Extra Reading Diary: Folktales of Laos

Folktales of Laos

A Child of the Woods: A woman went out to the forest when she was tired of mankind. When she was sleeping, she awoke to a tiger who was watching her sleep. She wasn't scared though. She continued on her journey and became one with the creatures. She ate the wild fruit and was watched over the creatures of the forest. She found a village of people who were curious about her coming from the forest and when she told them her story, they gave her riches. She lived there for a year and the village cattle were no longer being eaten. The people led her back to her people where they worshipped her.

The Spirit Guarded Cave: The people of the far north were tired of losing to their enemies so they decided that it would be better to go south and be slaves than to die. So they packed up all of their belongings and traveled south. They ate all of their food before they reached their destination and were scared that they would be killed for their valuables. One man suggested to leave all of their valuables in a cave and to come back and retrieve them when they were settled. They all agreed and had the spirits watch over their treasures. The people continued their journey to the south and became slaves, but weren't able to reclaim their possessions. Word spread of the unclaimed treasures and many people traveled from all over to try and claim it for themselves. The spirits always kept the treasure safe though.

(Forest in Laos, Source: UnTextbook)

Why The Lip of The Elephant Droops: A poor man and his wife wanted to rid of their twelve daughters, so one day he took his daughters out hunting with him. He filled a basket with ashes and covered the top in rice and set off with his daughters. He asked them to fetch water with bamboo joints and when they went, he returned home. The bamboo joints wouldn't hold the water and when they went back to their father, he was nowhere to be found. They had no idea how to get out of the forest, so they went to sleep. When they awoke, there was a woman standing over them who offered them a place to stay if they kept her daughter company. They went home with her but were told not to enter the small garden. When the woman went out for the day, the twelve girl went into the garden and saw that their were human bones. They fled and ran into a cow whom they asked to protect them. They all jumped into the cow's mouth and when the woman asked the cow if he saw the maidens he lied. The maidens went on their way and ran into an elephant who also protected them. The last maiden's clothes hung out of the elephant's mouth and when the woman caught up and questioned the elephant, she saw the garment. She then cursed the elephant's lip to forever hang down like the garment. To this day, the elephants lip hangs down.

Week 6 Storytelling: The Wittiest Wins

Author's Note: I wanted to rewrite "The Tiger and The Frog. I thought that the story was very interesting. I really liked how the frog was able to outsmart the tiger in multiple ways. The tiger was looking for a meal and found a frog, but the frog tricked the tiger into thinking that he had eaten a tiger the day before. The tiger became spooked and ran away. He ran into a fox who laughed at the thought of a tiger running from a frog. So they tied their tails together and went back to the frog. The frog once again tricked the tiger and the tiger went running again with the fox dragging behind.

The Wittiest Wins
There once was a bully who ruled the school. His followers worshipped him and everybody else feared him. Since he first started going to the school, not a day went by that he didn't bully somebody. All of the kids cowered in terror when he passed by.

He bullied two or three kids a day. Whether it was giving them swirlies or taking their lunch money, he enjoyed every minute of it. But one day he became extremely bored. He had already bullied the entire student body more than once.

He felt that it was starting to become boring. He hadn't had any 'fresh meat' in a long time. He fell into a slump. He decided to stay home from school for a couple days.

A few days later, a new kid enrolled at school. The other kids looked at him with pity. "Another kid that gets to be bullied," whispered a girl. "At least, we'll get a break for a little bit..." retorted a boy. "I think we should warn him though."

They walked over to the boy and introduced themselves. "This is Mary and I'm Luke," said the boy. "Hey, I'm Jake," replied the new kid. They filled Jake in about the bully and how he loves it when a new student comes because he has a 'new toy' to play with.

"Hm... Thanks for the warning, but I'll think of something," replied Jake. Word spread that there was a new kid at school. All the kids were secretly happy about there being another kid for him to bully.

When his followers heard of the new kid, they immediately went and told the bully. He was ecstatic when he heard the news. He had been thinking of new ideas to do to the kids at school.

The next day at school, the bully finally returned. He searched everywhere for the new kid. He didn't find Jake until lunch time.

He marched into the cafeteria and spotted the new kid. He stormed over but when he neared Jake, he could hear him yelling at Luke. "You stupid kid! You made me drop my tray!" Jake then punched Luke in the face.

"Ahhh!" yelled Luke clutching his face. Luke pulled his hands away and saw that his nose was bleeding. "You broke my nose!" The bully was surprised.

Jake turned around and saw the bully standing right behind him. "What're you looking at?" snapped Jake.

The bully not knowing what to think, took a few steps back. He didn't want to mess with another bully. While walking backwards, he tripped over a chair and fell on the ground.

The kids in the cafeteria who witnessed the altercation started laughing. The bully was so embarrassed that he ran out of the gym with his followers running behind him.

All the kids cheered when he ran out! Luke wiped his nose and said, "Yuck, I think there's some ketchup in my nose still." Mary giggled, still holding the empty ketchup packets that she had squeezed into Luke's hands earlier.

Rumors have it that the bully transferred schools and never bullied anybody again.

(Bully, Source:Vegan Bits)

Bibliography: The Tiger and the Frog from Tibetan Folktales by A.L. Shelton (1925).

Reading Diary B: Tibetan Folktales

Tibetan Folktales

The Story of the Three Hunters: There were three hunters who lived with their wives and their sister. When they came back from a hunting trip, they brought a deer back with them. They all split the deer and the sister got part of the marrow from the deer and cooked it up nicely. The two older wives were very jealous and angry because they thought that their husbands preferred their sister, so they devised a plan to kill the sister. The younger wife wanted nothing to do with it though. So on the next hunting trip, the older wives killed the sister. There was a bird who kept chirping at the brothers. They thought it was weird and one of the brothers went to the bird and asked for a sign if it was their sister. When the bird hopped into his hand, they knew that their sister was dead. They went home and found the younger wife crying and she told them what had happened. The three hunters then killed the older wives and shared the younger wife.

The Golden Squash: There were two old men who were very good friends. One of the men was content with what he had, but the other was very greedy and wanted to be rich. One day the first man went out to his garden and found a bird who was injured. He felt bad for the bird and nursed it back to health. When it was able to fly, it brought the man back a seed and told him to take care of it. The man planted the seed and grew a very large squash. It was so big that five men had to help carry it in. When he cut into it, it turned out to be solid gold. The man was rich and he gave to the less fortunate. His neighbor was greedy and asked how he came of the seed. So he went out to the garden and found a bird and purposely shot it and broke its leg. He pretended to care for the bird and in return got a seed. He grew the seed and out came another squash. When he cut into it, an old man sent from the king of the lower regions popped out to weigh the man. The man didn't weigh enough so the fierce man cut off his head.

The Two Little Cats: There were two little cats who were going to fetch some salt for their tea. On their way home, they ran into a scary Handre. They ran and met a cow who offered to help protect them. They all ran until they met a dog who also offered to protect them. They then met a crow who also offered to help. A snake and peas also offered their assistance to protect the cats. So on they went home and each of the animals hid in a different spot. The Handre eventually arrived and went to every spot that an animal was hiding and was attacked by each one. He then fell into the cows horns who tossed him to the dog, who gobbled the Handre right up. The cats were then able to eat their meal in peace.

(Yak Butter Tea, Source: UnTextbook)

Reading Diary A: Tibetan Folktales

Tibetan Folktales

The Tiger and The Frog: There was a tiger who hadn't eaten for days. When he went hunting, he found a clever little frog who planned on eating. The frog challenged the tiger to see who could jump farther across the river. When the tiger was preparing to jump the frog grabbed hold of the tiger's tail with its mouth and sailed across with the tiger, letting go and landing further along the bank. The frog challenged the tiger to another challenge to vomit. The tiger could only throw up some water but the frog threw up some tiger hair that it had just swallowed. The frog explained that it had eaten a tiger the day before and the tiger went running. He ran into a fox who coaxed him into going back to the frog. They tied their tales together so that they couldn't run away. The frog asked the fox if he had brought the tiger as an offering and the tiger went running with the fox dragging along.

The Donkey and The Rock: There was king who ruled the land very fairly. There were also two very hardworking men who cared for their mothers. One was going to town selling some oil from a jar. He grew tired and sat down to rest. The other man was taking his donkey and two loads of wood to the market. The donkey was walking too close to the road and accidentally knocked over the jar of oil and broke it. The men quarreled over whose fault it was and took the argument to the king. The king decided to have a ruling and had the donkey chained and sent for the rock who was also to blame. People from all over came to see the case because they thought the king was crazy. When they arrived, he shamed them for coming to see a silly case and had them pay a half-cent before leaving. The money was collected and given to the man with the broken jar.

(Donkey and the Rock, Source: UnTextbook)

Covetousness: A bear was killed by a trap and when a fox was greedy and tried breaking the trap, it was killed too. A bunny was hopping around an elephant and it decided to hop around too. When the elephant was jumping around, a rock fell on it and it died. Seven robbers came by and saw the three dead animals and sat down to eat. Three were sent to get water from over the mountains. The four who remained were greedy and decided to poison the meat so that they could have the meat and ivory for themselves. The three who were fetching the water decided to poison the water because they were doing all the work. When they returned, the four men  gulped down the water and they died. The three men now had everything to themselves and ate the poisoned meat. They soon died as well. Everybody was greedy and ended up dead.