Reading Notes: Santal Folklore, Part A
This week I'm taking a little detour from my original reading plan. At the beginning of the semester I had planned to read the "Folklore of the Holy Land" unit, but now that I'm here it didn't sound as interesting. So, instead I'm reading the "Santal Folklore" unit, since animal stories and supernatural beings sound a lot more interesting today!
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Bibliography
"Ramai and the Animals" from Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas, Read it here
Out of this collection of Santal stories, the story that I liked the best was Ramai and the Animals. While some of the other stories had too many twists and turns to keep up with or had tragic endings, I felt that this story was easy to follow but still fun to read, and it also had a happy ending. I particularly enjoyed the happy ending because it seems like they are rare in most of the stories I've read so far for this class!
In the story, Ramai is one of five sons of a blacksmith who is tired of his sons always arguing. So to stop their arguing, the blacksmith gives them each a sum of money and basically tells them to make something of themselves using the money. While the other four sons purchase various kinds of livestock, Ramai took a little longer to spend his money. While he was walking around town and thinking about how to use his money, he happens upon a group of men who are about to kill the cat. In order to save the cat's life, Ramai buys it from the group of men. Ramai keeps walking, and stumbles into a very similar situation except this time he saves the life of a dog. Then Ramai saves the life of an otter, and finally he saves the life of a little snake.
However, when Ramai comes home his father is not happy with the way he spent his money as he thinks that Ramai wasted it because is too emotional. Ramai's father especially didn't like the snake hanging around the house, so he told Ramai to kill it or get rid of it. When Ramai went to free the snake, it asked that Ramai take it back to his parents in exchange for a reward of a magic ring.
Ramai returned the little snake to its parents, who were very grateful and wanted to give Ramai more than just the promised ring, but Ramai only accepted the ring. The magic ring would make any wish that Ramai had come true, whether it be a wish for a good lunch or a palace.
With his magic ring, Ramai went back home, but when he got home he found that his father had killed all the other animals Ramai had saved. Ramai's father said that they were useless, but Ramai argued saying that saving the snake's life had led to him earning the magic ring. To prove it, Ramai wished for a great palace and it appeared.
Rumor spread about Ramai's palace and wealth, and the king/Raja heard about Ramai. The Raja sent his daughter marry Ramai since he was so wealthy now, and they basically lived happily ever after because of the magic ring.
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Bibliography
"Ramai and the Animals" from Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas, Read it here
Out of this collection of Santal stories, the story that I liked the best was Ramai and the Animals. While some of the other stories had too many twists and turns to keep up with or had tragic endings, I felt that this story was easy to follow but still fun to read, and it also had a happy ending. I particularly enjoyed the happy ending because it seems like they are rare in most of the stories I've read so far for this class!
In the story, Ramai is one of five sons of a blacksmith who is tired of his sons always arguing. So to stop their arguing, the blacksmith gives them each a sum of money and basically tells them to make something of themselves using the money. While the other four sons purchase various kinds of livestock, Ramai took a little longer to spend his money. While he was walking around town and thinking about how to use his money, he happens upon a group of men who are about to kill the cat. In order to save the cat's life, Ramai buys it from the group of men. Ramai keeps walking, and stumbles into a very similar situation except this time he saves the life of a dog. Then Ramai saves the life of an otter, and finally he saves the life of a little snake.
However, when Ramai comes home his father is not happy with the way he spent his money as he thinks that Ramai wasted it because is too emotional. Ramai's father especially didn't like the snake hanging around the house, so he told Ramai to kill it or get rid of it. When Ramai went to free the snake, it asked that Ramai take it back to his parents in exchange for a reward of a magic ring.
Ramai returned the little snake to its parents, who were very grateful and wanted to give Ramai more than just the promised ring, but Ramai only accepted the ring. The magic ring would make any wish that Ramai had come true, whether it be a wish for a good lunch or a palace.
With his magic ring, Ramai went back home, but when he got home he found that his father had killed all the other animals Ramai had saved. Ramai's father said that they were useless, but Ramai argued saying that saving the snake's life had led to him earning the magic ring. To prove it, Ramai wished for a great palace and it appeared.
Rumor spread about Ramai's palace and wealth, and the king/Raja heard about Ramai. The Raja sent his daughter marry Ramai since he was so wealthy now, and they basically lived happily ever after because of the magic ring.
Being kind to animals might pay off with a magic ring!
(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
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