Reading Diary B: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 19th&20th

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The first story I read today is The Man, his Wife, and her Lover, who all died for Love. This is a story about betrayal. A husband's wife falls in love with another man in secret. When her husband goes to work, she meets the man. One day the man accidently falls down and dies. The wife is very sad, so she also jumps down and dies. As her husband comes back and sees them, he is so heart-broken that he also kills himself.

The other story is The Four Brothers who brought a Dead Lion to Life. Four men want to do something amazing to please their king, so they go into an ancient place. When they find a skeleton, they decide to bring it back to life. After many efforts, they finally make it back to flesh. It is a lion. Then the lion kill all four and eat them up.

Reading Diary A: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 17th&18th

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The 17th goblin's story happened in a city named Ujjain. There was a race of magic spell. One side had very strong power and skill, and the other side was a little weak but the boy had a pure heart. Finally the boy with pure heart won even though he made a small mistake on spelling. The King was also impressed by the boy, so he answered the goblin's question without hesitation.

Then the 18th goblin told a story of murdering. A boy was conducting a murder with his parents. However, they were caught by guards. Before his execution, the boy laughed for his final liberation of bounding within his body. The King also answered the exact answer; he said the boy finally realized that being killed by his king was actually his salvation.

Reading Diary B: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 15th&16th

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I got a long story and a short story today. Both of them are really good.

The first story happens in the Himalaya Mount. In The Fairy Prince Cloud-chariot and the Serpent Shell-crest, two important characters made great sacrifices for the King in the story. And the goblin asked the King whose sacrifice is more than the other's. The King thought that Shell-crest did more sacrifice because Cloud-chariot knew what he would do and the results after he did.

The second story, The King who died for Love of his General's Wife; the General follows him in Death, tells me a sad story. The general of the king loves a same woman that the king loves, so he decides to help his king to get the woman. After the marriage, the king was very angry about the woman, so the king burns himself to death. Meanwhile the general decides to do the same thing, so he dies after his king.

Reading Diary A: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 13th&14th

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Today I read the 13th goblin, The Girl who showed Great Devotion to the Thief, and the 14th goblin, The Man who changed into a Woman at Will. The first story is really interesting.

In the 13th goblin, a beautiful girl does not want to marry anyone. When the thief in the city has been caught and executed, the girl tells everyone that she only marries this thief. God is impressed by her spirit, so god promise her to restore her husband's life and make him a good man. Then they live in a happy life.

In the 14th goblin, a man change him into a woman on purpose. And he makes a lot of chaotic incidences accidentally until everything losses control.

Reading Diary B: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 11th&12th

The 11th goblin is a really long story, but the story is really enjoyable. I had two exams today, so I have a leisure evening time to spend on reading. The 12th is short though.

In the 11th goblin, a high-minded counsellor takes care of his king's kingdom for a long time. But rumors appear that people say the counsellor wants to take over the king's country. To end these, the counsellor decides to travel though his king does not want him leave.

When he comes back, the king falls in love with another girl, so the counsellor's heart breaks and dies.

The second story tells an innocent man is kill by coincidences made by unconscious people. The question is which one is responsible for his death. The king says the man himself should be blamed because everyone else cannot be blamed.

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Reading Diary A: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 9th&10th

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Today I read the 9th goblin and the 10th goblin.

The first story is about a pretty girl selecting her husband. There are three candidates. One of them has amazing skill on making clothes, one of them knows how to communicate with animals, and one the them is a warrior. The king finally says the girl should marry the warrior because a true warrior is much better than a weaver or a farmer.

The second story is that a king wants to know which one of his queens is the most delicate one. And I totally agree the reasoning in the end; the king says the queen who is hurt just by sound is the most delicate one. The other two are hurt by being touched physically.

From what I read in the 9th goblin, I will continue my story based one the girl the dog would save. My dog character would be a dog hero.

Reading Diary B: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 7th&8th

Today I read the 7th and the 8th goblins.

In the first story, a king was accidently dropped into a sea. However the king found in a beautiful city. I will not use this story because it is really boring. And the question goblin asked was not tricky.

In the second story, three brothers argued about whom of them are the cleverest one. A king gave them tests and all three of them passed the test easily. The king however thought the brother of cotton specialist is the cleverest one. I do not agree; I think the woman specialist is the best one.

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Reading Diary A: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 5th&6th

I read the 5th and the 6th goblins today.

For the first story, I think King's point is that the one who takes the most risk deserves the girl. The clever man and the wise man are only assistants of the brave man.

The second story is short, but it really gives me a hard choice. Lovely accidentally switches the heads of her husband and her brother, so the question is which one of them should be her husband. I agree with the king's point and I may pick this as my storytelling this week.

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Reading Diary B: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 3rd&4th

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Today I read two stories of third goblin and the fourthgoblin. Still, these goblins asked very tricky questions.

In the first story, a parrot and a thrush argued about whether man or women are worse. They told two different stories to audiences. I personally like the second one; the thief was brave and the woman was unholy.

In the second story, the hero saved his king at the cost of his everything. However the King told goblin that the hero’s sacrifice was his duty; the king in the story had a right to use available lives to save himself. I nonetheless not quite agree on this point.

The story of men and women would be my storytelling this week.

Reading Diary A: TWENTY-TWO GOBLINS 1st&2nd

Today I read the introduction and first two stories of the Twenty-TwoGoblins. An interest thing I found was the Goblin in India and the goblins in my mind are very different.

Here in the first two stories. The goblin told the O King two long winded stories and it asked the King two perplexing questions. However, the King answered correctly and even beyond what the goblin thought in its mind.

I like the second story better, but I will read another two stories tomorrow. I will pick one story as my storytelling for this week.

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Reading Diary B: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

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I watched the rest part of the movie and I was impressed by the epic again. Though Amba has little scene in the last part, I will write Amba’s story of vengeance from Amba’s view.

My story will start from the fight between Parashurama and Bhishma. They could not defeat each other so they stopping fighting. Parashurama told Amba he could not help her to convince Bhishma. Amba was very frustrated so she decided to do ascetic practices. Finally Shiva was moved by her merit and Shiva promised her an opportunity to defeat Bhishma in the future.

The rest of my storytelling will be the fight in the war. I will use a lot of direct dialogues between Bhishma and Shikhandi, who was previously Amba. The whole story will be based on Amba's view.

Reading Diary A: Peter Brook's Mahabharata

Today I watched the part B of the film that I picked in week 7.

Unfortunately, Bhishma died in the very beginning of the part B. One thing I noticed was that Shikhandi did not remember his last life. He did not know why Bhishma did not fight him. I may change this in my storytelling.

I will tell Amba's will and the final fight with Bhishma. Though I may not see Amba in the following part of the film, I will watch the rest to see the story's ending.

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Reading Diary B: Brook. Mahabharata.

I am a little upset because I did not see Amba in the movie today.

Amba is a very important character because she is the last part of Bhishma's fate. I could not say Bhishma did wrong to Amba; either could I say Amba is an insane woman. The culture is this. Bhishma could not accept Amba because of his oat; Amba lost her love and reputation because of Bhishma.

A small misunderstanding lead to a big result. I will write about Amba's story from Amba's view. I might not have enough content from the movie, so I will use the original Mahabharata I read to enrich my storytelling. The topic is decided, which is The Old Hate.

Reading Diary A: Brook. Mahabharata.

This film is very informative. The main story line is based on the original story in the Mahabharata book I read.

The character I focused on is Amba. Though there was not too much about Amba, the first 20 minutes decides Amba's fate and explains why Amba hates Bhishma so much. 

I will use many direct dialogues between Amba and Bhishma. These should let my readers know Amba's struggle and Bhishma's insisting on his oath.

I need more information about Amba in the next part of the film.

Reading Diary B:Public Domain Mahabharata

It would be a special feeling to read a mighty hero fails in a war.

I read Bhishma's failure in sorrow because I did not expect to see Bhishma died in battleground. And the reason he failed is his enemies knew Bhishma’s vow and they took advantage of it. In my opinion, this is a brazen tactic. However I read about Bhishma have the fate to die on that day. It might be normal in the setting of the story, but I dislike it. I think Bhishma is the hero who can control his fate, fight against his fate, and twist his fate.

I would write my storytelling beginning with Bhishma found he broke his oath. I would say Bhishma was unwilling to stop attacking, but he finally accepted his fate. Bhishma let himself killed to fulfill his vow, and his soul return to heaven.

Image source: Bhishma Falls

Reading Diary A:Public Domain Mahabharata

Draupadi and the Pandavas, her husband, in the forest.

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In today’s reading, two stories interested me. One is the Lifein the Forest, and the other one is The Battle Begins.

Firstly the battle is epic. Bhishma is like a sharp spear in the war. Moreover, he gains power from his continuous victories; wherever Bhishma goes, he wins there. Bhishma is unstoppable. I may extend the fights with other heroes. However I noticed the part B of this week’s reading has a topic of Bhishma Falls. I cannot wait to read it, but I do not think I will write the battle ends with failure.

Although I am a fun of wars and fights, I love the forest life more. It gives me a brand new way to understand how to live in a forest. The ways they got food, drink, and living space are amazing. I want to write details of how they get those resources. I think they need to pray prior to take those resources.

I will finalized my idea about storytelling after reading part B.

Reading Diary B:Public Domain Mahabharata

Today's reading assignment started with a plot that enemies want to burn Bhima and his relatives. After escaping through the underground passage, they are in a dangerous jungle; the jungle is full of wild beasts and man-eater races.

I really enjoy reading the fight between Bhima and demon, but the story did not tell me too much about the details about the fight. I will add more fight scenes in my storytelling if I choose this one as my storytelling this week. Topic from yesterday is also very interesting, and I am not able to combine two stories because they are too diversified. 

I will focus on fighting for today's story and deceptive conversations for yesterday's topic.

Bhima fights with Hidimba

Reading Diary A:Public Domain Mahabharata

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Mahabharata is a completely new story to me; I have never heard about it until I enrolled in this course.

After reading several short stories; I found the Bhishma is a very interesting person. He did not do things following some guidelines; he broke rules to succeed. Bhishma is smart, or cunning in some others’ viewpoints.

For today’s reading, I personally like him especially the Bhishmaat the Swayamvara story. I probably do my storytelling based on this story. I will focus on how Bhishma abducted the three princesses in my storytelling; moreover I may expand the story by adding some more tricks that Bhishma used during his action.

Reading Diary B: Sita Sings the Blues

After being rejected by her husband Rama for a second time, 

Sita is taken into the earth by her mother, the goddess Bhumi. 

Rama, his brother Lakshmana, his two sons, and two sages look on in shock.

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After watching the rest of the film, I learnt more about the story of Rama and Sita after Rama’s exile ends.

After the exile, Rama came back and become the king; Sita became his Queen. However Rama is not actually the perfect husband. He still questioned Sita’s loyalty after knowing Sita was in pregnancy. Rama wanted Sita to do the second trial to prove Sita’s purity. I personally think this is ridiculous because Sita had passed the fire trial and it should be convinced enough. I guess Rama might have changed after he became the king. Moreover, one thing I do not understand is how a laundry man can question the Queen Sita’s loyalty. I thought there should be some classes during that time’s India in the book; I thought a laundry man should had respect to the Queen.

I wish to read more about Rama’s two sons in the future. For this week, I may do the storytelling based on Sita’s thoughts when she heard Rama still did not trust her. Sita’s inner struggles will be very complicated. Sita truly loved Rama, but this was the last way, the only way that she could use to prove her purity. 

Reading Diary A: Sita Sings the Blues

I did get a better understanding after I watched the film Sita Sings the Blues. Honestly, I skipped some poetry part of the Ramayana reading and only focused on the stories I was interested in. As a result, I must have missed some characters’ backgrounds and some other side plots that are important for the main story. I will write down some missing information I found today.

I only knew Ravana is an evil king, but I never know his evil conducts. From the film I know kidnapping Sita might be the only evil thing Ravana did. And his kingdom is running very well under his rule; people are rich and economy is good. I think his reputation was brought down after he was defeated; history is written by the victors.

Another story I did not learn from the reading is Sita was dropping her jewelry when she was kidnapped and sent to the Lanka City. I did not read about Sita a lot, so now I know Sita is a very smart woman. The rest story is the same as in my mind.
To sum up, I did not get too much new information for my project, but I think I can write a new story from Ravana’s view; a brilliant tyrant’s thought would be very interesting.

Sita in Jungle

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