Reading Notes: Myth-Folklore Anthology (Extra Credit)

The Man in the Moon

• Plot:
• Blacksmith constantly wants to be new things, dislikes each new role
• Blacksmith -> Stone -> Stone-cutter -> Sun -> Moon
• Tries to go back to blacksmith after being the moon
• Wise man refuses, leaves him as the moon
• Characters
• Blacksmith: constantly discontent with each role for various reasons
• Wise Man: changes blacksmith with each request, becomes fed up and leaves blacksmith as the moon
• Main Themes/Ideas:
• Blacksmith is never content - other roles always seem better than the one he currently has, but once he is put in them, he sees the negative parts that he didn't from the outside
• Wise Man is willing to help the blacksmith up until a point, when he grows tired of helping someone who doesn't seem to ever like their role. Blacksmith wanting to return to being a blacksmith tells Wise Man that Blacksmith doesn't care about what has been done for him

The Hare that Was not Afraid to Die

• Plot:
• Buddha born as a hare
• Teaches friends (Monkey, Jackal, Otter) about morality, charity, keeping holy days
•  Tells friends to give from their own store of food to beggars on fast day
• Otter takes fisherman's fish, Jackal takes lizard and pot from a field watcher, Monkey gathers mangoes
• Hare decides to give his own flesh due to owning no other food
• King of the Gods disguises self as Brahmin, goes to each animal
• Otter offers the fish, does not admit the theft
• Jackal offers lizard and pot, admits the theft
• Monkey offers mangoes
• Brahmin tells all three to wait until tomorrow before he sees to it
• Brahmin goes to Hare
• Hare offers flesh
• Hare tells Brahmin not to take his life on a holy day
• Instead, Brahmin should build a fire and let the Hare jump into it of his own volition
• When Hare jumps in, Brahmin reveals himself as King of the Gods and admits it was a test of Hare's virtue
• King of Gods puts image of hare on moon as a sign of Hare's virtue
• Characters:
•  Hare: reborn Buddha, willing to sacrifice self to uphold the "moral law"
• Animal friends: all trying to stick to what Hare has taught, but misguided? Went and gathered food rather than offering from their own stores of food
• King of Gods: tested Hare's virtue
• Main Themes/Ideas:
• Be willing to give up everything for the sake of others
• Life is just one more thing that can be used to help others
• Hare does not consider death as something to be feared, main argument for not letting Brahmin kill him was that it was a holy day

Image Information: Pixabay; Rabbit in the Moon.

The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi

• Plot:
•  Susa-no-wo journeys to see what type of people live above him
• Finds a deity of earth, Ashinadzuch, his wife, Tenadzuchi, and their daughter, Kushinada-hime
• They are grieving the loss of their eight daughters who were slain each year by the eight-forked serpent of Koshi, and the fact that it will come for their last daughter as well
• Serpent is a huge red-eyed monster with eight heads and tails, with trees growing over its back
• Susa-no-wo agrees to kill serpent in exchange for Kushinada-hime's hand in marraige
• Susa-no-wo tells them he is the brother of Amaterasu when they do not know his name
• Susa-no-wo transforms Kushinada-hime into a comb and puts her in his hair, has Tenadzuchi brew eightfold strength sake, and hangs eight doors with a vat of sake in each
• Serpent arrives and drinks sake from each door with each head, eventually falling into a drunken sleep
• Susa-no-wo draws his sword and cuts apart the serpent, finding the divine sword Kushanagi in its tail
• Transforms Kushinada-hime back and marries her
• Characters:
•  Susa-no-wo: god of seas and storms, requires reward for doing hero work, willing to rely on tricks to win
• Orochi: eight-forked serpent of Koshi, the main threat, able to be tricked easily (believed sake to be tribute?)
• Ashinadzuch and Tenadzuchi: parents of Kushinada-hime, willing to give her away in marriage if it means she lives
• Kushinada-hime: essentially has no role but as a reward for Susa-no-wo (disappointing, but unfortunately expected)
• Main Themes/Ideas:
• Outwitting monsters instead of overpowering
• Let the enemy defeat themselves

The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost

• Plot:
• Young man hears an owl while approaching a forest
• Lays down to rest near another forest
• Awakened by the voice of a woman crying for her son
• Remains where he is, rips hole in blanket to peep through
• Woman arrives, checks if man is alive (he plays dead)
• When she tries to cut his foot, he jumps up and she runs
• Man does not sleep, and sees a burial scaffold in the morning
• Young man comes to another forest, hears singing
• Man shouts to singer, gets no answer
• Singer comes and asks for food, young man lies and singer calls him on the lie
• Singer is a ghost, has no flesh - noticed when he smokes
• Ghost challenges man to wrestle
• Young man throws brush on the fire before agreeing
• Ghost was stronger away from fire, young man won by pushing brush into fire
• Ghost fell to pieces
• After winning wrestling, statement made by ghost ("if you can throw me, you shall kill the enemy without hindrance and steal some horses") came true
• Characters:
• Young man: smart, able to prepare (brush near fire)
• Ghost: not sure here - the first ghost seems to have no real purpose other than to make the young man aware ghosts exist, and the latter seems to do many things
• Main Themes/Ideas: 
• Believe what ghosts say

Pygmalion

• Plot:
• Pygmalion saw women as wicked and chose to be a bachelor
• He carved a figure and fell in love with it
• He treats it with 'love' (kissing, speaking, holding, dressing it, etc.)
• Goes to Venus's festival and prays for the figure to become real
• Venus grants the prayer, and Pygmalion returns home to find the girl has become real
• Venus attends the marriage between Pygmalion and the figure-turned-real, and the new woman bears a son named Paphos 9 months later
• Characters:
• Pygmalion: sees real women as wicked, falls in love with a carved figure, wishes it to be real and then marries and has a kid with the newly created woman
• Venus: grants Pygmalion's wish to have the figure he loves turned into a real woman for him to marry
• Ivory Woman: figure carved by Pygmalion, marries him once she becomes real
• Main Themes/Ideas:
•    Paphos takes its name from the son created from Pygmalion and the Ivory Woman

The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal

• Plot:
•  Tiger caught in trap, found by Brahman
• Tiger swears to serve Brahman as a slave if freed
• When freed, Tiger decides to eat Brahman instead, but agrees to abide by decision of first 3 things Brahman questions about justice of Tiger's actions
• Papal-tree: tells Brahman to man up, trees get branches torn off to feed cattle
• Buffalo: gets mad at Brahman, buffalos are treated poorly once milk dries up
• Road: 'I get trampled on every day and get nothing'
• Comes across Jackal on the way back, Jackal doesn't seem to understand
• Jackal and Brahman return to Tiger, Brahman explains story to Jackal
• Jackal continues to misunderstand, enraging the Tiger
• Jackal doesn't understand how the Tiger got into the cage, Tiger demonstrates
• Jackal shuts the door once Tiger is in the cage
• Characters:
•  Brahman: tries to do a kind act (freeing Tiger) but ends up in danger, naive, wants to live but doesn't know how to convince tiger
• Tiger: treacherous, wants to eat Brahman, easily manipulated (agreed to abide by decision of three things although could've been lying again, Jackal convinces Tiger to get back into cage)
• Jackal: wily, helpful (saves Brahman from Tiger but also doesn't fill Brahman in on the plan)
• Main Themes/Ideas:
•  People can be manipulated by trying to show off how smart they are and make others understand something

The Lion's Share

• Plot:
•  Lion went hunting with three others
• Found a stag and killed it
• Quartered the stag, but then took all quarters
• Characters:
•  Lion: arrogant, cruel, king of beasts
• Fox: angry with Lion
• Main Themes/Ideas 
•  People in power will often not properly reward/credit those under them for the work they did

Androcles and the Lion

• Plot:
• Androcles comes across a Lion moaning
• Lion has thorn in the paw
• Androcles takes out thorn and binds paw
• Lion takes Androcles to cave, brings him food
• Lion and Androcles captured, Androcles thrown to the Lion
• Lion went days without food
• Lion refused to eat Androcles
• After hearing the story of the two, the Emperor freed both
• Characters:
• Androcles: willing to help the Lion
• Lion: grateful for Androcles saving him, refused to harm the person who helped him
• Emperor: recognized the significance of both Androcles and the Lion's actions, freed them both
• Main Themes/Ideas 
•  Those who show gratitude for help received are good people ("noble souls")

  The Lion and the Statue

• Plot:
• Man and Lion discussing strength of men and lions
• Man argues superiority of man due to intelligence
• Man shows statue of Hercules overcoming a Lion
• Lion responds that it proves nothing
• Characters:
• Man: overly confident in man's superiority
• Lion: aware that not everything should be believed at face value
• Main Themes/Ideas 
• History is written by the victors: just because a record exists doesn't make it true, "author bias" - whoever created something has an inherent bias (man made statue of Hercules killing a Lion, man has bias towards strength of men over lions)

The Lion in Love

• Plot:
• Lion falls in love and proposes to maiden
• Father says that they are honored, but worried for daughter's safety - Lion should remove fangs and claws to not hurt the maiden
• Lion does so, parents laugh in his face when he returns
• Characters:
• Lion: in love, willing to weaken himself to be with maiden
• Parents: trickery, convince Lion to weaken himself so that they could safely refuse
• Maiden: apparently unimportant because we never have anything from her
• Main Themes/Ideas 
• Love can convince people to do things that they never would otherwise: Lion is willing to get rid of his teeth and claws, making himself weak and potentially putting himself in danger by people who would kill him, in order to get acceptance from the maiden's parents

The Three Roses

• Plot:
•  Mother with three daughters, asks what they want from market
• Two daughters give long lists, third asks for only three roses
• Mother bought all she could, got lost on the way back
• Came across garden of roses, took three
• Basilisk appears and demands mother's daughter in exchange for the roses - would not accept the roses back
• Mother promises daughter, and returns home, sending daughter (Mary) off to castle
• Basilisk asks to be nursed for three hours, two days in a row
• Third day, brought a sword and asked Mary to cut his head off
• Mary refused, but basilisk insisted
• Serpent appears from beheaded Basilisk, has Mary cut head off again
• Turned into a beautiful youth and proposes to Mary who accepts
• Characters:
•  Mother: tries her best to please her daughters, forced to give up her daughter due to a single poor decision
• Mary: simple wants, accepting of situations without complaint
• Basilisk: wants to be turned back into youth (?), marry whoever delivers him?
• Main Themes/Ideas 
•  Cutting away the evil parts: Mary has to chop off the Basilisk's head twice (once as a Basilisk, once as a serpent) in order for him to regain his human form. Metaphor for evil parts of the man that needed to be cut away, required someone else to help him change? 
• Lack of communication: Basilisk never tries to explain situation, simply demands daughter and then tells her to cut off his head without any given reason - just threats

 
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Bibliography:

"The Man in the Moon" from Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson. Web Source.
"The Hare that Was not Afraid to Die" from Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock. Web Source.
"The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi" from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney. Web Source.
 "The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost" from Myths and Legend of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.
"Pygmalion" from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline. Web Source.
"The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal" from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
"The Lion's Share" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
"Androcles and the Lion" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
"The Lion and the Statue" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
"The Lion in Love" from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.
"The Three Roses" from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. Web Source