Week 13: Santal Folktales (Reading Diary B)

Once again, I read the Santal Folktales unit from the Un-Textbook for this week.

The stories that I will talk about in the second half of this reading diary are The Jackal and the Hare and the Fox and His Wife.

The Jackal and the Hare story was fun to read because of all the tricks the Jackal and Hare play on both the humans and each other. It was really creative at the beginning when the Jackal and Hare worked together to steal the food from the humans by using the Hare as a distraction while the Jackal swiped their meal. However, the Jackal was too mischievous and self-centered for his own good. He spoiled the meal of both the old woman and the Hare even though they were both helping him and friendly. In this unit, as well as some stories from others in the Indian Un-Textbook readings, the Jackal fills the spot of the fox in many European folk and fairy tales.

Engraving of Indian Jackal by J. G. Keulemans. Wikimedia

I thought the Fox and his Wife story was good because of how the fox's wife tricked the tiger who was so set on eating them and their children. Especially because she is so modest about her cleverness at the beginning when the husband was so boastful, it was great to see that flipped when they were actually faced with a life or death situation.