Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part B.

Who Stole the Tarts?

The Court

This was the first time Alice attended the court, with the Queen and the King on their throne, but she knew every position in that court including the jury and the judge through her knowledge. The court was held to find the thief. Alice heard the Rabbit called out loud for the witnesses. 

The first one was Hatter, who brought his breakfast to the court (a cup of tea and bread). The king almost executed him because he couldn't answer the king's question but luckily he got released. The second witness was the Duchess's cook. Alice knew it was her because everyone sneezed at the same time while she walked in because she brought with her the pepper box. 

In the middle of the session, the Dormouse made a noise and therefore being suppress by the Queen causing confusion for everyone. During the court, Alice was growing back to her normal size but it wasn't that noticeable. Suddenly she heard the Rabbit called out the next witness, which was her, Alice.
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Wonderland: Who Stole the Tarts? is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit. Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part A

Down the Rabbit- Hole

One day, Alice and her sister sat under the trees and enjoyed their reading. Alice saw a Rabbit that was in hurry to go somewhere. Alice was curious. She left her sister and follow the Rabbit. There would be some important event happened that caused the Rabbit rushed. He took out the clock from his waistcoat pocket and hurried look at it. 

With all the sudden, Alice fell onto a rabbit-hole, which pretty much like a tunnel. Along the fall, she saw a floating bookshelf, a map, and an empty bottle Orange Marmalade. Alice was pretty much enjoyed the "journey" until she threatened herself that the fall would never ended. Then she worried about her cat, if she wouldn't be back home. Who would feed her cat?

After a long fall, she finally touched the ground and she realized that she was in the middle of the hall. She bravely went forward and ended up being stuck in a locked room. She drank a bottle titled "Drink me" and her body shrinked into a tiny little girl. She then turned into a giant when she ate the cake named " Eat Me". Fearful of being transformed several time, Alice cried out loud.
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Wonderland: Down the Rabbit-Hole is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit
Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)
Giant Alice in Wonderland

EC: Wikipedia Trail

I wanted to explore the first man and women in the world. So I browsed on Wikipedia "Adam and Eve."  I was really surprise to know that in the Islamic version, Eve was the one unfaithful first. The I discovered that Adam and Eve's first children was Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer while his younger brother was a shepherd. Because his envy, Cain killed Abel. I wanted to discovered why Cain did that so I clicked on "murdering his brother". Then the article Fratricide appeared. This was the Latin word of "killing". It turned out the Cain and Abel was the first murder case in the history. There, I looking for "Mythology of Ancient Rome" as our course include many of legend from Roman.
The First Mourning (Adam and Eve mourn the death of Abel); oil on canvas 1888 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Story Lab: Story Revision

Legend has it that an deity must underwent forty-nine incarnation to become god. This is his last life. He had passed forty-eight eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death and rebirth. This time, he became an ordinary person to experience and to understand all of the sufferings and hardships of an ordinary person. He would be able to enlighten the supreme power whenever he thoroughly understood the rule of "birth, old, illness and death", and the law of "causes and effects." However, success or failure depended on whether or not he could overcome the temptation of seven human feelings (joy, anger, love, hate, sorrow, passion, and love) and the six root afflictions (application of thought, examining, decision, energy, rapture, desire).

The Supreme and Eternal one and the Creator tested him by let him reborn in a poor family of Kapilavastu kingdom, which was ruled under the King Suddhodana. In a day of his reincarnation, the hermit Asita received a good omen by observation the special phenomenon of the stars. He immediately came to the king and reported that the sky appeared a new star, which was super shine and big and surrounding that big star was many little stars. Asita predicted that there would be a supreme lord whose his reborn would soon make this country better.

The King ordered his guards to find the newborn. What a strange coincidence that a whole kingdom  appeared only one pregnant woman and no newborn was reported around this time.
Buddha walked on a lotus. Picture from Wiki

A month had passed, the pregnant women gave birth to a boy, but unluckily, she died after that. The King soon adopted him and officially named him Prince Siddhartha. Prince Siddhartha was being nurture by the Queen. Astonishingly enough, all lotus flowers in the kingdom were flourishing, spreaded a soft aroma when Siddhartha was brought into the world. Prince Siddhartha appeared healthy, and pretty much handsome little boy and surrounding his head was a light pale pink nimbus, exactly like the color of the lotus. Anywhere he came, lotus was born, people was happy. The whole kingdom felt highly enthusiastic. The king decided to open a three-day party to celebrate his newborn. The King also brought the nature mother of Prince to the national Buddhist temple to worship.
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Author's Note: In this story lab, I just revised the grammar for this story, and no specific change of the content.
Based on the Life of Buddha: The Birth of Siddhartha by Andre Ferdinand Herold, I changed the context a bit. The original version didn't mention about the seven feelings and six root afflictions. I personally believed that a Buddha should be born in a normal way to understand a normal life.
 Andre Ferdinand Herold told that Maya, a Queen, dreamed about the elephant that entered to her womb. She became pregnant and later born to Prince Siddhartha under the precious tree. She died about seven days later.I added the lotus because most of the Buddha i know (via pictures and movies), used to sit and meditate in Buddha's throne made from lotus. 
Also, in the original story, the hermit Asita came to the king to see the Prince because he heard about the birth of Siddhartha. Then he told that the Prince soon became a supreme Lord Buddha.

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales; Part B

 King O'Toole and His Goose

This story is part of the Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892).
Saint Kavin was making the "old"goose as good as new

Long time ago, there was a king named King O'Toole. He used to be a strong person, who loved hiking and hunting. However, time passed and he changed to an old man. He had never go hiking and hunting since his health did not allow to. He got bored when life was just so leisured. He used to walked along the riverbank to think about everything. It turned out that his best friend was a goose, since a goose diverted him. The goose catched fishes for the king and go diving and swimming around the pond to divert the king. However, time passed and the goose became weak, old and no longer could divert the king anymore.
There came Saint Kavin, who disguised to a boy, to try the King. Saint Kavin offered to transform the old goose to the youth one if the king agreed to give him all the ground the the goosed flies over. The king agreed and he kept his promise when he saw the goose flies more strong than before. Saint Kavin had touched by the king's truthful and he decided to support the king until the king had died.

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales; Part A.


Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

This story is part of Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs  (1892).
Gold-tree was the only daughter of Silver-tree and the king. However, Silver-tree envied her daughter beauty as the trout in the glen pointed out that Gold-tree was the most beautiful women in the world. Silver-tree then pretended to be ill and ate the heart of Gold-tree since Silver-tree spoke to the king that this was the only cure. It turned out that the heart was actually belonged to a wild goat in the forest, while Gold-tree moved abroad as she married the prince of another kingdom.
As the trout insisted that Gold-tree still was a most beautiful and hadn't die yet, Silver-tree entreated  the king to see her daughter. Silver-tree put the poison tag into her daughter's finger as Gold-tree locked herself in the room. Gold-tree died.
Silver-tree asked the trout again about the most beautiful women in the world and the only answer she received was "Gold-tree." Silver-tree discovered that Gold-tree was saved by the second wife of the princess. Silver-tree one gain went abroad to see her daughter.
This time, Gold-tree and the second wife of the prince came and met Silver-tree actively. Silver-tree offered Gold-tree a drink as a custom of the country. The second wife of the princess knew that this was a poison wine, so that she spoke to Silver-tree to drink a sip first. As Silver-tree put the wine to the mouth, the second wife struck the wine to Silver-tree. Silver-tree died immediately.
And they lived happily ever after.