Story Planning: Story about a T-Rex(To be titled later)

T-Rex Story Plan:

This story will be based on the Patient Buffalo Jataka. In this story a giant buffalo lived underneath a tree in a pond. A monkey often came by to annoy him. When asked by a fairy why he does not simply just kill the monkey he responds by saying that the monkey was not gifted with much intelligence. A fairy then gives the buffalo a charm so that no body could cause him to suffer. 

World Map Cretaceous Period

In my rendition I plan on replacing the buffalo with a T-rex, and the monkey will be portrayed by a raptor. The story will be set in Cretaceous period.  At the moment I am thinking of incorporating the mass extinction event of dinosaurs in this story. The fairy will be some god-like deity. 

Bibliography: 

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales

Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)

Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair

Year: 1939

Reading: Jatakas B

The Patient Buffalo:

Water Buffalo

A giant buffalo was resting under a tree

A pair of eyes poked out of the bushes and looked at the buffalo

It was a monkey who was not afraid of the buffalo

The monkey tried to irritate the buffalo to no avail

A fairy asked the buffalo why he did nothing about the monkeys constant annoyances 

The buffalo said that he should not harm the monkey for the monkey is unintelligent

The fairy thought this was nice and gave the buffalo a charm so that no one could cause him to suffer

Bibliography: 

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales

Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)

Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair

Year: 1939

Reading: Jatakas A

The Monkey-Bridge:

A giant monkey one ruled over eighty-thousand monkeys in the Himalayas

The monkeys were happy living in the shade of a magnificent tree

They also ate the fruit of the tree 

The monkeys were warned not to let a piece of fruit fall in the river

It might attract man who will come and take the fruit

One day a piece of fruit fell in the river and was discovered by a king

The king searched for the fruit, and eventually found it in the Himalayas on the river

In the fruit tree they also saw monkeys scurrying along

They planned to shoot the monkeys and take the fruit

The people wind up striking down the great monkey and learning a lesson to love

Monkey Jataka

bibliography:

Title: More Jataka Tales
Author: Ellen C. Babbitt
Illustrator: Ellsworth Young
Year: 1922

Week 9 Story Telling: The Riddler Strikes Again

Author's Notes:
This story is based off of "Riddles at the Lake". In the original the pandavas brethren went to leave the forest they had lived in. On the way out they came across a body of water, and a voice asking them a riddle. The first few brothers ignored this, but the wisest of the brothers answered the questions thoughtfully. The first of the brothers died, but the wise brother was able to survive due to his ability to answer the riddles. Robin represents the first three brothers. Batman is the wise brother, and the Riddler represents the voice. The voice in the original story goes on to reveal itself to be Yaksha.

Bat Symbol

Story:

It was pouring rain in Gotham one evening. The bat-symbol was shining in the sky, and Batman was preparing to go to whatever the disturbance was. He slid down from Wayne Manor into the Bat-Cave, and then he jumped into his suit. Now that he was ready he hopped into the bat mobile, and raced away towards his newest destination. It turns out that he was on his way to solve a riddle left by none other than the Riddler.

As Batman arrived on the scene he noticed a body lying on the ground. It was his sidekick, Robin. "Robin must have tried to solve this riddle himself, and met the consequences of a wrong answer.", Batman Said, as he checked on his friend to see if he was still alive. Robin was only unconscious, so Batman placed him in the bat mobile, and set off to solve this riddle.

Batman approached the wall in which the riddle was inscribed. It read, "  I have billions of eyes, yet I live in darkness. I have millions of ears, yet only four lobes. I have no muscle, yet I rule two hemispheres. What am I?". Batman thought what robin might have answered out to solve the riddle. Whatever it was, it ended up knocking out his friend. Next, Batman turned his attention to actually solving the riddle. " What could this be?" he asked himself, as he wracked his brain for a potential solution. Suddenly, he figured it out. "I've got it!", he shouted, " The answer is the brain!".

After shouting out his answer, batman heard a rumbling coming from the wall the riddle was written on. A compartment had opened up in the wall releasing a tube along with a note. The gave a hint as to where the Riddler was located. The tube then began spraying out a gas that would knock out anyone if too much was inhaled. Batman then darted for the bat mobile, and left towards his next clue.

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

Reading Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution part B Favorites

Son of the Sun:

Kunti was wise when she was growing up

Sage Durwasa paid a visit to their village

Everyone was afraid of the sage except for kunti

Kunti served the sage and kept him company

Durwasa was used to being avoided, and enjoyed her presence

When Durwasa had to leave he whispered a mantra into Kunti's ear

This gave her the power to summon any god she wanted

She did not believe this so she tried it, and summoned the sun god

She winds up in the possession of the son of the sun god, but can not keep him as she is unmarried

Kunti puts the baby in a basket and sends it down the river

Sons of Pandu:

Pandavas

Pandu accidentally kills a hermit and is cursed

Kunti first calls upon Yama

Yama responded to kunti's chant

He gave her a son that would be the embodiment of virtue and patience

Pandu is very happy with his new son

Kunti then calls upon Vayu dev, the wind god, and was given yet another son

Kunti went on to do this everal more times with several different gods

Each time resulting in more epic sons

Pandu was still cursed, and soon perrished after pushing himself on madri

Madri went into the flames with pandu as he was cremated

Kunti could no longer bear the sight of her old home

She took off with the pandavas

Bibliography: 

Title:  The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution

Author:  Epified TV (India)

Year:  2015-2016

Reading: Mahabharata Karmic Revolution favorites

Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution:

I. Introduction

• The Mahbhrata is a story that spans the entire subcontinent.
• Vias dictated the story to Ganesha, the lord of beginnings       
• The story has been retold by many other story tellers. Each have put their own touch on the story.
• The Mahabhrata is the story of kings, queens, heroes, villains, and a great war.

II. Shantanu the Unfortunate

• The Mahabharata is said to begin at many points, but can be seen as an account of how karma functions
• King Shantanu fell in love with the river goddess, and asked her to marry him.
• Ganga said yes
• She mad Shantanu promise to never question her decisions
• He agreed, they married, and were happy for a time
• They had their first child and it was drowned by Ganga
• Shantanu was devastated, but did not question his wife as promised
• Ganga killed their next six children without question from Shantanu
• As ganga was about to kill their final child, Shantanu finally questions Ganga
• She replies, and leaves shantanu, walking off with his only remaining child

III. Devavrat Returns

Devavrat

•  16 years after his wife left him, Shatanu found himself at the banks of the Ganga. 
•  His sadness was interrupted by fighting. The man he saw possessed skill that he had not seen before
•  Shortly after the fighting he saw his wife, and found out this young man was his son
•  Shantanu brought back to its kingdom its new prince
•  Shantanu fell in love, but could not marry due to already having a son. He was depressed
• Devavrat decided to do something about this.

IV. Devavrat becomes Bhishma

•  Prince Devavrat goes to the Fisherman and begs him to allow his father to marry his daughter
•  The fisherman still refused
•  Devavrat vows to never mary so that his father can marry. He vowed to never father any children before all the gods.
•  Prince Devavrat becomes known as Bhishma- he of the terrible oath.

Bibliography:
Title:  The Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution
Author:  Epified TV (India)
Year:  2015-2016

Week 8 Progress

I am pleased with my progress in this course to this point in the semester. I am no ahead, but I am not behind either. This is a good place to be currently. I only want to avoid getting behind for the rest of the semester.

Motivation 

Week 8: Comments and Feedback

I think that the class has provided great feedback over all. There is quite a it of praise, but there are also constructive comments. As well as questions posed to help better every one's writing. I like to think I give at least generally helpful feedback when I post comments. I try to leave a comment about layout, and structure of writing. I also try to get more detail out of some plot element, or description.

I think the blog comments are a great way for us to get to know one another a little bit. It has been fun reading comments on my own postings, and I hope others feel the same enjoyment from it as I do.

Feedback Components 

I selected the above photo because I feel it is concise, but also shows a lot of detail in regards to giving quality feedback. 

Week 8: Reading and Writing

Overall, the reading and writing assignments have been fun. I have read a great deal more this semester than I have in the past, and that has been good for me. The writing component is a different outlet that I had not used in the past, and I find my self enjoying utilizing it.  I think my biggest accomplishment of this class was just being able to complete everything to this point. I generally get behind in courses with such a fluid structure.

Ravana

My favorite photo from my postings has been the one above. I just think it is a cool and menacing image of Ravana.

Week 7: Story Planning: The Riddler Strikes Again

The Riddler

I plan to write story based off of " Riddles at the Lake" . When I read this story I instantly thought of the Riddler from the Batman Comics. The story will be set in Gotham, and I will represent Yaksha with the Riddler. The brothers who drink the water without answering the riddle will be represented by some to be determined characters from the DC universe. From afar Batman will study what happened to his fallen friends, and eventually Batman will approach the Riddle, and solve it. This will lead him to the Riddler, or at least a step closer to finding the Riddler. They will possibly commence in fighting, or maybe the Riddler will escape to place more riddles for the Batman to solve in the future. I think this is going to be a very fun story to delve into.


In the Original Story:
When the twelfth year of exile was nigh to an end, the Pandava brethren bethought them to leave the forest.
They saw a stag that had the antlers to kindle a great fire
The brahmin appealed to Yudhishthira to pursue the animal, and the Pandavas endeavored in vain to kill it or recover the sacred twigs
upon following the stag, several of  brothers came upon some water, and were thirsty. They drank it and fell dead.
At length wise Yudhishthira approached the pond. He beheld his brethren lying dead, and sorrowed over them.
The Voice said, "I am a yaksha. I warned thy brethren not to drink of this water until they had answered what I should ask of them
The Voice said, "Who maketh the sun to rise? Who keepeth him company? Who maketh the sun to go down? In whom is the sun established?"
Yudhishthira answered these riddles and many more
Many such questions did the Voice address to wise Yudhishthira, and he answered each one
 the yaksha revealed himself in the form of Dharma, god of wisdom and justice

Bibliography: Indian Myth and Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie