Week 7: Folktales from Bengal (Reading Diary B)

This week I read the un-textbook unit, Folktales from Bengal.

One of the stories that I thought was very interesting in the second half of this reading unit was The Origin of Rubies. I thought this story was interesting.

There wasn't much of a moral to the story, which was different than many folktales. I kept expecting the spoiled prince to be punished for is lack of listening to his mother or something to happen after he stole the rubies and the woman from Shiva. I was very surprised when nothing happened especially when Shiva woke up from his mediation.

I was also surprised when the young prince married both the beautiful woman who was with Shiva when he was meditating and the princess. The marriage to the princess particularly suprised me because as far as the king knew, the boy was a commoner. But I guess that if you give the king a ton of huge rubies your social status doesn't matter as much.

Illustration by Warwick Goble in Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day

My other favorite story from this reading unit was The Bald Wife. Unlike the Origin of Rubies, this story had a clear motive and rewards for being a good person. I thought that it was great that even after the elder wife became young, beautiful, and rich, she continued to be kind to the young wife who had always been horrible to her. I did think that the husband was almost as bad as the younger wife for how he treated the elder.

It was also good to see that the young wife, when she tried to do the same as the elder, wasn't rewarded. Even if the young wife would have listened to the meditating man, she wouldn't have received the blessings of the plants and animals along the path since she didn't help them like the elder wife did. I also liked at the end when the younger wife becomes a maid for the elder and the husband.