize ** could do a lot with it

Arjuna and Krishna. Image Source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata

Bibliography

PDE Mahabharata. Link to Reading.

why is everything made of wood (material that can burn)? *** research (obviously its to burn, but I’ve heard this multiple times in the story, like was this a common thing?)
ahhh everyone thought it was Kunti and her sons who burned but really it was the homeless beggars, and so Duryodhana and Dhritarashtra thought their plan worked but they thought wrong i could change this and modernize it for sure
i love the detail and description in the part about Bhima and Hidimba, but I don’t want to write about it because it is written so beautifully, I just know I wouldn’t be happy with anything I wrote (lol)
Bhima was so quick to take the rakshasa as his wife, I could write about a take on that like a high school girl falling for a guy too quick and then getting hurt
another swayamwara
woah the five husbands thing - i would need to think of some way to modernize it but not sure how
i could focus on Arjuna breaking the rules of the marriage and having to go into exile. show how having multiple relationships is too complicated
story about the alligator (fairy)
Maya’s palace drama, jealousy, I could make so many situations to change this!
excited to read the next part because there will be more drama. revenge

Duryodhana in Pandavas' palace. Image source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata

Bibliography
PDE Mahabharata. Link to reading.


I like the story of Devavrata and how he came to be divine
I also like the part where Bhishma goes to battle for the 3 princesses, I just don’t know what I would do with it like how I would change it I would have to brainstorm
i could definitely work with the scene where the Great God tells Amba she must slain Bhishma I like how empowered she is in this scene
I love the story of Karna’s birth and how he came to be found and adopted as of now this is my favorite part
:( Drupada was so mean to Drona it actually made me sad
but I could see myself writing this part of the story in a much more modern and relatable way! **** consider
the story of ekalavya is relatable, could relate it to like a kid in school wanting to get in with the cool kids, or a person wanting a job thats out of their league, or a kid wanting to do something with his friends but his parent won’t let him??
ooooo so Karna comes back to the tournament and he doesn’t know that he has a brother or that Kunti is his mom (drama!!!!)
gosh the drama between Drona and Drupada is intense and said I hate how Drona is making his little puppy dog Ekalavya get his revenge for him… but i could twist it or just add my own stuff
“let the house be filled with only wooden furniture and let the furniture be soaked in oil, so that they may readily burn” ah, evil.

Ekalavya. Image source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: Public Domain Ramayana Part D

Bibliography
Public Domain Ramayana. Link to text.


a number of sections tell the story of the battle and what’s going on during all of that, but this particular part isn’t sticking out to me
i like drama. so i could use the part where Ravana convinces Sita that Rama is dead, and then his son tries to do the same to Rama about Sita and expand on it
I like the part when Ravana is seeking revenge and almost kills Lakshmana, but then he is healed. I would keep the general plot of it, but change minor details
i love the scene of Ravana’s death with the flaming weapon in his heart the imagery and description is really cool, so I could use this
i don’t think i want to focus on Ravana’s funeral though
wow I did not see that coming… Rama breaking up with Sita that was surprising and kind of sad
I like how Sita wants to like prove herself though and is not just letting Rama decide her self worth
i could focus on the reuniting of Rama and Bharata because of how close they were and because of Bharata had said about killing himself if Rama did not return after his exile.
another plot twist Rama sending Sita into exile
and seemingly for no reason at all?
I could definitely focus on the departure of Sita then Lakshmana going to heaven and then Rama leaving also, but I am not sure what I would want to do with it…


I’m thinking I could focus on the part when Ravana attempts to kill Lakshmana and fails, and then Ravana is killed because I feel like I can do a lot with the plot and details.

Battle. Image source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: Public Domain Ramayana Part C

Bibliography
Public Domain Ramayana. Link to reading.

i might change the king of monkeys to be the king of cats :-)
i could make some changes to the scene where rama kills valid and helps sugriva. i kind of just want to change like the dynamic of the whole thing. maybe have rama kill vali in a different way so that his relationship with sugriva could be different
change meaning of “mahamatras” to the officials of the cat kingdom instead of monkeys
i like how tara refers to her husband as her hero thats cute
i think I would keep those gender roles the same even though in my story rama is a girl
i could make “the rainy season” super dramatic and make Rama go in to the kingdom even though he is not supposed to, plus it is the rainy season. I could make something dramatic happen when he enters
“armies of cats” … haha. I could make them all big cats! (not house cats) like panthers and/or tigers and/or lions and/or jaguars.
i could have the king of cats and king of mice instead of monkeys and bears. a little different vibe, but it would be cute
i will keep jatayu a bird because that makes sense he’s like a messenger bird and comes to tell them they are going in the right direction
i love the story of the birds and Sampati’s wings and how they got burnt, so i might really want to focus on that and change it up a little
i also like the part of Hanuman’s Leap. i could do a lot with that
also… hanuman and sita meeting
Ravana sets Hanuman’s tail on fire :-(
I like how Vibhishana leaves Ravana to ally with Rama


My favorite parts of this section were the story about the bird’s wings and how the bird himself told the story about how it happened and everything, and also Hanuman’s leap and him encountering the demon. I think I could do a lot with these stories

Hanuman and the rakshasi. Image source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: Public Domain Ramayana Part B

Public Domain Ramayana. Link to reading.


I think I want to change the scene of the funeral. I again want to make it a more positive situation. Obviously, its a funeral and it will be sad, but I could add in maybe some positive comments from the (Queen’s) (husbands) and make the whole experience seem a little less painful and dark.
I don’t know if I want to alter the scene where Bharata tells Rama to come home and he says no
Rama (girl) could give Bharata a ring or piece of jewelry instead of sandals
I really liked the scene with Rama defeating the demon and the demon going to heaven after he is freed.
I like when Rama makes it clear to Shurpanakha that he loves Sita and would not leave her, I might want to focus on this part of the story and elaborate
Also the next part when the rakshasa goes to get her brothers and then Lakshmana cuts her ears off and then her brothers try to get revenge and fail I could focus on those 2 parts
Maybe change her ears getting cut off for something else (also she will be a man)
I love the part where Rama wins the battle with the demons and Sita comes out to kiss him and everything, but since I decided I wanted to switch the gender roles, it would be a little out of character for a woman to win a battle like that and her husband coming out like she had just saved him. (not that that couldn’t happen I am a woman, but for the story's sake I mean, I like the traditional man saving his woman and winning a battle, you know?) So I am not sure what I want to do about the plot of that part of the story
I like the drama of the deer scene, but I might want to change it a bit maybe instead of a deer something else
Him being able to mimic Rama’s voice is definitely something I want to keep if I choose this part of the story
But I’m thinking I want to focus on the first parts of this section
I like the intensity that is arising as Ravana is taking Sita and tries to seduce her

Rama Rejects Shurpanakha. Image Source: Blogspot.

Reading Notes: Public Domain Ramayana A

i could switch up the roles and make Dasharatha’s sons into 4 daughters.

i could make the horrible woman Thataka a man (again switching roles) making the battle seem more intimidating, but then the 4 princesses defeat the horrible man

I could make Gautama curse Ahalya to cat or another animal so that she is still alive but can’t communicate to anyone. ( i would say a worse curse than being a rock because at least you’re a rock and can’t have thoughts or feelings )

I really liked the poem about Ahalya, I’m not sure what I want to do with it, but I definitely want to put a focus on it in some way 

I love the story of Rama and Sita, I might change up the ended of the scene where Rama tells her he is meant to love her and she just says she has to leave. (character changes)**

I might change the challenge that the King Janaka sets forth for the men to do in order to marry his daughter

i like the bow in the Parashurama story, going to keep that

i liked the story of rama and sita’s wedding, but i will probably go into more detail about sita and how she looks (every bride would appreciate) ((character adjust bc of my character change))

okay so since i am going to make the all of the sons, daughters… i don’t know what i am going to do about the whole, picking a son to be the heir of Dasharatha. ******

i guess make it about them picking the heir for his wives and then the roles will be switched and not that it would be in the story, but whoever they married would be king?

so the following episodes about the couple picking the heir would have to be changed completely, but I mean i will keep the general storyline obviously*

so Dasharatha will send a daughter into exile, and then instead of going without question like the son does in the real story, I’ll make her give him attitude like any daughter would do if their father exiled her.

I like the crossing the river episode when they leave and abandon their royal attire and acquire dreadlocks showing the change

I can’t decide i might in some way some how try and make Dasharatha’s death to be seen in a positive light not so negative. that’s just because I like happy endings, but the whole karma episode is right, so I haven’t decided.

Bibliography

Public Domain Ramayana, link to the reading online

The four couples are married. Image Source: Blogspot.