Famous Last Words: Week 5

It seems like the semester just started last week. But now we’re really getting into it. I just had my first exam Friday, and I have another one on Monday. There has been a lot of studying this week.
Notable sports from the week, and for the week to come. OU men’s basketball had a big week. They crushed a nationally ranked West Virginia (in a revenge game in Norman) by 20 points. I got to go, and the atmosphere for the game was great. Normally, there are very few people who come to the basketball games. Norman is definitely a football town. But lately, as the Sooners have been getting more and more in the college basketball spotlight, more and more people have been coming out to the games. Tomorrow, Iowa State is coming to town, and the game will be on ESPN. Also, yesterday the Sooners beat TCU pretty comfortably.

This weekend I finished up the reading for my unit on Brer Rabbit. It was very relaxing to just listen to the audio version of the stories and follow along. I also wrote a pretty good cat storytelling this week (see Storytelling week 7) if I do say so myself. I am getting better at writing thanks to this class. And yes, going from a 3rd grade writing level to a 5th grade writing level is “getting better.”

Now I am watching the Blackhawks/Blues game, and the third period is about to start so I’m trying to finish this entry up. The game is tied, 2-2. Chicago has been up 1-0 and 2-1, but hasn’t been able to pull away; St. Louis just keeps hanging around. The game is just coming back on, so I need to go now so here are just a few more words meow.

(Image Information: Ryan Spangler, future Big XII player of the week; Web Source: Wikimedia)

Essay: Animal Wit

(Image Information: A fox; Web Source: Wikipedia)

In every case, the last man, or animal, standing was not the strongest, or the fastest, but was the most intelligent. This week was a nice shift of gears from mythology and into some shorter fables. The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai had plenty of stories, and almost every story, at the end, included a “winner” who was more cunning than his peers. Also, it is interesting to note that, in each story, there was usually one person who thought he was the smartest, but ended up being bested by another who was better than him.

For example, in The Hare, the Fox, and the Wolf, the hare intends to use the wolf as a means of removing the pesky fox from the hare’s worries. The hare devises an entire plan to have the wolf kill the fox; however, in the end it is the fox (commonly recognized as a cunning, or sly, animal) who emerges victorious, and the wolf who the hare was going to use to kill the fox, actually killed the hare. The fox was the smartest of the three creatures, so he survived in the end, capturing both the hare and the wolf.

Again, in The Camel Driver and the Adder, wit wins out. And this time, a fox is again involved in the victory. The camel driver, out of the goodness of his heart, saves the adder from certain death, only to be told that the adder still must kill him. He tries to wiggle out of it, but is unable to do so multiple times. Finally, before it’s over, a fox comes along and helps the camel driver. The fox tricks the adder into returning to the tiny bag he was saved in, and the camel driver closes the bag and kills the adder. Again, the fox (and the camel driver) wins.

Finally, there was the story of The Three Fish. This story blatantly says that wit is a most important quality. The fish who always used his wits was able to escape, the fish who sometimes used his wits was able to survive, and the stupid fish… he died. The moral of the story is be smart.

Storytelling Week 5: The Merchant and His Cat

There was once a merchant who was sent by the king on a daring mission. Afraid he would not return, the night before he was scheduled to depart, the merchant went to his old friend to ask a favor. The two had been friends for so long, that the merchant knew he could trust his friend.

“My old friend,” began the merchant, “I have known you for as long as I have been able to walk. You have stood with me through thick and thin. Now, I must ask you to do me one favor more. I am going on a mission and it may be awhile before I return. I need you to watch over my two tons of iron so that nobody will steal it while I’m gone.”

The friend, seeing this as an opportunity to gain immense wealth, replied that he would be happy to keep an eye on the merchant’s iron. “I’ll watch it as if it were my own.”

Once the merchant left, the friend sold every last piece of iron and grew extensively wealthy. The friend, expecting the merchant to perish on his travels, was shocked to see him return several fortnights later.

Upon his return, the merchant paid a visit to his friends house, expecting to be returned his iron. “Good friend,” the merchant began. “I have returned successfully from my mission and am glad that you have watched over my iron while I have been away. You have watched my iron, haven’t you?” To his dismay, the friend said that it had been lost, but the merchant knew that the friend had come into a large amount of money recently and expected that he sold the iron to accomplish this.

After telling the friend that everything was ok, the merchant left the friend’s house, but not before stealing the friend’s most prized possession, his cat. That night, when the friend went to bed, he called, “Kitty, kitty, kitty. Come here kitty, kitty,” but the cat did not come. Suddenly, the friend heard someone open his door. “Who is there? Reveal yourself you coward!!” the friend screamed. Then, the merchant appeared in the doorway.

“Return me my iron,” the merchant said defiantly.

“What have you done with my beautiful kitty?!”

“Your cat will be returned to you once you give me my iron back. I know that you sold my iron for your own gain, and for that you will be punished.” And so the friend was punished. The merchant retook all of the profits from the iron and let the cat walk right out the front door. His kitty was never seen again.

(Image Information: A collage of cats; Web Source: Wikipedia)

Author's Note: This story is similar to The Merchant and His Iron, except instead of abducting the friend's child, the merchant takes his cat because cats are better than people meow.

"The Merchant and His Iron" from The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton, with illustrations by E. Boyd Smith (1908).

Reading Diary B: Tales of Bidpai

Here are some notes on the Tales of Bidpai.

The Hare, the Fox, and the Wolf

It is becoming apparent that, in almost all of these stories, the most wise creature is the one who survives. What is interesting is determining who is the wisest. In this story, it seems as though the hare is going to get exactly what he wants by manipulating the lion. Unfortunately, it is the fox who is the smartest, and the hare dies (spoiler alert).

The Camel Driver and the Adder

Again, it is a twist at the end when we learn that the camel driver used the fox to outwit the adder. Although the camel driver seems doomed because he saved the evil adder, he uses the cunning of the fox to defeat the adder. Yet another story where the fox outsmarts the others.

The Crane and the Crab

I remember hearing this story when I was little. The crane outwits the fish, and so he makes quick and easy work of them; however, the crane gets greedy and tries to kill his enemy, the crab, too. The crab realizes what the crane has done once he sees the fish bones and kills the crane at once.

The Three Fish

This story explicitly says what I have been discussing throughout this half of the reading diary. The fish who always used his wits got away, the fish who sometimes used his wits survived, and the fish who never used his wits was killed.

(Image Information: A snapshot of three characters
from Fish Hooks; Web Source: Fish Hooks Wiki)

Reading Diary A: Tales of Bidpai

Here are some notes on the Tales of Bidpai.

The King, the Falcon, and the Drinking Cup

This story was crazy interesting. It turned out that the falcon was actually trying to protect the king from drinking the poison. The king was left to live with his harsh punishment. The moral to this story is to not make any rash decisions, but to give everyone a chance to prove their innocence.

The Merchant and His Iron

I guess there wasn’t much thought about it then, but that was a very odd way for the merchant to get back at the friend. I don’t really see how it would make sense to abduct a child ever, but it did make for a very interesting, serious twist to the story.

(Image Information: An iron ingot; Web Source: Minecraft Wiki)

The King, the Hermit, and the Two Princes

Another story that seems so weird. The wise king has a plan to make his two sons more humble and careful with money, but the hermit he leaves the money with dies. Then, by some insane luck, one prince finds the gold and ends up as the king after the other prince is killed in a battle because his army had no money. It was just very weird.

The Ass, the Lion, and the Fox

This story reminds me a lot of the donut experiment in psychology (in which a child is shown an old donut and says he/she may have that donut now, or if they wait, a fresh one in several minutes). The fox could have food for many days if he let the lion eat the ass unfortunately, he couldn’t resist the old donut.