Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins Part B

Here I am, reading the second half of the Twenty-Two Goblins unit. I am actually quite eager to see which story finally stumps the King and allows him to finally give the monk what he wants. I went ahead and included an image of frustration because that is how I would feel if I were the King. He never grows frustrated, however.

Frustration from Wikimedia

• The first story follows a Brahman who is poisoned and dies. Who is to blame for his death? The King decides it is not the snake, nor the hawk. Not even the people who gave him the food can be blamed. He has no one to blame but himself since he was ungrateful for the food given to him.
• If I were the King, I would grow more and more frustrated everytime the Goblin says "let me tell you another story."
• All these stories are told from a third person perspective.
• At the end of the story of the thief who got the girl, the story makes sure to point out that the King is not discouraged.
• The King is able to laugh with the Goblin, despite the fact that if he gets the answer right again, the goblin is going to disappear.
• "And the king pursued him, undiscouraged. No great man stops in the middle of the hardest undertaking."
• I am a bit surprised that the King was stumped trying to figure out how the people were related to each other.
• I did not expect that the monk would be a rogue. The King did all this work for him, yet he wants to sacrifice him! That just goes to prove that you can't just be nice to everyone.
• All the King wanted with this new power was to spread the twenty-two stories around the world.

Bibliography

Twenty-Two Goblins translated by Arthur Ryder