Week 11 Essay: The Khasi Folktales

(Tiger: MythFolklore)

For this week’s reading assignment, I read the Khasi Folktales. Unfortunately, it has been a really busy week so I was only able to read half of them. In this essay, I plan to give feedback about the stories within this unit as well as the UnTextbook reading option in general. From what I read, the Khasi people seem to be very observant of nature and really like to create folktales that explain their observations. If the observations that these stories are founded upon are all true, then I actually learned a couple of things. For example, I did not realize that tigers are afraid of monkeys, but now I do and I learned it through a pretty entertaining story that also warned us not to propose marriage to an unknown bride. That was another thing that I noticed about all of the stories: coupled with their explanation about the observation, the Khasi people also tried to include some kind of moral (regardless of how random it may have seemed). Within the unit, my least favorite story was How the Dog Came to Live with Man. I thought that it was significantly longer than the rest, and I wasn’t a huge fan of how they portrayed the dog. I really liked dogs, so I would have preferred the pig to be the deceitful character. In fact, I actually considered rewriting this story for my storytelling post yesterday. On the other hand, my favorite story was U Biskurom, which is actually the story that I chose for my storytelling post. This story was more focused on mankind, rather than the world around us. Despite the pessimistic theme, I really enjoyed the story. It was kind of funny how they portrayed the ignorance and greed of the men, especially at the end when they shouted at the heavens and U Biskurom sent down drops of blood that actually lead the men to believe that their shouts killed him. Although there were several stories that lacked notes at the end, they were all pretty short and easy to follow. There is nothing that I would recommend to change about this unit. I also noticed that we were asked if there is any information that we wished to have before choosing our unit. I really enjoyed the little descriptions underneath each of the units, and the titles of the stories did a really good job of summarize the types of stories that they contained, so there isn’t really anything that I would recommend adding to the descriptions either.

Click here to read the Khasi Folktales!

Week 11 Storytelling: U Biskurom

In the beginning, man was one of the most ignorant creatures that inhabited the earth. They had no tools and nothing that they created seemed to work as it was intended. The Great God felt really bad for his hopeless creation, which he originally intended to be the ruler of the earth. In a desperate attempt to get mankind back on the right track, he sent U Biskurom to help them. U Biskurom was an incredibly crafty being, and the Great God had a lot of faith in his ingenuity.

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)

Week 11: Reading Diary

This has been an especially busy week, so I only finished one of the reading assignments.. For this assignment, I read the Khasi Folktales.

The Tiger and the Monkeys:
This was quite an interesting story. I did not realize that tigers were afraid of monkeys, which appears to be the observation upon which this story is founded. I also thought that the overall moral was kind of strange. I could not imagine proposing marriage to an unknown bride. It kind of seems like a shallow thing to do because you would have to be acting on looks or social status alone.

The Legend of the Lei Tree:
It was kind of hard to give feedback about this story because it didn't really draw me in. I thought that it was cool that such a small bird played a huge roll in helping mankind avoid living in darkness forever.

Hunting the Stag Lapalang:
This was a really sad story particularly because it was about how a mother lost her child. It seems like a cliché phrase, but a parent should never have to bury a child.

The Goddesses Ka Ngot and Ka lam:
This is a cool story that describes how a river gained its form. It was cool to see how they indirectly incorporated the moral about being boastful.

U Biskurom:
This may be my favorite story in the collection, despite the pessimistic theme that it concludes with.. I really liked the characters and it was fun to laugh at the ignorance of mankind, assuming that the blood was from the power of their shouts.

How the Dog Came to Live with Man:
I wasn't a huge fan of this story. It was really long and I actually like dogs, so I wasn't crazy about how they were made out to be deceitful creatures.

The Stag and the Snail:
This story reminded me of a version of the tortoise and the hare that I once heard, but with a very umm... Unique? twist about why stags don't have gall bladders.

Overall these stories were pretty fun to read.

Read the original stories here!