Reading Notes Santal: Part A

I chose reading from the Santal region, for they were known to have stories filled with animals and tricksters.

The first story I read was Ledha and the Leopard which came from Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas. This story was all over the place, and I could not predict where it was going. One minute Ledha was being hunted by a leopard and the next by a woman who found his hairs in the river and decided she wanted to marry him. I enjoyed reading it, but I think coming up with a story this complicated would be very challenging for me.

The Oilman's Bullock was another interesting story. The bullock asked to fight the king's elephant to win his master some money so that his master would set him free. The animals fought, but it was a very short descriptive fight. I wonder how the story would be different if the fight was longer and more specific? The bullock won, but then the story ended abruptly saying he died a month later.

Just when I thought these stories couldn't get any stranger, I read the next story of The Monkey and the Girl. This story was very short, and did not make much sense to me. It is important to understand the culture and the context when reading stories from other regions, so in order for me to fully understand I would have to do some research on the culture.

These next stories were fun reads because I plan on using Tigers in my story for this week:
The Tiger's Bride and The Killing of the Tiger. 

Indian Tiger Source: Pinterest Images