Week 5 Essay: Women in Persian Fiary Tales

One of the Essay topics to choose from was the role of women in the stories. In some of the past tales, women have important roles and even are the main characters, such as the Arabian Nights unit. But, this unit did not have strong female characters, or paint women in the most flattering light. In the Persian Tales unit, there were women who turned into wolves and killed their innocent husbands, such as in the tale The Wolf-Bride. And there were wives who manipulated their husbands and other family members into doing terrible things. 

            One of the most interesting cases I read was in the story The Wolf-Aunt. In the background information provided, it mentioned that in Persian culture, the sister of the husband is viewed as somewhat evil. The children are taught not to like their aunt on their father’s side. The author’s note states there are two types of aunts, “the mother's sister (khala) whom he is taught to love, and the father's sister (amma) who spoils him and who is kind to him, but whom his mother tries to teach him to hate and fear.” The tale is told to children for the specific purpose of teaching them to be fearful and distrust their amma (father’s sister). It was so strange to me to think that children are taught to dislike one of their family members, because I have always been taught that your love for your family should be unconditional. They are family.

            One of the other stories that really stuck out to me where the women’s role stuck out to me was in The Boy WhoBecame a Bulbul. The woman in this story said "You two ought to lay a wager to-day and agree that whichever of you collects the more firewood should cut off the other one's head." This seems ludicrous for a mother to say that her husband and son should make a somewhat friendly wager in which one will have to kill the other. I could not believe a mother would do that! But, there is an important detail that I believe makes a significant point. She is a stepmother. In many fairy tales I am familiar with, such as Cinderella, the stepmother is not described in a favorable way; although usually not to this extent. I thought it was interesting to draw the similarities of how stepmothers are often portrayed negatively in fairy tales. 

Cinderella was forced to live in unbearable conditions by her stepmother, image source: wikimedia

Week 4 Famous Last Words

This week has been one of the more stressful ones since school has started. It was a busy week at work. I have exams coming up. I have family obligations. It just seemed like this week was packed full of things to do. As soon as I crossed one thing off my to-do list, four more appeared. The most stressful aspect of the week by far though was filling out my applications for physical therapy school. The programs are very competitive and require many qualifications to be accepted. For this reason I have kept my options open and have decided to apply to five different schools, most of which are in my hometown of Dallas. But of course, I will still be applying to OU. The application process is long and each one requires different essays and requirements. Some require a letter of recommendation from multiple certified physical therapists, while some one letters from professors or more specifically core- science professors. My week was spent inputting prerequisite course numbers into spread sheets, requesting transcripts, requesting GRE scores, answering about my accomplishments and volunteer opportunities. The list goes on and on.

As I reflect back, I have worked over 1,000 hours at a PT clinic, taken tough science courses, and now have locked myself in my room to finish these applications all in hopes that these past 3.5 years of school will be worth it. It is scary to think I have come this far and may not get accepted into a physical therapy program. I am thankful for the reading this week from the Persian Tales unit entitled The Story of the Wolf-Bride. In the tale, the boy’s horoscope designates that he will die a young tragic, death by a wolf. The boy’s father locks him in a cave to protect him from this awful tragedy, but in the end, a wolf eats him anyways. The last line reads: "Whatever is willed by fate, that verily comes to pass." This message was especially great to be reminded of this week as I was working so hard on my applications and thinking there was a chance it could all be for nothing if I did not get accepted. I have to remember that God has a plan for me and whatever he has willed will happen and that is my fate. 

The concept of Fate, image source

Week 5 Storytelling: Margie and Frank

The old weeping willow, image

There once was a pair of cats, Margie and Frank, who had fallen in love just when they were young kittens. They loved spending time together curled up by the window soaking up the sun. They would take walks together in the meadow down by the stream. Sometimes they would gently wade in the water just up to the tips of their paws and enjoy the refreshing feeling of the warm water on their fur. They would rub up against the trees and get a nice massage from the bark. Sometimes they would stop and visit with their friends in the meadow like the mouse couple who lived in the sunflower fields or the brother and sister sparrows that made the old willow tree their home.

One sunny day, the cat couple decided to take a walk down by the stream. Frank had gone over to the willow to rub up against the trunk and scratch his back. The water was warm and Margie decided she wanted to dip her paws in to clean them of the dirt. Just as she was dipping her front paw in, she thought she saw the evil dogs from across the stream, which startled her, and she lost her balance. Margie tumbled whiskers first into the stream and was immediately taken down shore by the running waters. She did not know how to swim, and as she meowed and meowed for Frank to come help, she struggled to stay above water and drowned.

           

Frank was so upset and began to meow low he was so distraught. He could not bear the thought of living without his true love. The evil dogs were still across the stream and Frank decided he would sacrifice himself so he could be with his wife in kitty heaven.

The dogs were now full and began to walk back towards their home. The sparrows stopped them and asked what had become of Margie and Frank.

“Haven’t you heard?” asked the dogs.

Margie fell into the stream and drowned

Frank sacrificed himself to the dogs

“Oh no, that is terrible!” cried the sparrows. And they began shedding their feathers in distress. The willow tree nearby saw the feathers falling and asked the sparrows why they were shedding their feathers.

“Haven’t you heard, old willow tree?”

Margie fell into the stream and drowned

Frank sacrificed himself to the dogs

The sparrows shed their feathers

At this news the old willow tree began to droop his branches even lower to the ground. The mouse couple from the sunflower fields saw the drooping weeping willow and asked why his branches were so low.

“Haven’t you heard?”

Margie fell into the stream and drowned

Frank sacrificed himself to the dogs

The sparrows shed their feathers

The willow tree drooped its branches

The mice were so sad to hear the news they immediately started crying and ran home to their sunflower patch. The sunflowers turned their petals to ask why they were crying so hysterically.

“Haven’t you heard, my sunflowers?”

Margie fell into the stream and drowned

Frank sacrificed himself to the dogs

The sparrows shed their feathers

The willow tree drooped its branches

The mice cried all the way home

At this news the sunflowers were so upset and began to lose all their petals, leaving them with just a black round center on a stem.

And now my story has come to an end. 

Author's Note: This is a retelling of the story Susku and Mushu from the Persian Tales unit. In the original story, there is a husband and wife mice and one of the mice comes to drown in a pot of stew. The rest of the story continues with other animals and farmers killing themselves at hearing the news. It is an accumulation story, which I really enjoyed the style, and decided to write a story in similar fashion. My story does not include more deaths than just the first because I tried to keep my fairy tale a little less gruesome than the original.

Bibliography: Susku and Mushu. Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer, illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919).

Week 5 Reading Diary: Persian Fairy Tales

These are some of my favorites or most interesting tales from the Persian Tales Unit: 

The Wolf and the Goat: I found this story very interesting… The point I got from it was that you should not take the easy way out or cheat people as the wolf did to the tooth-puller. However, I was very confused by the ending which reads “
And now my story has come to an end, but the sparrow never got home.” I do not remember the mention of a sparrow and cannot find the meaning to the ending.  The opening “Once upon a time there was a time when there was no one but God.” Also struck me as somewhat strange. Another thought I had while reading was how much more gruesome this fairy tale is compared to the fairy tales I am used to hearing.

The City of Nothing-in-the-World: The title had me intrigued what the story would be about, and I can see now how it fits. The story had me very confused and I had no clue what was going on, but I also believe that was the point of it. I also realized that the intro and ending of the story was the same as the first and must be a standard part of Persian fairy tales.

Susku and Mushu: This tale took an unsuspected turn with all the drownings and deaths of the people and animals involved. Again, it is not what I think of when I think of a typical fairy tale. I did like how the story was an “accumulation story” and may play with using that in one of my storytelling posts.

The Boy Who Became a Bulbul: I enjoyed this story more than the others, although the beginning was very gruesome and I did not like the father. I enjoyed the song the bulbul sang and thought it very clever. I thought the son would try to get revenge on his father too because he did not hesitate in killing his own son. I am glad the sister got a treat for her loyalty and the step-mom got what she deserved as well.

The Wolf-Aunt: I found it so strange that this is a tale meant to teach children not to like their father’s sister (aunt/amma) because we are taught to love everyone in our family unconditionally. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending though: “if he had listened to his wife this would never have happened.” I found it light-hearted and humorous compared to the rest of the tale.

Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer: I enjoyed this fairy tale because of the description and detail. I could imagine the scene as Muhammad rode with the tree branch flailing about, as he was strapped to the horse and screaming. It was also entertaining without the usual horror and deaths in the fairy tale.

The Praying Baker: This is my favorite story from this unit so far! I loved a particular part of this story where the King says “If he is praying only with his lips I shall put him to death, but if he is sincere I shall give him a robe of honour."Many times we speak without meaning or emotion, just to speak and I think it is important that whatever we say, pray, or do be done with meaning and sincerity. It also shows that the Baker gave all his troubles and trust to God and full-heartedly believe in his plan, which spared him his life. 

 

Fayiz and the Peri Wife: I knew from the beginning, that trouble was going to come to the man when they described him as a true and honest man. I have picked up on the idea that in these Persian tales nothing good happens to those who seem innocent. The women in the tale are constantly making threats, which seems to be found throughout many of the tales.

Hemp Smoker’s Dream: This reminded me of the story from the first unit, The City of Nothing-in-the-World. It was very abstract and dream-like. It gave me the sense of an Alice in Wonderland type feeling where the hemp made him intoxicated and created this whole new story and land.

The Story of the Wolf-Bride: Although, this was another gruesome tale between men and women, I enjoyed the message presented in the tale. I strongly believe in fate. In this tale, the man relies on the fate as told by the akhund and the horoscope based on astrology and tried to change fate’s plan. I strongly believe in fate from God’s plan and know that whatever God has in store for me is my fate and I cannot change that. The last line was a perfect ending for the tale: "Whatever is willed by fate, that verily comes to pass."

The Man Who Went to Wake His Luck: This story ended with a grim ending but I really enjoyed it! I thought it was interesting he went looking for his Luck and was asked by all these others for advise on why their life was not going as planned. It made me wonder if they could not find their own Luck. As soon as the poor brother’s Luck told him to tell the wolf that he will eat a foolish man, I knew that the poor brother would be the one the wolf killed. This tale did not have a significant deeper meaning as the last one did, but I enjoyed it for the simplicity of the storytelling and the rather ironic/funny ending.

Tortoise Bowl-On-The-Back and the Fox: I enjoyed this story so much and the trickiness of the tortoise. I have heard variations of this story before because it is a very common tale. I enjoyed this version and how the ending is blunt in explaining that “every one who is greedy is put to shame.”

The Merchant and the Saffron: I found this tale interesting for the idea that they seemed to be “testing the merchant’s Luck.” The host gave the merchant many sheep to see if they would survive the winter, and when they did not he gave him more sheep to see if his Luck would awaken. Finally the third time around, the sheep survived to produce ewe and they had seen his Luck had awakened and he could be sent on his way to become wealthy. In this way, I felt that they were seeing when his Luck would awaken and can be likened to the idea that we “test our luck.”

The Apparition of the Prophet Khizr: I enjoyed this tale the most from this second half of the unit. I enjoyed that the old man who ended up being Khizr explained why the Wazirs had chosen the specific punishment for the poor man. I was confused by what was meant by “every man speaks according to his own intelligence” but understood after Khizr explained how the tailor, baker, barber and loyal Wazir had picked their punishments based on their background. I think the phrase "Every man speaks according to his own intelligence" is a powerful one and explains how our experiences shape our perceptions.

 

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Essay Week 4: Humans to Animals

This week when reading the Arabian Nights unit, I noticed a common theme with many of the stories Scheherazade was telling in order to save her life: people being turned into animals as punishment for their wrongdoings.

In the Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind, the husband has an even wicked wife who despised his mother and son. He had to leave for a year, and in this time, the wife practiced witchcraft in order to turn their son and slave into a calf and cow. Luckily, when it came time to slaughter the calf and cow, the man was stricken by the tears of the cow and the loyalty of the calf to lay by his feet. The man spared their lives. A fairy living on the land told the man of his son and slave being turned into the calf and cow by his wife and requested that if she turn them back into their human form that the wife be punished equally. The wife was then turned into a hind (deer). The story explains that a hind was chosen as the animal to take form because it was not as dreadful looking or misbehaved, and therefore the the family could still keep her close by. 

First Old man with his wife the Hind, source: blogspot

The next story in the unit, The Story of the Two Black Dogs, also included two brothers being turned into dogs after they betrayed their brother. Their brother had been nothing but kind to them and once he married a lovely woman and was very happy with his life the brothers became jealous. They tried to drown him and his wife by pushing them overboard a ship. To the man’s surprise, his wife was a fairy who rescued them and requested the two brothers be killed. The man said he did not want them killed, but the fairy wanted them to be punished so she transformed them into two black dogs where they would remain in that shape for ten years. It does not say why dogs were chosen as the animal as it does in the story of the hind, but I believe it was for much of the same reason. In the two brothers being dogs, they were allowed to remain by heir brother’s side but still had their punishment of living their next ten years as animals.

In the story of the Young King of the Black Isles, a young king was betrayed by his wife whom did not love him. She was a wicked enchantress that hated her husband for requesting she stop mourning the loss of one of their slaves who she truly loved. In her rage, she destroyed the land of the Black Isles and turned the people of the town into fish. “The fish of four colours which are in it are the different races who lived in the town.”  In this story, the people did not do anything to deserve being turned into animals, but the people suffered the punishment the wife wished to bring on the King of destroying the land he governed. 

Week 4 Storytelling: Witchcraft Revealed

 

Jesabell and her husband Theo had been married for twenty years. Theo’s love for his beautiful wife never hindered. His love for his wife was pure, and he adored her. He hated any time he had to leave her side, so he rarely left his wife in their home alone.

When Theo’s uncle died and he was called away to the funeral, he was devastated at his family’s loss but also by the fact that he would have to leave his loving wife alone in their home for five nights.

The distraught Theo traveled into town to purchase some food and supplies for his journey across the country to where his uncle had lived. After wandering around the stalls in the market and picking out some fresh bread and meat that would last him the long journey, he began to wander aimlessly. As he was turning to walk home, he saw a booth with a blob of bright colors and heard a loud commotion. 

Theo walked over and admired the parrots’ beauty. The old bearded man at the booth selling the birds walked over to Theo.

“My good man,” began the seller. “I see you admiring my birds and I think one of these truth telling birds is exactly what you need.”

“Truth telling bird?” questioned Theo.

“Why, yes! This bird has the gift of telling all that had been done before it. It tells you the truth you cannot see!” exclaimed the old man.

Theo took this as a sign of fate. He was worried about leaving his wife alone for five days. He trusted his wife to be faithful, and that was not the reason he thought the bird a good idea. If something was to happen, or someone comes in the middle of the night while she was alone, the parrot would be able to tell of the incident upon his return.

“I’ll take one,” said Theo as he handed the old man the last of his money. He grabbed the bird’s cage and went home with a smile on his face.

That night before Theo left, he told Jesabell to put the parrot in her room and Jesabell obeyed. The bird was beautiful, and she thought she might like to have the company while her husband was gone.

As soon as Theo had disappeared over the mountainside, there was a knock on the door. Jesabell excitedly ran to open it and jumped through the doorway into the arms of her two loving sisters. They all squealed with excitement to see each other again and for their upcoming plans while Theo was away. For you see, the three sisters were witches. And when Theo was gone was their only time to practice their witchcraft. Theo was blind to his wife’s abilities, for Jesabell feared he would not love her if he knew her true identity.

The witches went into the bedroom where they began mixing potions, brewing concoctions and chanting words from a leather bound book. This all happened while the parrot watched quietly in the corner. 

 

Sisters performing witchcraft, Source: wikipedia

Four days later, before Theo was expected to arrive, the two sisters departed and Jesabell cleaned the house spotless so her husband would not know of the witchcraft that had occurred while he was gone.

After returning late that night, Theo embraced Jesabell and told her of his journey and the sorrow of the family at his uncle’s funeral. Jesabell listened intently and then told Theo of her uneventful few days spent cleaning the house and going into town to wander around the market and visit with a few friends.

“Well that sounds pleasant,” replied Theo. “Now if you will excuse me I am going to go check on the parrot. How was it having him here to keep you company while I was gone? Was he a bother?” questioned Theo.

“Oh my, I forgot he was even there. He was quiet and a joy to have. We must keep him for a pet,” replied Jesabell.

Theo wandered into the bedroom and asked the parrot to reveal his special gift of being able to say what had been done before it. The parrot began telling of the sisters, the potions, the leather book, the chanting, and all the wicked witchcraft that had happened in the room that weekend. Theo almost fell to the floor in horror of finding out the true identity of his wife.

“How could she be a witch and I did not even know,” thought Theo as his head was spinning with the new dreadful reality.

Theo walked out of the room and stared at his wife. Or who he thought was his wife. He felt like he did not even know her anymore. He could not look at her the same way ever again.

“So the parrot has just told me of what happened this weekend. He told me of your sisters and your witchcraft,” began Theo. “I can not believe this. I do not know what to say to you so I need to walk to clear my head. Do not follow me,” finished Theo as he walked out the door into the night.

Jesabell stood speechless with mouth open as tears began to roll down her cheek. She was hurt. She felt betrayed by that stupid little parrot who revealed her darkest secret. For that, the parrot would suffer.

            As she began to think of the proper punishment for the parrot, she also realized how furious she was with her husband. Her husband was the one who used to parrot’s ability to spy on her while he was gone.

            Both would soon get the punishment they deserved.

Author's Note: This week I decided to retell The Story of the Parrot from the Arabian Nights unit. The original story is quite short and I decided this would give me a lot of room to expand the story. The original story includes the wife getting caught by the parrot who told told the man "some things which made him scold his wife" but it does not specficy what that entailed. I took this opportunity to create my own idea that she was a witch and was performing witchcraft while the husband was away. I left the story with a kind of "cliff-hanger" ending but the original story ends with the wife tricking the parrot, and the husband ends up thinking the parrot is telling lies. I thought leaving the ending open created suspense and would leave the reader wanting more.

Bibliography: The Story of the Parrot. The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898)