Week 4 Reading Diary: Santal Folklore

The beginning of Ledha and the Leopard reminded me of the story of Adam and Eve. The boy came home after promising not to do something and was convinced by a woman to do so. Also, I like how clever the animals are in the story. They are personified as people with plans and schemes. Maybe this is something I would like to include in my storytelling.

This story of The Oilman's Bullock made me sad because the bullock only lived a short while after he was free. The message of this story to me was to always enjoy whats happening in your life now instead of constantly looking forward because you never know what the future holds.

I really like how clever all of the stories from the Santal folklore are. This is something I will strive for in my writing. I would really like for someone to read my story and be as impressed with mine as I am with these. One thing that is so far for me to comprehend, though, is the meaning behind each story. This is probably due to the fact that Indian culture and values are very different than European. I have made a note to research more into these folklore stories to see what they could be trying to communicate. 

I really enjoyed the story of Ramai and the Animals because I liked to see the kind spirit of Ramai. He was protecting the snake, otter, cat, and dog out of the goodness of his heart rather than for the prosperity they would bring. In turn, they rewarded him. Kindness is an extremely important virtue to me and one that I try to practice everyday. Therefore, I liked to see it in Indian culture and know that they value it as well.

The otter that Ramai saved. Photo by: Ken Thomas

The Ghormuhas sounded like they should be in the show Game of Thrones or something! They were so intense. While I did not like that they ate people, including their own fathers and mothers, I liked the idea of coming up with a completely new creature. This  type of creation could be cool to practice in my own writing. Someday, in a story where it fit, I would like to think up a completely new being and insert it in to the story.

I thought the ending to The Jackal and the Crow was very funny because basically, the jackal could not jump over a post because he was so full. He transfixed and died.  This was such an unexpected ending and struck me as very funny in a fable. In my writing, it would be cool to include an ending that struck people as funny as this story did to me. 

The story of The Tiger Cub and the Calf started out sweet but ended the opposite. It is interesting to me how death is such a prevalent part of Indian folklore. In addition, I think it is interesting how, throughout all of the stories, the different species of animals and humans all could communicate and get along. Do people from India believe that there was a time that this was possible?

Bibliography:
Folklore of the Santal Parganas, translated by C.H. Bompas (1909)