Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales, Part A

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 Week 9 

It was very interesting to read Tibetan Folk Tales, Part A collected by Albert Shelton. Looking through the reading assignments I was immediately intrigued with the one about the Tiger and Frog. I kept reading and found a couple stories that really stood out to me. I saw that the stories all started out with "Long ago" or a variation fo that, and told a lesson by the end. 

The first story that caught my attention was The Tiger and the Frog collected by Albert Shelton, it is an interesting take on the relationship animals have. This small frog is seen as beastly by an actual beast. It made me kind of sad for the Tiger because it was starving and needed food, but at the same time I didn't want the frog to be eaten. I think that shows the emotions of the animal kingdom in a weird way. It also reminded me of the frog being able to "talk a big talk" and scaring the tiger so much that he believed it. I think that's an interesting mindset for a way animals need to survive against predators. 

In the story How the Fox Fell a Victim to His Own Deceit collected by Albert Shelton, it was very intense in a way that I wasn't expecting. The story caught me by surprise especially at the end. I liked how the fox is a symbolism for mischief and definitely lived up to that in the story. It went on to show a bigger picture that creating chaos between two friends/family will ultimately get you killed. I think the irony of it though was there was some truth to the hateful attitude the cow and tiger felt about each other. It was enough for them to believe the fox, yet the fox brining it to light got him killed. 

Another story I enjoyed in this collection was The Story of the Two Devils collected by Albert Shelton. This story was kind of humorous to me because the fortune-teller had literally no idea what he was doing. I also found some irony and parallels in the story with the fortune-teller and the two devils. The two devils basically suck the sons dry of their souls, while at the end of the story, the fortune-tellers wife insists of getting everything they can from the son as well. I also thought it was funny because the devils didn't know what they were doing when the fortune-teller arrived, just as he himself didn't know what he was doing. To me the fortune teller also had so ill intentions and basically only got lucky. In this instance it felt like picking one of the better evils. Very interesting plot and characters though! 

(Source: Two Devils) 


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