Week 5 Storytelling-The Matchmaker and the Leopard

One day while walking home from another successful arranged marriage, a matchmaker came across a leopard. He was deathly afraid of the things and almost fainted on the spot. Leopards in this jungle were known to devour humans whole and the thought of this was almost to much for the matchmaker.

"Please do not eat me, young leopard," cried the Matchmaker, "I was just making my way home from arranging a marriage over yonder. I do not mean you any harm."

Hearing that this man was a matchmaker the leopard's ears perked up.

"A matchmaker you say?" asked the leopard with a wry smile forming on his lips.

The leopard had been lonely for the better part of his life. The only thing he wanted in the world was to find a mate to be with. A plan began to form in his mind.

"What do you say we make a deal? If you can find me a leopardess then your life will be spared and you can go on your merry way," reasoned the leopard.

This was an absurd bargain thought the matchmaker. Arranging marriages for humans was one thing but leopards? Just when he thought it was surely the end of his rope, he remembered the sack he was carrying and plotted his own plans.

"Yes of course I can do that. You just have to be willing to do whatever I say. First, jump in this sack," explained the matchmaker.

With quickness, the leopard jumped in the sack and allowed the matchmaker to cinch it tightly. As soon as this happened the matchmaker dragged the sack containing the leopard to the river, gave it a few hearty kicks for good measure, and tossed it into the river. Thinking he had rid himself of a great danger he walked towards home thinking no more of the leopard.

A short ways down river, the leopards sack became entangled in a some weeds near the shoreline. This caught the sight of a leopardess and she carefully ripped open the sack to find what it contained. Out popped the leopard and explained what had happened between he and the matchmaker. They both were convinced that they were indeed soul mates and proceeded to live happily from that day forth.

Years later, the matchmaker was walking through the same jungle when he happened across the leopard and his leopardess. Once again stricken with fright, the matchmaker thought he surely could not get away twice and this was karma's way of repaying him.

"Um, how may I help this beautiful leopard couple?" asked the matchmaker as the lump in his throat grew and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead.

"Do you not remember me, dear matchmaker?" exclaimed the leopard, "It is because of you that we are a couple at all! We have told everyone we know how great of a matchmaker you are and just want to thank you for all you've done for us!"

All the matchmaker could do was stammer out a welcome and wish them more happy days. After this encounter with the leopard, again, he swore he would never walk through the jungle again.

The two leopards living happily ever after (Pixabay).

 

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Author's Note: This story was adapted from the story The Raibar and the Leopard found in The Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas (1909). In the original story a Raibar, meaning someone arranges marriages, comes across a leopard who wants nothing more then a mate to live his life with. The raibar tricks the leopard into a sack where he throws the leopard in a river thinking it would surely kill him. A leopardess sees the sack floating along the river and opens it to find the leopard. The two think its destiny and become a couple. The matchmaker comes across the two again about a year later and is thanked heavily by the leopard for setting the two up.

I didn't change any major characters or the plot line to the story. I added a tad more detail at points and more dialouge between the leopard and Raibar. I decdided to use the word matchmaker throughout the story instead of Raibar as I thought readers would be more comfortable with it. 

Extra Reading Diary: Persian Tales

I decided to do an extra reading exercise instead of writing an essay this week. I let fate decide my reading unit as I used the crystal ball. It led me to read the first half of the Persian Tales unit. Here are some of my favorite stories and characters from the unit:


Susku and Mushu

I liked how this story really built on itself in the end. The story really has no major plot to it but it still managed to tell an entertaining story. The continuous pain inflicted on each character at the end of the tale is what made this story in my opinion. I thought it was a very creative, albeit strange, way of putting the finishing touches on the story.

The Boy Who Became a Bulbul

I am starting to realize that every story starts and ends the same way. I feel like this is a great way to put your own subtle stamp on your stories. It could be an interesting thing to try and incorporate into my storytelling posts. At first this story kind of freaked me out with the whole boiling your own sons head and making a soup out of it but I enjoyed it at the end. The repeating of songs or rhymes in these stories is very entertaining to me.

A bulbul bird perched on a limb (Wikipedia).

The Wolf-Aunt

This story was very interesting and especially so after reading the author's note. As an old tale to try and discourage children from liking their aunt on their father's side I'm sure it worked for some. I've never really thought of telling stories to children to make them think some way other than the typical don't do bad things or this monster will get you. This story really made me sit and think about stories that I have heard when I was a kid that molded how I think today.

Reading Diary B: Santal Folklore

I finished reading the last half of the Santal Folklore unit. I found a few of my favorite stories from the reading to be the following:

The Tigers and the Cat

I like little tales like this. They describe why things are the way they are today. For instance, in this story the end tells us why tigers eat raw flesh. Also, relating to the cat, I find it amusing that most stories in this unit involve animals being tricked by what they can't help but have. In this story the cat loves the warm milk so much that he burns his paws and has to wait for the fire to burn down. This ultimately makes the tigers mad at the cat starting the whole ordeal.

The Elephant and the Ants

I also enjoy stories that have a message behind them. This story shows that just because someone is "better" than you based on whatever scale you choose, doesn't mean that they are better than you on every level of life. The ants proved this by outsmarting the "largest and most powerful animal on the face of the earth".

The Jackal and the Leopards

After reading this unit, I didn't necessarily find a favorite character but maybe a favorite character to dislike. In most of these stories the jackal is a trickster who gets all the other animals to do everything for him/her. In this story, he gets the leopards to drive a deer directly to him and he makes them kill it and then rip open the skin. After this, the jackal eats most of the deer himself leaving little for the leopards.

The Jackal waiting for the next unsuspecting animal to be tricked (Wikipedia).

Reading Diary A: Santal Folklore

I let the crystal ball decide my fate this week as I could not make up my mind about which unit to read. After reading the first half I am happy with what the crystal ball decided for me. Maybe I should let it decide a few more things in my life down the road. It led me to read the first half of the Santal Folklore unit and here are what I found to be my favorite stories:

Ramai and the Animals

I enjoyed this story because it made the nicest son end up with the better life in the end. He saved all the animals from death not knowing that the snake would end up giving him the ability to have everything he could ever want. I found this to be odd because in most stories the snake is portrayed as the villain or the deceiver. I kind of enjoyed that little twist within the story. I would have liked to know what the father thought about his other sons since they surely made profits from their endeavors.

The Raibar and the Leopard

I liked this story because I found it very amusing that the Raibar tricked the Leopard into thinking he could set him up with a mate. In reality, he had used his status to trick the Leopard into trapping himself and then the Raibar tried to kill him. It ended up that what the Raibar told the Leopard did in fact happen. I may want to incorporate something like this into my storytelling this week. I found this to be one of the more entertaining stories in the first half reading.

The look on the Leopard's face when he saw his mate promised by the Raibar (Wikipedia Commons).