Reading Notes: Anthology
The Origins:
-main characters: blacksmith and wise man
-plot: blacksmith doesn't want to be a blacksmith anymore because it's too warm so he asks to be a stone on the mountain but it hurts to be cut, a stone cutter but his feet hurt, the sun but was too warm, and finally the moon which was still too warm because of the warmth from the sun and so he goes through a series of these requests that are granted by the wise man.
-ending: He finally comes to the realization that he just wants to be a blacksmith after all but the wise man won't let him change back.
-main characters: Buddha in the form of a hare, a monkey, jackal, and otter
-plot: Buddha tells the group to feed beggars on fasting day with their own stash of food but the Otter comes upon 7 red fish that a fisherman had caught and contemplates just eating them all. The Jackal found a pot of milk curd in a hut and also thought about eating it all. The monkey gathered many mangoes also thinking about eating them all. On the other hand, the buddha had no food to give so he thought about giving people his flesh to eat if they ask. Sakka, the king of the Gods decided to test the Hare. He first disguised himself as a Brahmin and asked the Otter for food and the Otter offered all of his fish he had. The Jackal also offered him food while feeling guilty that he stole the food. Monkey also said yes. He told all of them he would eat it tomorrow. Finally, the hare offered his flesh by saying he would be roasted in a flame and so Sakka got hot coals but the hare willingly laid on the bed of hot coals so the coals were cooled by Sakka.
-ending: Sakka was impressed by the virtue of the hare and squeezed juice out of the moon to get the hare imprint on the moon and so they all lived happily obeying the moral law
The Divine:
-main characters: susa-no-wo, ashinadzuchi, tendazuchi, kushinada-hime
-plot: susa-no-wo saw chopsticks in the river and decided to search in the forest to see who lived above him and he found a gray-bearded man with a crone crying over a maiden in between them and he asked them who they were so the man introduced them and told him how his 8th daughter would die because his daughters every year get slain and eaten by the eight forked serpent of koshi with red eyes, eight heads, eight tails, and overgrown pine and fir on its body. susa no wo said he would be able to slay this beast if the parents consented to giving him their daughter in marriage and they agreed. susa no wo then turned the daughter into a comb to put in his hair as he put sake in front of 8 doors which attracted the serpent who drank from the sake and became drunk.
-ending: susa no wo slayed the serpent by cutting off all the heads and tails and discovered a miraculous sword and married kushinada-hime
The Supernatural:
A young man wandered into the woods and heard an owl the first night and then went to a different woods to encounter a woman who tried to cut his foot off with a knife after attempting to see if he was alive as he remained still and pretended to be dead. He then when to a different woods the next night where he was eating and smoking tobacco and a ghost approached him asking for some and so he gave it to the ghost who had smoke coming out of his ribs because the ghost had no flesh, only bones and the ghost offered a fight and if the young man won, he would get to keep the horses. The young man put more brush in the fire before the fight because the fire would weaken the ghost but the darkness would strengthen the ghost so they fought until daytime finally came out and the young man kicked more brush into the fire and delivered the final blow to defeat the ghost and stole his horses.
Metamorphosis:
Pygmalion didn't like any of the girls of Propoetus so he was single and lonely so he decided to make his soul mate out of ivory. He carved her well and pretended she was human as he kissed her, caressed her, and even bought her the finest gifts that many girls would adore such as pearl earrings, shells, flowers. Then the venus festival came about one day in Cyrprus and Pygmalion prayed at the alter to have a wife just like his ivory one and golden venus knew exactly what he meant so when he came home and kissed his ivory soul mate, warmth came from the ivory girl and flesh came about as he started to touch her. The golden venus then attended their marriage. Nine months later, they had a son named Paphos who the city was named after.
Tricksters:
A tiger was locked up in a cage and could not escape as a Brahman happened to be walking by and saw the tiger crying, wheeping, and begging to be let out. The Brahman trusted the tiger when the tiger promised not to eat him so the Brahman let him out of the cage to get betrayed. The tiger pounced and tried to eat the Brahman but the Brahman begged to give him 3 chances to ask for others' opinions on the matter. He asked a papal tree, buffalo, and road who all complained that their lives were harder and were of no help to the Brahman. The Brahman sadly walked back to the tiger as he ran into a jackal who asked him what was going on. The Brahman explained the story to the jackal multiple times as they walked back and when they finally arrived, the tiger and Brahman both attempted to tell the Jackal the story again and he kept getting the story wrong so the tiger demonstrated by getting into the cage and the Jackal locked him up.
The tiger, brahman, and jackal converse: Berita
Fables:
A fox, jackal, wolf, and lion went hunting and killed a stag. They decided how to split up the meal as the lion demanded that the rest of them skin and cut the stag into 4 quarters which the lion claimed all 4 as his but the fox grumbled as he walked away that the lion made everyone else do the work but took all the food when it came time to eat or as the fox words it, he shares his duties with everyone else but doesn't share the food.
Androcles was a slave who ran away from his master and as he went through the forest, he came upon a lion who didn't attempt to chase after Androcles as he was trying to run away so Androcles went to see why the lion was moaning and helped get the thorn out of the lion as well as patch up his wound. The lion then licked Androcles like a pet would and so the lion brought the slave to his cave and brought him meat everyday but eventually, they were both captured and the lion was starved for a few days and then the lion and Androcles were forced into an arena as the emperor came to watch the lion devour Androcles but the lion refused to eat Androcles as he came to recognize him and instead playfully greeted him. The emperor was surprised and asked Androcles for the full story and ended up releasing him from his servitude.
A man and lion were arguing over who was stronger and the man claimed that it was the man because of the statue were hercules defeated a lion. However, the lion claimed that it was a man that made the statue....
A lion fell in love with a young girl and asked the parents for her hand in marriage but they were afraid she would get hurt so they asked him to remove his claws and big teeth and so he did and came back but they just laughed and said he couldn't do anything to them now.
Fairy Tales:
A mom had three daughters and she asked them what they wanted from the market so 2 of the girls demanded a ton of things that were beyond necessities while the 3rd girl only asked for 3 roses after the mom personally asked her what she wanted. When she went to the market, she tried to get as much as she could carry on her back and then left but grew tired so she rested in the forest and came upon the castle where she found a gorgeous garden full of roses and so she took 3 roses for her daughter. A basilisk out of nowhere popped out and told her she must give him her daughter in exchange for the roses and so she went home and told her daughter who went to the palace. The basilisk made her nurse him in her lap 3 hours a day everyday and eventually brought her a sword to chop off his head and a serpent came out and then after chopping his head off again, a man came out and they got married.
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