U Biskurom
exposed man to all of his favorite tools: the hammer, screw driver, ax, and
pliers. He went on to teach them about gravity, the tides, and wind. Mankind
spent years learning from U Biskurom. The Great God watched as his most prized
creation learned to build some of the most marvelous structures that he had
ever seen. When U Biskurom felt that man was finally ready to learn his final
lesson, he exposed them to fire. Man was amazed by the fire and was eager to
use it, but U Biskurom warned them of the dangers that came with his final gift
before ascending back to the heavens.
(Some Ancient Tools: AncientMesopotamians)
When U
Biskurom reached his destination, the Great God thanked him for helping mankind
and offered to throw a feast to celebrate his success. Unfortunately, while U
Biskurom was at the celebration, mankind had managed to start a huge fire that
posed a threat to all of the animals of the earth. Feeling like he was at fault
for exposing man to such a dangerous creation, U Biskurom returned to earth to
put an end to the fire. Little did he know that the fire was a trap. Mankind
knew that they could not advance at such a rapid rate without U Biskurom there
to teach them and set the fire in a desperate attempt to get him to return.
When U Biskurom arrived, the men quickly tied him up and tried to force him to
continue teaching them.
Realizing
that his life was in danger if he did not come up with another gift to offer, U
Biskurom suggested that he could teach mankind how to bring things to life.
Mankind had never thought that they could gain such power and was intrigued by
the offer. U Biskurom convinced the men that he would have to return to heaven
to get the power from the great god, and the men fell for his trick. Once
mankind realized that U Biskurom was not coming back, they furiously launched
an assortment of arrows toward the heavens. Mocking their actions, U Biskurom
sent drops of blood down from heaven. To U Biskurom’s surprise, mankind
actually believed that their arrows reached the heavens and slayed him. The
Great God and U Biskurom laugh at the ignorance of mankind for many years,
until they finally started giving them gifts again.
Author’s
Note:
I chose to rewrite this story because it was my favorite of the Khasi
Folktales that I read for this week’s reading assignment. I thought that it was
kind of funny as a satirical commentary on the greediness and selfishness of
mankind. Overall, my story is very similar to the original version of UBiskurom, but I added a few extra details and made up the part about the fire.
Bibliography:
Folk-Tales of the Khasis by Mrs. K. U. Rafy
(1920)
Hey, Austin! I really enjoyed your storytelling post. I appreciate how you kept close to the story so everyone reading the post knows the gist of the story, but I also enjoyed the extra details that you added and how your personalized it with the fire. The picture you included was also great and helped me visualize what was happening. Great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Austin! I found your storytelling post for this week really fun and interesting to read! I really like the story that you re-told, you really brought it to life. I love all of the detail that you put into this and all the character development and personalization that you incorporated. You really made this story relatable and enjoyable. The image that you chose to display made me really interested in wanting to ready you story as well! Overall great job, I look forward to reading more of your stories in the future!
ReplyDeleteHey Austin, I just finished reading your stories and I really liked it. Since I chose to read the other reading assignments I wasn't too familiar with this story but nonetheless, it was still good. Reading that U Biskurom sent down tears of blood in order to mock the humans seems like something typical an almighty god would do, so I think you made the story sound very true to the style of the epics we have read. Good job!
ReplyDeleteAustin, I like that you chose to read from the Untextbook this week. I like stories that I am surprised by and this was a new story to me. The way you set up the story is smart. By having the background to mankind being kind of stupid included, the presence of U Biskorum was sensible to the reader. I think adding tools that were more modern (like pliers and the screwdriver) was interesting since this seems like an ancient story. I also liked how you split the story up into different sections/paragraphs. Great writing!
ReplyDeleteAustin, you are a terrific writer. Your storytelling post this week was great and I really liked the photo you used. It is one of my favorite stories from this weeks reading assignment as well. I like the addition of a comedic aspect and I think you did a really great job of integrating it. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDelete