Reading Notes Part B: The Princes and the Water-Sprite

The Princes and the Water Sprite

Main Characters:
Prince of the Stars
Moon Prince
Sun Prince

Plot:
When the third prince was born, the king offered to uphold any promise the queen had. When the third son turned 21, the queen asked the king to give the kingdom to the third son. The king refused. The king said that it was the oldest and then the second son's by right. Afraid that the queen would harm the older sons, the king told the sons to go to the forest and live until he died. The youngest prince, seeing that his brothers were leaving, left with them too. The sun prince went to a pond owned by a water sprite. If the person goes to the pond and answers the question "What are the good fairies like?" correctly, they will not be in the sprite's power. The youngest prince answered wrong and the sprite carried him to his cave. The oldest king answered correctly and they lived happily ever after.

Setting:
In the forest near a pond

Story Idea:
A story idea that I had while reading the passage was to have the water sprite fall in love with the older prince. Since I am a sucker for love stories I thought it would be the best route. Another idea is to keep with the original story but have the water sprite eat the princes he captures or kills them. I am not the type of person to go the darker route though.

(Men and a water sprite - Image source)

Bibliography. Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. The Baldwin Project. Web Source.

Reading Notes Part A: The Quarrel of the Quails

The Quarrel of the Quails

Main Characters:
Quails
A Fowler, someone who catches birds

Plot:
In the beginning, the man catches the quails by imitating the note the leader quail makes to gather all the other quails. He catches the quails and sells them in town. One day, the leader told the quails to work together and fly to the nearest thorn bush to free themselves. The plan works and the man is unable to sell the quails. The fowler waits patiently for the moment the quails have a quarrel to catch them. When the quails got into an argument, they were unable to work together and fly in unison. The fowler caught them all and sold them.

Setting:
In a field near a thorn bush

Story Idea:
A possible story idea I have is to reverse the roles in the end. I would like to see an ending where the quails turn on the man and capture him. Another possible story idea is to use the same concept and moral of the story with different characters and a different setting.

(Quails - Image Source)

Bibliography. Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. The Baldwin Project. Web Source.

Week 9 Review

My favorite from this daily announcement is:

(Lion Dance - YouTube)

I remember seeing the dragon dances around Lunar New Year when I was younger. In Vietnamese, we call it Mua Lan. I always loved hearing the drum beats and seeing people dance here and there. It is good luck to feed the dragons money. I wanted to be one of the dancers! I have not been able to live out my dream yet, but I hope I will someday. One of my favorite dance moves was when the dragon stood vertical. Meaning, the person holding the head went on the shoulders of the butt of the dragon. 

My favorite image this week was 

(Image Source)

This week, my goal is to focus. I want to focus on school and myself more. Sometimes I get caught up on the issues I can not control and become stressed. I have decided to mature and do what I can to the best extent possible. 

Famous Last Words: The Beginning of Something New

I can not believe how this spring break flew by!! Like every previous spring break, I told myself that I would catch up or get ahead on school work but I did not. Nevertheless, spring break was super fun. I mostly worked during the break but on Wednesday I saw Lorde at the BOK Center with my bestie, Su! She was a goddess. My favorite song in her album Melodrama would be The Louvre. I would definitely go see her again. She seemed like an authentic and genuine person. I was pleasantly surprised that she was better live than she was on her album. I should have listened to her album beforehand but I knew a handful of songs. Her opening acts were Tove Styrke and Run the Jewels. I liked Tove, but Run the Jewels were not my forte. Before the concert, we had all you can eat sushi at Sake 2 Me. My eyes were hungrier than my stomach. I ordered WAY TOO much food! I stuffed myself until I wanted to throw up. I did not want any of the sushi to go to waste. Su and I probably had about 14 rolls. It was crazy. 

(Lorde - wikipedia)

I am bittersweet about spring break. The end of spring break means I do not have to work anymore. I decided to quit my job to focus on school. Plus, in April, I have a ton of assignments that are due every week. The end of spring break also means the beginning of school again. This time around, school will be over before I know it! It is the down hill slope. I am excited and nervous. This does not leave me much time to pick up my grades, but I will be happy when this is all over. I am interested to see how being unemployed is. It has been 4 years since I have not worked! I am ready to conquer the rest of this semester!! 

Week 9 Storytelling: One More Time...

One More Time... 

After much of my hardwork, I have finally obtained my own kingdom. I know that Cousin Dury is jealous, but who wouldn’t be?

On a spring day, Dury came up to me and asked to play a dice game. I knew myself. I knew about my gambling problem. Hence, I never acted upon it. But Dury was very convincing and said that Uncle Shakini would play too! Shakini is always a good time. I reluctantly said, “Okay.”

The first dice game, the stakes were fairly low. We were betting our cows. We each placed 100 cows into the match for a total winning of 300 cows. We were all about tied.

“Bazinga!” I yelled. I had won. Adrenaline running through my veins, more. I wanted more.

As the games progressed, my luck was running out. Occasionally I would win a hand, but most of the time it was either Dury or Shakini winning.

“One more time.” I would say. I needed to win back my animals and servants.

“One more time.” I would say. I needed to win back my homes.

Before I knew it, wine in hand, I had nothing left to give.

I told the men that the game was over and they won since I had nothing more to give. But, they said, “I believe you have four brothers and a wife.” I thought long and hard. It was true that I had 4 brothers. If I had lost one, I would still have three. One by one, I betted my brothers. It was a back and forth battle. I knew my misfortune was running out. It was about time I win… until I lost all my brothers. There was only one person left, Draupadi. She was someone I adored dearly. I knew that if I went back into the palace without my brothers, she would be lonely and enraged.

“One more time, all or nothing.” I told the men.

They both agreed to the terms.

The final game was played. Sweat dripping from my forehead, wine bottles emptied, nothing was going right. Shakini must have had a lucky day. I had lost everything near and dear to me.

(Dice Game - Image Source)

Author's Note: I wanted to tell this story in the perspective of Yudhishthira. This is also the feeling I have whenever I go gambling, however not to this extent. I wanted to show how Yudhishthira had good intentions to win back what he lost, but because Prince Shakini and Duryodhana was cheating, he was unable to win. I also wanted to show that at the point Yudhhishthira wanted to stop, it was too late. He would not be able to go back to anything. In the original story, Yudhishthira loses everything including his brothers and wife because Prince Shakini cheated and Duryodhana knew about his dice gambling addiction. 

Bibliography. "The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu" by Richard Wilson, Illustrated by Frank Pape in 1914. Book Source. 

Reading Notes: The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part B

Arjuna and Karna

Main Character 
Arjuna
Yudhishthira
Karna

Setting
On the battlefield

Plot
Arjuna and Karna are finally at battle with one another. During the battle, Karna manages to break Arjuna's bow. According to the rules of war and out of respect, Arjuna asks for time to retrieve a new weapon, but Karna continues with his attack. When Karna was about to attack, Arjuna manages to fix his bow and launches his bow. Karna's chariot wheel gets stuck to the ground. Karna asks Arjuna for time to fix his chariot well, but Arjuna continues on with his attack just like Karna did to him. Eventually, Arjuna shoots an arrow right into Karna and ends the battle

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(Arjuna and Karna - Image Source)

Bibliography. "The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu" by Richard Wilson, Illustrated by Frank Pape in 1914. Book Source.

Reading Notes: The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part A

The Gambling Match

Main Characters
Yudhishthira
Duryodhana
Prince Shakini

Plot
Yudhishthira is now a king of a kingdom. Duryodhana is jealous so he decided to trick Yudhishthira in a gambling game of dice with the help of Prince Shakini. When they play the dice game, Prince Shakini cheats and Yudhishthira loses everything. He even gambles his brothers and himself. Finally, he loses Draupadi, his wife. Dhritarashtra is so surprised on his gambling addiction. He vows that the Pandavas will not be slaves and will go to the forest for exile. Draupadi refused to go to the point Prince Dushasana has to drag her out by her hair. She pleas for her husbands to avenge her but they do nothing. They offer Draupadi a wish. She wished to go into exile with her husbands. They spend 12 years in the forest and another year in disguise.

Story Idea
I have read several stories about this topic. I think I would write a story in the perspective of Yudhishthira. It would be a story about his gambling addiction and how he could not stop himself from losing everything. Prior to the gambling match, he probably was not tempted to gamble. However, when Duryodhana convinced him to gamble, it went downhill. Duryodhana probably knew exactly what to say and then that got the ball rolling. It did not help that Prince Shakuni cheated in order to win.

(The gambling match - image source)

Bibliography. "The Indian Story Book: The Five Tall Sons of Pandu" by Richard Wilson, Illustrated by Frank Pape in 1914. Book Source.