Eastern Stories and Legends: Week 11 Reading Diary B

The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment

Bodisat incarnate as a bull and convinced his master to bet money he could pull 100 laden carts. When the master called him a wretch though on the bet he wouldn’t move. Interesting story about showing respect to people in order to get what you want out of life. This might be an interesting story laid out in a leather bar….

WallStreet Bull

Courtesy of Flickr

The Bull That Proved His Gratitude

Again as a bull he is with an older woman who treats him well but she works to the bone. He gets a job hauling carts across a ford and gets her 1000 gold pieces, they grow old and die happy together. I don’t really see how I could better this one other than maybe making the old woman have to go to therapy for the anxiety?

The Horse That Held Out To The End

Buddha as a horse who was pampered. King was attacked and king had a knight to go battle each of the 7 kings. Knight said give me the horse, King did and even after getting injured the horse kept going till all 7 were captured. Then he begged for charity and passed away. A good story about having humility in victory. This could be seen in a sports game, possibly a basketball game, football something.

The Monkey That Saved The Herd

Buddha as monkey king. This story has a water ogre and they end up drinking the water through cleverness by using straws. They outsmarted the ogre because they didn’t have to touch the water themselves. Would be fun to have a mythological creature story again. Ooooo, retell it with loch ness?

Loch Ness Monster: Nessy

Courtesy of Wikimedia

The Mallard That Asked For Too Much

Buddha was born as a mallard with golden wings and went back to his former wife and daughter to give them golden wings. Wife got greedy and tried to pluck all the feathers, which right then turned to crane feathers, pure white.

The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles

The wagons got turned around in the desert after they had all thrown away their water. They found water under a rock. It’s working to resolve problems, but it would be tricky to redo this. Might be an opportunity to use the story type generator and try to do something different…

The Elephant That Was Honored In Old Age

I don’t really understand this story. Elephant was loyal subject and then put out to pasture, then was made to be yoked and worked which she asked to not be insulted and the Buddha chastised the king. I don’t see a moral out of this. Maybe we should respect our elders?

The Fateful Friend

Elephant with Dog, Spanish Floor Tiles

Courtesy of Wikipedia

And elephant and a dog are great friends, they are separated, elephant refuses food, then king gets dog back and happy. This would be kinda fun to write as a reporter reporting the return of the dog. Maybe there is a rally etc. He could interview the Buddha, king, elephant and dog.

Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock 1920