Storytelling for Week 4: The Tiger is Dead

BREAKING NEWS

Tiger Killed in the Village

It was just reported that the tiger that has been haunting the village with his savage killing spree has died. Referring back to our earlier post, the shikari cut off the end of the tigers ears, claws and tongue yesterday morning to present to the Raja. After an afternoon of confusion and worry, we received word early last night that the tongue of the tiger was festering after the wound. The infection seemed deadly. Now, today, officials are saying that the tiger is in fact dead.

The tiger growling as villagers attempt to travel the highroad.
Photo by: Claudio Gennerari

As a recap, this is the same tiger that was preying on men as they traveled along the highroad. After multiple deaths, people ceased to travel along this road, which affected trade and communications. Finally, after a long silence, the Raja and his council responded to the attacks and gathered their soldiers. Even though the Raja promised half of his kingdom to the one who could kill the tiger, none of his soldiers were brave enough to take on the challenge. It was after word traveled around the village that the brave shikari offered to hunt the dangerous animal. After much deliberation, the Raja agreed. 

After the shikari received permission, he promptly left his home and traveled into the jungle to find the tiger. His tactic was a to hide in a tree until the tiger appeared. This way, he was protected from other attacks and had a wide view of the path the tiger generally took.

The next morning, upon facing the tiger, the shikari was brave enough to confront him. Photos have been submitted that show the man standing with the tiger, showing him photos of other tigers that the shikari had supposedly killed. The photos show the tiger visibly changing his stance and shifting to a position of fear. The community was stunned as the man continued to stand with him and reason with him that he would save his life as long as he allowed him to cut off the tips of his ears, tongue, and claws. The tiger agreed and the tips were presented to the Raja. Upon learning of these happenings, the village was outraged. They did not believe that the tiger would cease to prey upon the people. However, the shikari knew the the truth and that the infection would eventually overcome the tiger, thus ending his life. 

The people from the village are rejoicing tonight as their safety has returned. Trade and communications are expected to continue tomorrow. 

Author's Note:

The original story is called The Killing of the Tiger from Folklore of the Santal Parganas by C.H. Bompas. In the story, a tiger was preying upon the people of a village as they traveled the highroad. The Raja promised half of his kingdom to whoever could kill it; however, none of his soldiers were brave enough. So, a poor shikari offered to hunt the tiger and after speaking with the Raja, he agreed to let him. So the man left in the morning and hid in a tree until the tiger appeared and asked him to come down. Once the shikari did, he showed the tiger pictures of other tigers that he supposedly killed. The tiger then was extremely fearful and begged for his life. The shikari offered to let him life as long as the tiger allowed him to cut off the tips of his claws, ears, and tongue. The tiger agreed and them man left with these things and showed the Raja. Eventually, the tiger ended up dying because his tongue festered. 

I decided to make a 'breaking news' story since this would be big news to the villagers. I did not change much in the story, but did try to add in some more dramatic diction and summarize what happened the way a news story would. 

Bibliography:

The Killing of the Tiger from Folklore of the Santal Parganas. Folklore of the Santal Parganas is the English version of the Santal folklore stories, which were translated by C.H. Bompas in 1909.

Week 4 Reading Diary, continued: Santal Folklore

The first story of the second reading is called The Jackal and the Chickens. To be honest, I did not really enjoy this story. The whole premise seemed to be killing. I wonder why this is so prevalent in the Santal folklore stories? This is something I would like to look up and investigate further. For my writing, I would not like to include anything like this. It could, however, be a challenge to myself to write a story that I do not particularly write to try and build these skills?

The second story, The Jackal Punished, seemed even worse! The basic storyline was almost the same as the previous; however, the deaths stood out even more because the story was shorter. This made it seem like the entire story was about death. I am not a fan of this type of content.

The Jackal by Artemy Voikhansky

The Tigers and the Cats seemed random to be because I feel like some of the events do not relate. In my writing, I would like to have some flow that keeps the reader easily clued in to what is happening.

One issue with Indian folklore that I have is that it really does confuse me. For example, in The Elephant and the Ants, the moral of the story "not to despise the poor man, because one day he may have the opportunity to put us to shame." I do not really understand how the elephant running with ants relates to a poor man. Something I would aim to do in my writing is to communicate messages that my audience can fully understand so that they do not feel the confusion that I do now. 

After reading these stories, I'm getting the sense that revenge is a large part of Indian culture. Either that, or at least being punished for not treating people right. Each of the stories seems to have some aspect of punishing for wrongdoing, most likely death. 

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

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)

Learning Challenges: the caffeine causality loop

Today I had some free time so I decided to visit the Learning by H.E.A.R.T. blog to see if there were any tips on how I could be using my time. I'm really focused on using every moment to my advantage this semester. However, I got interrupted because the top post on the blog was a cartoon about the caffeine causality loop. I had to laugh to myself because the exact thing is happening to me today. Since I had my first exam of the semester this morning, I drank a soda last night at dinner to fuel me through the night hours of my studying. However, then I could not fall asleep and had planned on getting up early this morning to review. Therefore, when I woke up at 8 am this morning, I was very tired and needed more coffee. I'm hoping I can get through the day without feeling like I need another dose. 

Caffeine causality cartoon. Cartoon created by John Atkinson

Cutting down on my caffeine intake is also a New Year's resolution of mine because I was starting to get so addicted that I would either get a caffeine headache in the day if I did not have some, or would just feel really foggy and unable to focus. It was freaking me out! So, over the break I made sure to get on a regular sleep schedule to start training myself out of drinking it. Now that I'm back in school and my assignments are picking up, its getting harder to stick to my goal. But, I am determined to cut down and am hopeful for success. 

Source: http://oulbh.blogspot.com/2015/12/caffeine-causality-loop.html