Reading Notes

Basilisk

Link

The Man in the Moon - A blacksmith grew tired of his work and asked to be changed into a stone, a stone cutter, the sun, then the moon, and was forced to stay as the moon.

The Hare that was not afraid to die - Four creatures were expected to give of their food supply and the hare could not give because he had none so he vowed to give his own flesh if the time came. Then the god came to him and the hare sacrificed himself but the god spared him and the four creatures carried out moral law from then on.

The eight forked serpents of Koshi - In this story, a man sees a chopstick floating down a river so he decides to travel upstream in search of people. He finds a man a wife and their daughter weeping. They said the seven daughters before this one has died at the hands of a serpent. So the man said he would slay the beast in exchange for the daughter's hand in marriage. Then he turned her into a comb.

The Indian who wrestled with a ghost - A man was traveling and when he stopped for the night a woman approached him and tried to cut off his foot when he sprang the woman ran off into the night. The next night a skeleton man smoked with him and told him a prophecy. He said it would come true if he won a wrestling match. The man threw the skeleton in the fire at daybreak and won.

Pygmalion - Pygmalion falls in love with a statue then asks Venus to turn her into a real woman. Venus grants his wish and they get married.

The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackle - A man comes upon a tiger in a cage. After the tiger begs for freedom the man lets him out then the tiger threatens to eat the man. the man begs for mercy from the tiger, a tree, a road, then a jackal. The jackle feels sorry for the man and tricks the tiger into getting back into the cage by asking him how he got there in the first place.

The lion stories - "You may share the labors of the great, but not the spoil" "Gratitude is the sign of noble souls" "We can easily represent things as we wish them to be" " Love can tame the wildest"

Beauty and the Basilisk - A mother went to town to get gifts for her daughters, one daughter wanted three roses so when the mother stumbled upon a palace with many roses she picked three. A Basilisk appeared and demanded the daughter's hand in marriage. The daughter went and was ordered by the basilisk to chop off its head, from the decapitation came a beautiful suitor.

These stories were different, to say the least. I think my favorite one was the last which is linked above.