Reading Diary A: Persian Tales

Reading Unit: Persian Tales

(Image by: Jimmy Alvarez)

READING A:

1. The Wolf and the Goat

• This starts out like The Little Red Riding Hood or the Three Little Pigs (don't trust the wolf.)
• I like the rhyming that it has in dialogue. It feels like this would be well performed by a Bard.
• Well that escalated quickly.
• I'm not sure if there was poetic justice or a moral? I guess the moral is don't trust the wolf, and kill or be killed.

2. The City of Nothing-in-the-World

• Do they call start with the "once upon a time when there was no one but God"? I find this interesting, because I thought that in these time periods the people were polytheistic.
• A Minaret is a conical architechtual feature.
• Tree growing from an animal.
• Haleem is a stew.
• The sparrow is never getting home, apparently. Is this how they say "The End"?

3. Susku and Mushu

• Once again, this escaltes quickly. She suddenly gets marriage proposals.
• My question is why would you not want to sleep on dates, they are delicious!
• That was cute when he says she can sleep in his arms.
• This cumulative narrative is really cool! I might try this out. It has a cause and effect sort of well, effect, to it.

4. The Boy Who Became a Bulbul

• Thorn bushes for firewood. Ones profession is a thorn-cutter.
• Could be  a modern horror or murder mystery. Dad kills the son because he lost the bet, has his step-wife boil his son into a soup, and the daughter finds her brother's bones in the soup.
• Once again interesting lyrical intermissions of sorts.

5. The Wolf-Aunt

• Were-shewolf
• Thorn bush gathering
• She seems to be seducing him? "The temptress"!
• She tricks them, fattens them up, and intends to eat them (since she can turn into a wolf.)
• Once again, never trust the wolf.
• Interesting take on werewolves.

6. Nim Tanak, or Half-Boy

• Daevas, false Gods, feel like demons.
• Short lyrical sentences
• How one eats or drinks determines fates
• One being half a person, literally

7. Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer

• Tirandaz meaning "Arrow-shooter", I like when the name of characters holds meanings. I usually try to do this in my own stories.
• Boasting and exagurating one's deeds
• Pretending to be someone that you're not

8. The Praying Baker

• Royality dressing up as a pauper
• Going back on deals
• Positivity is rewarded with great fortune
• Sometimes it's okay to have a happy ending!

10. The Sad Tale of the Mouse's Tail

• One task leading to another and another. Could make an interesting Short Story. Perhaps a magic user needs ingredients for a spell, and has to jump through a bunch of hoops like the mouse does.
• I liked the frustration at the end, you could tell that the mouse was fed up!