Week 4 Reading Diary, Continued: 22 Goblins

This reading diary covers the stories from "Twenty-Two Goblins", translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).

The Snake's Poison
The kings answer this time was really interesting, he said that no one was guilty of poisoning/killing the man except for the man himself. That was along the same lines that I was thinking, especially since the thought of the charitable woman being accused for poisoning him made me sad. The poisoned man claimed it was her so she was shunned by her people anyways, how sad.

The Girl and the Thief
A girl refused to love or marry anyone, except when she saw a thief on his way to be executed she fell in love. She was going to kill herself but the God Shiva granted her wishes for her devotion- she rose the thief from the dead and made his a nobleman. My first thoughts were, what a miraculous story, and what a stupid girl. It reminds me of how today some girls are attracted to bad boys when they really shouldn't be.

The General's Wife
When the king answered this time, something was different. The goblin asked him "why?" almost as if that was the wrong answer but he wanted an explanation. Then once the king explained, the goblin liked his reasoning so he again ran away. The moral of the story he told was "actions of devoted men are blameless." Then the moral presented for the kings actions was "No great man stops in the middle of the hardest undertaking."

The Four Brothers
The brothers brought a lion to life and then the lion killed them all. I easily guessed that it was the final brother who breathed life into the lifeless lion was the one responsible for getting them all killed. This story was interesting because it involved animals instead of just people, like almost every other tale before this one did. I like that it wasn't about winning a woman for once... those can get a little old.

The lion that killed the four brothers

The Old Hermit
The old hermit was a magician and so he took over the body of a deceased boy, leaving his old body now deceased and he became reborn again in the youth's body. Again the king guessed correctly as to why the man was both weeping and dancing. I could see this story unfolding beyond the transformation and the old hermit living a really interesting life in the boys body.
Father and Son, Daughter and Mother
On this final riddle, the King was stumped, and so finally the goblin ended his games. He told the king about the other guys evil plan to kill him once he returned the dead body, and then the goblin left the body. Finally the king headed to the monk to give him the body. I really didn't expect this to be the reasoning behind all the stories. I thought of the goblin as so evil when in reality he was stalling the king so he wouldn't get killed by the monk. He did a good deed by telling all these stories/riddles.

Conclusion
The king did as the goblin told him and he tricked the monk and cut off his head. This was pleasing to the goblin and to Shiva, so he became king of the fairies and received a magic sword. The goblin promised him that these 22 stories would become known around the world, and when they were told people benefitted and monsters suffered. This ending couldn't have been any further away from what I expected. I think it may be interesting to do a retelling of the goblin stories but to talk more about the goblin, instead of his stories.