Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology
For these reading notes, I've chosen to focus on a couple of stories, which are linked below, and to focus on the plots of each of them, as they were interesting and similar but had a few key differences.
The Cunning Crane and the Crab by W. H. D. Rouse
The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses by Robert Chalmers
The Cunning Crane:
I enjoyed this story because it was not only about the use of wit for both good and bad, but also about karma and one's ability to think for themselves. In this story there are two ponds, one that dries up every summer and becomes very warm, and another that is always cool and covered by shade. The warm pond is filled with fish, who are consequently miserable every summer as the pond heats up. A crane lives at the cool pond, and he convinces the fish that he could carry them in his beak to the nicer pond. After convincing them, he manages to eat every single fish, and somehow still being hungry tries to convince a crab in the warm pond of the same thing. The crab is smarter, and convinces the crane that he should hang on with his claw around the crane's neck instead of in his beak. The crab then realizes the crane has eaten all the fish and plans to do the same with him, and threatens to kill the crane should he not take him to the nicer lake. The crane does so, and then the crab kills him anyways. This story seemed to emphasize karma and to be wary of blindly investing faith in people. I also enjoyed the message it gave about abuse of power, and that regardless of who you think you are compared to those around you, there is always someone smarter and more capable of doing to you what you've done to others.
The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses:
I enjoyed this story for similar reasons as The Cunning Crane and the Crab. This one seemed to emphasize the lesson of karma less, but the ideas on wit and abuse of power were more prevalent. In this story, a monkey king killed all of his sons out of fear that one of them would overthrow him, but one of his sons escaped with his mother. This son grew to be quite strong, and eventually came back to meet his father. His father wanted to kill him, but realized his son was much stronger, so he sent him to a pond where an ogre lived in hopes that the ogre would kill him. The son did so and even managed to impress the ogre in the process. When the father saw this, he was so appalled that he died on the spot, and the son was made king. I also liked this story because it focused on not using violence and anger but simply your heart and your mind to do what needs to be done. The son could've physically overpowered his father, but simply did what was asked of him in the manner he thought was best, and all worked out.
The Cunning Crane and the Crab by W. H. D. Rouse
The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses by Robert Chalmers
The Cunning Crane:
I enjoyed this story because it was not only about the use of wit for both good and bad, but also about karma and one's ability to think for themselves. In this story there are two ponds, one that dries up every summer and becomes very warm, and another that is always cool and covered by shade. The warm pond is filled with fish, who are consequently miserable every summer as the pond heats up. A crane lives at the cool pond, and he convinces the fish that he could carry them in his beak to the nicer pond. After convincing them, he manages to eat every single fish, and somehow still being hungry tries to convince a crab in the warm pond of the same thing. The crab is smarter, and convinces the crane that he should hang on with his claw around the crane's neck instead of in his beak. The crab then realizes the crane has eaten all the fish and plans to do the same with him, and threatens to kill the crane should he not take him to the nicer lake. The crane does so, and then the crab kills him anyways. This story seemed to emphasize karma and to be wary of blindly investing faith in people. I also enjoyed the message it gave about abuse of power, and that regardless of who you think you are compared to those around you, there is always someone smarter and more capable of doing to you what you've done to others.
The Monkey who Gathered Lotuses:
I enjoyed this story for similar reasons as The Cunning Crane and the Crab. This one seemed to emphasize the lesson of karma less, but the ideas on wit and abuse of power were more prevalent. In this story, a monkey king killed all of his sons out of fear that one of them would overthrow him, but one of his sons escaped with his mother. This son grew to be quite strong, and eventually came back to meet his father. His father wanted to kill him, but realized his son was much stronger, so he sent him to a pond where an ogre lived in hopes that the ogre would kill him. The son did so and even managed to impress the ogre in the process. When the father saw this, he was so appalled that he died on the spot, and the son was made king. I also liked this story because it focused on not using violence and anger but simply your heart and your mind to do what needs to be done. The son could've physically overpowered his father, but simply did what was asked of him in the manner he thought was best, and all worked out.
A message about Karma from Flickr
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