Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part A

For reading A of this week, there was definitely a theme of "to which should the girl be given"  or "which one is the cleverest/bravest." I enjoyed reading these riddles and even managed to guess 3 of the 7 correctly!

In all honesty, I'm not sure what to say about these stories. I liked reading them, but nothing struck me as a "wow!" sort of moment, and I didn't think of any creative ideas about possible retellings. I chose this unit because I love riddles and I wanted to read a few. Maybe when I retell the story I will come up with very different riddles.

I do feel bad for the wise King because he has to go back and get the goblin so many times. I wonder if the conclusion is him giving up and his head exploding, or if the goblin finally asks a riddle the King cannot answer. After twenty-two times of retrieving a body, I'm not sure I could handle it any more.

I also like the parallel structure within the stories. Like when the three brothers are tested about their expertise in Food, Women, Cotton. That sort of structure helps the story flowing nicely and I think I'll definitely make use of it.

(The goblin in the tree)

Bibliography: Sanskrit Vetālapañcaviṃśati translated by Arthur Ryder