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Week 13 Reading Notes: Babbit Jakata Tales Part B

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Bibliography: Title:  Granny's Blackie Author: Ellen C. Babbitt (What I imagine Granny and Blackie look like together. Photo can be sourced  here .) There was a rich man that gave an older woman a baby elephant. The baby elephant was nicknamed Granny's Blackie by children. The woman cared and loved the elephant, as did the village children. They would ride him and give him food. The woman worked a lot to provide for the elephant. One day the elephant wanted her to accompany him to the forest but alas- she had work. The elephant noticed her aging and how it affected her work. To counter this, he wanted to devise a plan to prevent her from growing old. Blackie saw a man pulling wagons in the forest and thought this might help his situation. The man agreed to pay Blackie two pieces of silver for every wagon he pulled. The man tried to cheat Blackie but Blackie was relentless. He didn't let the man pass until he got his earnings. He ended up finally paying Blackie and B...

Reading Notes: Jakata Tales Part A

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Title:  The Ox Who Envied the Pig Author: Ellen C. Babbit (Bullock cart-racing in Tamil, India. Photo can be sourced  here .) Big Red is the older ox brother of Little Red, also an ox. Their owners have a daughter who was about to be married. As a result, the family wanted to fatten one of the pigs they  had for a feast. Little Red saw the pig getting special food and treatment and felt jealous. He told his brother of his jealousy. His brother informed him that the pig was just being fattened up to be killed for the wedding feast. Later, the pig was killed as planned for the wedding feast. Little Red then appreciated his plain food and long life. This story's message is to be grateful for what you have and not jealous of others.

Week 12 Story Lab

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Why Method Writing Makes You A Better Author  by Amanda Patterson I didn't want to click the first article but it stood out to me because of the title. I consider myself a good  writer but not a great one. I can grammatically make sense and use good vocabulary time to time. But there are some works that just captivate you. I actually never saw the "art" in writing before 9th grade of high school, to me words were just developed visual tools to help understand concepts. After reading some of Mark Twain's work (he is not necessarily my favorite author but his style of writing), I really saw how beautiful writing can be. The pattern of consonants, structure of sentences, realistic descriptors, etc. can really transport you. I do not expect myself to be on the same tier as renowned authors even among those who dedicate their lives to studying literature, but I still want to be a better writer. I think anyone can benefit from it- it can help us articulate our thoughts an...

Reading Notes: Week 12 Jakarta Tales Part B

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(Photo of the author who retold this story, Noor Inayat Khan. Image can be sourced  here . This link also has a biography of her life which is pretty interesting.) Sarabha is a deer that lives deep in the story and hasn't been seen. A king on a hunting trip sees a glimpse of the deer. Knowing what a rarity this is, he continues after the deer leaving behind is crew. The deer kept going at it and jumped over this rift. The king's horse stopped at the rift and the king flew off the horse into the rift. The deer notices the king has fallen into the rift, and decides to help him. He goes back to help. The king is kind of surprised because the whole reason he is in this situation was chasing the deer. The deer carries the king out of the rift, making the king feel happy and loved. The king offers the deer anything he wants and to come back to him to his palace. The deer denies coming back, but asks for no one to hunt. The king does not allow anyone to hunt in the fore...

Week 12 Reading Notes Jakarta Tales Tuesday

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BIBLIOGRAPHY: Title: Twenty Jakarta Tales:  The Swan Kingdom Author: Noor Inayat (1939) (These are meant to represent King Dhritarashtra and Sumuhka. The king is supposed to be silver so this isn't a perfect match. The image can be sourced  here ). Lake Manasa was ruled by King Dhritarashtra and Sumuhka (both swans). The lake had thousands of swans. They were all so beautiful but the king swam was the most beautiful. He had "feathers of shining silver". Another king, King of Benares, wanted to see this lake and the swans because he had heard how beautiful it is. His plan was to create a bigger late and have the swans flock there so he could see them every day (and for people to move there). He did this. Some swans saw how big and beautiful it was so they went home to inform the other birds of the lake. Word eventually reached King Dhritarashtra who now wanted to see the lake for himself. He went, but was captured by royal guards. Sumuhka was not caught, a...

Week 11 Story: The Magical Cow

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(A picture of some very cute 'Guernsey' cattle. Guernsey is a type of cattle. Image can be sourced  here ). The most updated version of this story can be found here:  https://sites.google.com/view/indianepicsgalore/the-magical-cow Long ago in a village lived a grandmother, granddaughter, and their. The three were once part of a larger family that had a lot of wealth, but lost it when their village. The mother had given up many possessions for food, but she was running out of ideas. She was too old to work and her granddaughter too young. She realized she would have to give up their beloved cow as it was the only valuable thing they had. She did consider using the cow for food, but she could not imagine doing so as the cow was like a second grandchild. The grandmother took the cow to a local merchant. The merchant carefully inspected the cow, ensuring there were no defects. He fed the cow some lettuce, and notice while the cow was eating some of its saliva got on hi...

Reading Notes Week 11: Krishna Part B

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Summary of Part B of the Krishna series of the Epified Videos series. (Photo of Balram, Krishna's brother. There were honestly not many images of him as you would expect considering he accompanied Krishna during the Mathura journey and was a large part of his life. Image can be sourced  here ) Episode 11:  Krishna is out enjoying his day when Brahma appears. Brahma finds it funny a god would share his food with mere commoners (elitist much). Krishna then decides to do a social experiment where he creates cows and their herders from himself. No one notices and Brahma was impressed. Brahma realized Krishna is omnipotent and had respect (this is a kind of fundamental part of Hinduism, divine omnipotence). Episode 12:  Krishna's brother wanted to kill a bull named Hastin (it would be a feat and a benefit for the community). I guess the bull was not nice so the reader is supposed to be on Balram's side (Krishna) to kill which I thought was interesting because a l...