Storytelling Week Five: Twenty Two Goblins

There was once a beautiful young woman who lived in a village just like all others.  The woman was beautiful beyond comparison and there was no other to match her likeness.  As will often happen with beautiful young women, many fell in love with her.  In particular there were three suitors who took an exceptional interest in the woman.

However, tragedy struck and the woman fell to a horrible disease.  There was never any indication of who would have won over the woman’s heart.  Between the three suitors all were of equal wealth, knowledge, and talent.  However, all three mourned for her in very different ways.

The first suitor had fallen in love with her mind.  Therefore to commemorate her death he traveled far and wide seeking to attain higher knowledge. 

The second had fallen in love with her virtue.  Therefore, in efforts to preserve her purity he raised her name to the heavens so that she could remain blessed.

The third had fallen in love with her.  Not with any one specific attribute, the third suitor loved her so whole-heartedly that his world was black in her death.  He mourned by living at the cemetery where she rest, begging for a living.

When the woman’s family came to give away her worldly possessions they found a letter written in their daughter’s script “To My Love”.  Surely the letter was for one of the three suitors but they couldn’t determine which.  After seeing the ways in which they mourned they determined it could be only the third suitor.  As he loved their daughter in all accounts and did not see her as one-dimensional, rather he saw her in all aspects of life as beautiful.       

Author’s Note:  This story is loosely based on TheThree Lovers from my story unit this week.  In the original story the story of the three lovers is introduced by a goblin.  The goblin is telling the story to a King as part of a riddle.  In the original story the first suitor uses his knowledge to bring the woman back to life and the problem of who she should marry arises.  The King answers the riddle by analyzing the means by which each man grieved for the loss of the woman.  He answered the man who lay by her grave, because he mourned for her as a lover should.  The King was correct in his answer.  Although, I think there should have been somewhat more of a debate about the matter.  I rewrote my story without the woman coming to life in the end because I think if I were the third suitor I wouldn’t want to disturb the dead.  People often pose the theory that if we could wake the dead that they would be different.  I think it is best that they remain passed on and therefore didn’t bring her back in my story. 

Bibliography:

Twenty Two Goblins 

Arthur W. Ryder 

1917

Grave Angel Weeping

Reading Diary B: Twenty Two Goblins

Well the second half of my story unit, Twenty Two Goblins, has come to its end!  As it often turns out in stories, everything came to a good end and the trials the goblin put the king through served a purpose. 

The goblin was evaluating the king since he knew the Monk was false in his intentions.  The monk wanted to absorb power by sacrificing the king and to use the goblin in order to become the king of the fairies.  Since the goblin witnessed first handedly the king’s determination and endless patience he informed the king of the Monk’s plans and told him how to overcome the inevitable deceit.

I think this story turned out to have a really positive message about patience and determination.  The paradoxical riddles were very enjoyable and at times made you think about motives of various characters.  However, overall I thought the story line with the king and the goblin was most intriguing about this unit.  I definitely appreciated the end how they turned the trials and tests into an ultimate test and the king was rewarded for his good character. 

This unit was very interesting and I’m glad I decided to read it for my Indian myth section.  I think the opportunity to read stories from different culture is a great view into their values and moral expectations.  The value of patience and perseverance was undoubtedly highlighted.  Simultaneously through the paradoxical riddles undesirable traits were shown to be negative and therefore discouraged by individuals who may be told this story.

     

Painting of Shiva 

Image taken from the UnTextbook

Artist Arumugam Manivelu

Twenty Two Goblins: Reading Diary A

This week my reading unit comes from the India section and is entitled the Twenty Two Goblins story unit.  I decided to read this unit because of the description that sets it apart as being based on paradoxical riddles.

The premise of Twenty Two Goblins is a Monk asks a King to fetch him a body that is hanging from a Sissoo tree.  The King agrees to complete the task.  When he finds the body and attempts to bring it back he comes to encounter the goblin.  The goblin proceeds to tell the King stories that end in various riddles.  A false answer means the king’s head will explode.  A correct answer returns the goblin to the sissoo tree.  A genuine wrong answer will cause the goblin to tell another story.

So far the king has correctly answered all of the goblin’s riddles.  The king continues to have to go back and collect the goblin from the sissoo tree as he tries to bring him to the Monk.  I find the concept of this story to be somewhat confusing.  The king’s correct answers stereotypically would be grounds for some kind of victory or reward.  Instead he keeps having to restart and is essentially being punished for being wise. 

I’m interested to see how the story will turn out and what the message is.  Although writing it out I think the king’s journey may be a paradoxical riddle as well.  Hmm… we will see what happens! To be continued. 

Scene from The Hangover 2