Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part B

Goblins: The Snake's Poison
Swami - swami son with wife named Beauty

Conflict! 

That's some pretty perfect description - like the mourning of a dead partner.

It took him days? He was so grief stricken, you would think he'd jump instantly at the chance to find his wife.

Uh oh.. poor Hariswami.. 

"If you know and do not tell the truth" - seems really odd to me. What reason would the king have for lying? He knows he has to play the goblin's game to get him to come with him. This line just seemed weird to me.

Goblins: The Girl and the Thief

Merchant - Jewel, Wife - Pleasing, Daughter - Pearl

It seems like all the daughters/wives in these stories turn out to be beautiful.

Clever king - but he sounds like he is about to meet some dangerous company. 

Did he really think the thief did not recognize him? He is the king after all.

What? Pearl, no! 

The people in these stories really like to self-sacrifice.

Oh, well goody! All it took for the thief to be a good person was divine intervention.

These riddles are getting lame. It seems like any answer will do, as long as you can somewhat justify it.

Goblins: The General's Wife

There are a lot of king stories.

How kind of him. He wouldn't want to make all those women lovesick.

Wow, he is very committed to ruling his kingdom virtuously. It's too bad, because he might end up alone because of it.

I like the king's answer a lot, actually. Though he kind of underplayed the role of the general, I guess it could be the fact that social norms were different back then. Maybe his servitude was ordinary. However, it is pretty tough to have power and not abuse it, so good on the king as well.

Ahilya Ghat by the Ganges, 

from the UnTextbook

Goblins: The Four Brothers

Wow, I never even considered how old hanging/suicide might be. I wonder who was the first person to die that way?

Why are the younger brothers so wise? 

Ah yes, brothers learning different sciences. This is just like the reading yesterday. 

Where are they learning such crazy "sciences"? Story idea; make more crazy sciences for some brothers or sisters to learn!

What? How could the brother who put the hair/flesh on not know it was a lion? Was it done blindly or something? How skilled were they in this science? I don't like this story.

Goblins: The Old Hermit

That story was just kind of weird. Is the king actually going to die? I didn't think he was actually afraid of the goblin's magic until the end of this story.

Goblins: Father and Son, Daughter and Mother
The description has changed. I feel that something different is about to happen, and it doesn't look good for the king.

"if your faces lose their beauty we won't want to be marry you anymore" - the way that men speak to women in these stories weirds me out!

It doesn't seem like that big of deal for them to switch their original agreement. It's not like it was a business contract, and it makes more sense for the young to marry each other.

Is it not an impossible puzzle? Each of the children would have multiple relations, depending on how you trace it.

Goblins: Conclusion

Yay, happy ending! I rather enjoyed these stories, there's a lot of similarities to them, but some of them were really enjoyable. 

Bibliography: Twenty-two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder. Source.

Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part A

Introduction

Okay, these characters have interesting names. I wonder if the message of this story is going to have a play on words involved.

King rewarded for his generosity

Ooh, the king thinks that all the fruits have jewels in them. Now he's greedy = bad thing to come

Oh, just kidding. All of the fruits had gems in them. However, I still think something bad is to come out of greed.

This truly is a brave king if he agreed to that so easily.

Interesting. There is some magic involved in this story, and the goblin has yet to prove that he is a good character. I wonder what his story holds.

The Three Lovers

"feasting on the beauty of her face" - kind of a creepy line

Woah. That was sudden!

Jeez, what is going on in this story? People really didn't like crying children back then.

Oh, okay. So all forgiven then? Killing children/people is okay when you can bring them back to life, apparently.

Oooh, here's the dilemma. The king is brave, but is he wise as well?

The answer he gave is interesting, but I'm not so sure that it's true. It must be some sort of cultural behavior that made the answer so obvious and acceptable to the king.

Brave, Wise, Clever

Counselor, wife, daughter = Moonlight

brave, wise, clever

"given" to me - another example of women in the past being treated like objects

I really don't like the answer this time. While it true that the brave man defeated the giant, one could say that he was simply working for someone as a soldier or something.

If there is another similar riddle, I'm going to try and guess the correct answer.

The Girl, Her Husband, and Her Brother

temple for goddess, bath for goddess where people come once a year to bathe

These are some interesting names.

That was a really strange puzzle. The answer seemed too plain, but I guess it only makes sense!

Food, Women, Cotton

Woah, that's pretty intense. As an eldest brother, you would think that he would show some leadership and take the turtle himself.

I don't understand how being a "specialist" in any of those particular domains has to do with carrying a turtle. Are they really that afraid of touching something "slimy"?

Could the hair not have been planted? It could have even been tested to make sure an imprint was left on the third brother's skin. 

Food, Women, Cotton 

from the UnTextbook

The Four Suitors

I wonder why the goblin doesn't want to be taken to the monk. Is he  going to be sacrificed or something like that?

Husband that is good-looking and knows a science

1 - tailor, 5 suits/day, give 1 to god, 1 to brahman, 1 to himself, 1 to wife, 1 to sell for a living.

2 - farmer, understands beasts+birds

3 - soldier, best swordsman

4 - can resurrect dead creatures

I didn't catch that the king was a warrior, or maybe all the kings back then were also warriors? I was honestly thinking that he was going to say the tailor, because he actually provides a service for the wife. Battle/bringing back dead creatures/talking to animals doesn't seem as obviously useful in a day to day life.

It is worth noting that the king is becoming visibly frustrated by the goblin's riddles. Is he about to make a mistake?

The Three Delicate Wives

King with 3 wives - riddle has to deal with the wives?

Bibliography: Twenty-two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder. Source.