Wikipedia Trails: From Magh Mela to India

First: Magh Mela

Last week I was really excited to learn about Magh Mela and now I think I'm going to try and learn about different festivals/ holidays/ sacred events in India. That's why I've selected my next link.

Next: Pushkaram

Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshipping rivers. It happens on the banks of 12 various rivers and it rotates which river it is celebrated on (which is why each festival is once every 12 years). In theory it happens year round, but the most people come during the first 12 days.

Next: Ganges

Ganges is one of the major rivers that Pushkaram happens at. I picked it because it's also one of the biggest rivers in Indian and has a lot of history and a lot of stories attached to it.

Last: India

I picked India to end because I really wasn't sure what I wanted to research next and thought just going to the general India Wikipedia page would help me out and help me figure where my next Wikipedia Trail shall go.

Ganges River from Source

Story Lab: Week 10

Empo Word:
Chapter Two Reading Notes:

- "We're all stories in the end" has a lot of different interpretations and so do many of the things we write
- Narration is how we convey our stories and there's different techniques to that, such as plot.
- Scope is the boundaries of plot (so like what you'll be covering); sequence and pacing is the order of the events and the amount of time you give to each event (this determines how the reader sees the story)
- Remember the elements of plot
- Different ways to structure plot, but it needs to be there
- Point of view is very important to your story, along with the tone
- Building characters is vital to the story, they are needed to bring your story forward
- Stories can be multi-media or multi-genre stuff
- Overall the article reminded me about the basics of storytelling and how I need to be putting more thought into each layer of my story and how it'll best be portrayed. Even small things like what POV works best for the story can really change how it turns out in the end.

Snape Writing Meme from Source

https://www.writerswrite.com/writingmemes/

Week 10 Reading (Extra Credit): Jakata Tales Babbitt Part B

The Wise and Foolish Merchant

- A thrifty merchant ended up buying wears to sell and a stupid young merchant bought goods in the same city. The started at the same time

- The young merchant goes first because he thinks he'll get the first pick of everything

- The thrifty merchant is okay with that because he'll smooth out the roads

- A demon sees the merchant and wants to overcome him so he empties his water

- The foolish merchant empties the water completely and there was no water to be found

- The demons meet the thrifty merchant as well and doesn't throw away his water

- the demons don't bother the thrifty merchant and he leaves with the foolish merchant's goods

The Elephant Girly-face

- Girly-face is named because he is so gentle, good and looked so kind

- Robbers break into Girly-face's home and plans to kill Girly-face's owners

- Girly-face learns from the cruel robbers and he kills his keeper the next morning

- He keeps getting fed but no one will approach him

- A wise man discovers that Girly-face learned from the robbers

- They plant some good men to tell Girly-face how to act and it works

The Banyan Deer

- There was a deer that was golden in color, that looked beautiful. 

- The King of the county liked to eat deer meat

- A deer park is made so the King can hunt

- He allows the Deer Kings to live

- The two deer kings talk about how they need to save themselves

- They give one deer up a day

-One day the lot falls on a mother with a young baby

- The Kings aren't kind and forces her to die

- The King of the Banyan Deer goes in her place

- The King sees the Kings sacrifice and stops hunting deer

The Princes and the Water-Sprite

- 3 princes: Prince of the Stars, Moon Prince and Sun Prince

- The queen is given whatever boon she wants

- She asks for the youngest son to get the kingdom, but the king refused

- He worries for the older two princes so he sends them away until he dies

- The youngest prince goes with them

- A water-sprite was given the pond and if people could answer "What are Good Fairies like?" they weren't in her power

- The Sun Prince tries and gets carried into the cave, so does the Moon Prince

- The Prince of the Stars answeres it correctly and he gets one of his brothers back 

- He asks for his youngest brother

- His answer means that both brothers come back

- The eldest brother inherits the throne once his father dies

The King's White Elephant

- Three carpenters are approached by a limping elephant

- They help him remove his splinter and wash his wound

- He goes to help the carpenters

- Once he's too old, he asks his son to help them instead

- His son is the white elephant

- His son would play with the carpenters children

- The King sees the white elephant and takes him back to palace and he lives a good life

The Ox Who Never Envied the Pig

- There's an ox and his brother called Big Red and Little Red

- the pigs are ordered to be fattened for the wedding feast

- Little Red is jealous the pigs are being fed well

- Big Red tells his brother why

Grannie's Blackie

- a man gave a woman a baby elephant and she takes good care of him

- The Elephant is called "Granny's Blackie"

- Blackie plays with the children

- Blackie never does work, only plays

- Blackie wants to help Granny with money

- Blackie works to pull wagons to get money for Granny

- The man only pays Blackie half of what she is owed and he's upset

- He doesn't move and Blackie is paid what he is owed

- Granny is pleased with Blackie

The Crab and the Crane

- A crane tricks fish into "going to a new lake" when they really get eaten. The crab notices and tricks the crane instead and the crane dies

Why the Owl is Not the King of Birds

- A tale about owls and crows

- Everyone chooses kings to rule over them, so the birds must choose

- The birds decide to make the owl the King of Birds

- The crow points out how sour and cross the owl looks

- They fight and have been enemies ever since

- Turtle Doves are chosen as the king of birds

Source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt (Image too)

Girly-face being Examined from Source (see above)

Week 10 Reading: Babbitt Jataka Tales Part A

Monkey and the Crocodile:

- We read this story as part of week 1 of reading
- This version it's the crocodile's mother that wants the heart of the monkey
- Monkey agrees to crocodile's ride
- Crocodile lets Monkey breathe just to tell him he's going to kill him
- Monkey tricks Crocodile into thinking that his heart is a fruit
- Crocodile finds Monkey later
- the Crocodile pretends to be a rock and the monkey calls for it
- When Crocodile answers, the monkey says hello to him
- The Monkey convinces the crocodile to open his mouth so his eyes close
-He jumps over the crocodile

How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

- the princes get scared of the turtle in the lake, thinking it's a demon
- The king orders the demon be caught and killed
- An old man who's scared of water suggests throwing him in the water
- The turtle begs not for that one and is thrown into the water, only to be safe

The Merchant of Seri

- merchant goes from town to town selling brass and tinware with a second greedy man
- There was an old women who has a golden bowl who doesn't know it's a golden bowl
- the granddaughter begs her grandmother for something and suggests she trades the bowl
- The greedy merchant pretended not to be interested in the bowl so he leaves it
- the other merchant sees the bowl and tells them he can't buy that bowl
- He buys the bowl for all that he has and then crosses the river
- the greedy merchant comes back to find the bowl is gone


The Turtle who Couldn't Stop Talking

- There was two geese who befriend a turtle and ask him to fly back home with them
- They devise a way for the turtle to be able to fly but it only works if the turtle doesn't speak
- Kids make fun of their way and the turtle goes to defend his friends but he falls to his death
- His geese friends keep going

The Ox Who Won the Forfeit

- There was a strong Ox and an owner who constantly bragged about him
- They tie 100 wagons to the ox
- The owner whips his ox and treats him badly so he refuses to go
- The owner loses and has to pay a ton of money
- The ox askes the owner why he whipped him and called him names
- the owner apologizes and the ox offers to do it again
- The owner wins his money this time

The Sandy Road

- A merchant reaches a road that has very hot sand so can only be traveled at night
- They make camp during the day
- The pilot says they will be out of the sand in one more night
- however, the pilot fell asleep and the ox keep going
- when he wakes up they're out of water and lost
- they eventually find water
- they continue on their way

The Quarrel of Quails

- A man earns his living by catching and selling quails
- He can make the same noise as the leader of the quails
- The leader of the quails devises a way to stop so many from being captured
- It works and the man can't catch the quails
- The quails divided themselves into two groups after a fight and neither group wanted to lift the net
- Their fight let to them being sold

The Measure of Rice

- Valuer is an honest man in a dishonest kings court
- He set the price of expensive thing
- the King knew if Valuer was dishonest, he would be richer
- the Valuer gets fired and a new peasant is hired as Valuer
- He buys 500 horses for a measure of rice
- The horse-seller gives the Valuer a present and tells him to tell the king what a measure of rice is worth
- The new Valuer sets the measure of rice as the price of his whole city
- He's laughed out of the city

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

- The rabbit thinks the world is falling apart and slowly pulls more and more animals into his frenzy until the King Lion stops him and shows him it was merely a coconut that fell from the tree.

Source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt (for picture too)

Monkey from Source (see above)