Re-visiting Childhood:
My Favourite Fairy Tale/ Folklore/ Fable
ELSA Online Meet, Sunday, 30 January, 2022
Once upon a time, in a far away land,
there lived a family called ‘ELSA’. It was headed by Dr. Nibir Ghosh. They
often met periodically to exchange wonderful stories about ‘the topic of the
meet’. On Jan 30, 2022, the topic was ‘Revisiting Childhood: My favourite fairy
tale/folklore/fable’. Members came from ‘far and wide’ to share their story.
Dr. Ghosh welcomed all to this first meet
of the New Year – 2022. He shared how the response to the topic was
overwhelming. Setting the ball rolling, he invited our youngest member,
Mrigakshi who talked about ‘Cinderella’ and what it meant for her.
Saurabh Agarwal, our next speaker shared
about ‘Panchatantra’ with special reference to ‘When Lion comes alive’.
Debashish Chakraborty talked about ‘The
Postmaster’ by Tagore and its everlasting impact on him.
Dr. Santosh Gupta spoke about the stories
that impacted her childhood.
Dr. Manju told about Ruskin Bond’s ‘Tree
Goddess: Treasure house of Morality’.
Speaking on ‘A Reprisal of Little Woman by Louisa Mary Alcott’ was
Dr. Pramila Chawla.
And a new member Akanksha Chaudhary,
Research Scholar (Economics) with a bent towards stories in literature also
highlighted the ‘Contempory relevance of the Boy who cried wolf’.
Dr. Rajan Lal from Amroha recounted his
favourite story from Aesop’s fables ‘The Ant and the Grasshopper’. Anjali Singh
also chose another of Aesop’s fables ‘The North Wind and the Sun’.
Dr. Seema Sinha talked about the
‘Relevance of Fairy Tales’ as she mentioned the film adaptation and retelling
of them in recent times. Dr. Chanda Singh who had joined us after a gap spoke
impromptu about ‘To kill a mocking Bird’ and its multiple messages.
Jessica Joel talked about 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by
Baroness Orczy.
As the time came to bid ‘Till we meet
again’, Dr. Ghosh emphasized how these stories kept the hope alive…that there was
light at the end of the tunnel…that they sustained the belief in ‘the good’
over evil…as mirrored by the narratives of childhood by the ELSA members…who as
always lived happily ever after!
My Favourite Fairytale: Cinderella
Mrigakshi Singh
When mom told me about the
topic, I got so confused! Should I take Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, or Alice
in Wonderland? Well, Cinderella is my favorite fairy tale. The reason I chose
Cinderella is because the moment I hear the word ‘fairy tale’, the image of
Cinderella’s glass slipper flashes in my mind. Now, I am sure that most of you
know about it, as it is a very famous book and movie.
It is about a girl, who,
with the help of her fairy godmother, goes to a ball, in which all the maidens
in the kingdom are invited to meet the prince, who ‘needs’ to get married.
I like the character of
Cinderella because she is hardworking, humble, kind, and pretty.
It has also been made into
a romantic animated film.
There has been a movie
recently, in which Cinderella (who, in this movie, prefers to be called Ella)
has a dream of her own (to make dresses).
She goes to the ball, not
to meet the prince, but to make business deals! My favourite part is when the
minister is trying to tell the king that Cinderella escaped.
I think it is very nice
for someone to think of making such a movie.
I feel good to think that
someone decided to make Cinderella an independent and a thinking woman.
Writings of
Ruskin Bond:
Exploring Importance of
Ecology to the Children’s Psyche
Manju
In the modern time when the children are gifted toy guns on their
birthdays to play with and they grow up with games like angry birds where it is
a fun to kill birds and animals, the writings which can make children sensitize
to environment and other creatures that we share our planet with are the need
of the hour. There are many writers who are doing a commendable job as they are
making sincere efforts to mend the frayed threads of life with the tool of
their compositions and Ruskin Bond is a glittering name among various other
such names in the literary world. Ruskin
Bond uses the age old technique of telling stories to the posterity to make
them wiser in true sense. Many of his stories can be very helpful in safeguarding
this planet as environment degradation is the most serious concern of our age
due to increasing pollution, deforestation, extinction of species, illegal
poaching, forest fires and all that concerns environmentalists today. Human race does not know where to stop and
tramples plant and animal life under the cruel feet of temptation for money and
power. This is the need of the hour to revive age old traditions of respecting
nature to promote environment related literacy. This paper is an effort to
reinvigorate Bond’s stories by highlighting how they reflect, influence and
suggest the remedies for our ongoing mode of being in the world.
This wisdom is being conveyed by Ruskin Bond, a prominent name among
the few contemporary writers who re-evokes the traditional wisdom buried in the
folk tales through his stories. There was a time when the stories full of
knowledge and morality easily reach children through families. These stories
were not only entertaining but also recognized for their contribution in
enhancing the Bio-centric education which primarily stands for the belief that
everything in this biosphere has “an equal right to live and blossom” (Devall
& Sessions, 1985, p.67).
A short Story “The King and the Tree-Goddess” by Ruskin Bond is
being analyzed to examine its significance in teaching useful values to the
modern children. The story was published in Children’s
Omnibus. This story was told by Koki’s Grandmother and now it is being
retold by the narrator. The story connotes to Hindu way of worshipping specific
trees like Peepal and Deodar. Here in this well known folk tale a giant Deodar
tree, house to a Tree-Goddess was bound to be cut for King’s new palace. The
Tree- Goddess convinces king for not getting the tree cut by persuading:
“The birds nest in me. I send a most lovely shade upon the grass.
Men rest against my trunk and wild creatures rub themselves against me. The
earth blesses me, and sends up new plants and herbs under my protective arms. I
bind earth with my strong roots. Children play at my feet, and women returning
from the fields seek refuge in my coolness”. (Bond, 1995, p. 196)
The repercussions of cutting trees are highlighted by the writer so
the story is ecologically very appropriate. Although the king who had a desire
to have an extraordinary palace resting on a wooden column, represent human
greed, changes his heart as the story moves towards its conclusion. He drops
the idea of cutting the tree, thereby instills in everyone the basic importance
trees play in maintaining ecological balance.
Many other religious and folk tales of same nature trace elements of
ecological sustenance and can be relied upon to inculcate same values amongst
children.
Stories like these can delightfully engage children and make them
essentially aware about what goes on in the world. These stories touch upon
almost all the raging issues such as deforestation, air pollution, water
pollution, mining and blasting of mountains, poaching and other human caused
imbalances. Another Eden can be created if the society is able to teach the
children what they must know.
Dr Manju is Professor at UILAH, Chandigarh University, Punjab
More by gentleness
than strength: the North Wind and the Sun
Anjali Singh
There
are various theories about the origins and identity of Aesop, who is believed
to have existed roughly during 600 BC to 560 BC (approx.). Nevertheless, his
fable has a moral that would ring a bell in the reader.
The story is about a question: Who is
more powerful – The North Wind or the Sun?
· Force
or Persuasion
While
the North Wind represents ‘force’, the Sun represents ‘Persuasion’.
· Personification
to convey human values.
It
belongs to a time when ‘force’ was synonymous with ‘Power’. Thus, use of Nature
to drive the learning about a challenging and sensitive subject like ‘Power’.
· Objectification
of ‘Man’:
The
power-contest has a ‘man’ at the centre as an object, synonymous with an object
that is used in sports/contests.
· It is a
one-picture Graphical depiction.
Morals
as stated by its various adaptations:
· More by
gentleness than strength
· Mildness
more than violence achieves
· They
cannot win who start with threats
In ‘The
Impetuous Breeze and the Diplomatic Sun ‘, a humorous adaptation of the tale,
the contest is between Man and the Wind, with the Sun merely demonstrating the
“‘right way of achieving one’s end’…’ tact is the lesson to be learned’”.
Another
of the ‘art depiction of the fable’s theme states that
'it
demonstrates people's vulnerability to cosmic forces and the inner links there
are between natural events and our life as humans’.
In
terms of contempory relevance, I would like to quote an example from the
Political sphere.
Revival
of the ‘Sunshine Policy’ of South Korea in 2017, with the election of Moon
Jae-in, the new President.
Back in
1998, the ‘South’ decided to be soft towards the ‘North’; an inspiration from
the ‘Sun’ of the Aesop’s fable. Over dinner, a Korean diplomat narrated how the
idea built on the traditional Korean ways of dealing with enemies by giving
them gifts to prevent them from causing harm
“Named
after Aesop’s fable about the sun and the wind competing to convince a traveler
to remove his cloak, the Sunshine Policy posited that a warm engagement through
economic development, tourism, and cultural exchange would lead to a more open
North Korea.”
My
interpretation of the fable has been that ‘A balance needs to be maintained
between Force and persuasion’. Persuasion is a choice that must be exercised
first, always. If need be, only then, force should be used.
Definitely,
a powerful message, the graphic image of which has always guided me in my
decision making. Besides, it has been reinforced time and again by Nature
itself.
Anjali Singh is Ph.D. Research Scholar
‘The Lion Comes Alive’ from
Panchatantra by Vishnu Sharma
Saurabh Agarwal
The
tales of Panchatantra have a timeless flavour for the young and the old. While
the huge corpus of ancient Indian literature is religious in its nature,
Panchatantra tales are quite secular and thus their appeal becomes more
universal. These stories are designed to educate for the author Vishnu Sharma
was imparting political, social and moral knowledge to the princes who were
thought to be incapable of ruling the kingdom. Simple yet profound in their
message, these stories of Panchatantra have remained “most translated literary
product of India.” (Edgerton 1924). The level of interest in these fables gets
accentuated as the animals are given power to speak so they become apt for
children. The stories have been divided into five parts or tantras.
The
story ‘The Lion Comes Alive’ which occurs in the fifth tantra, titled Aparīkṣitakārakaṃ (ill considered action) of
the collection, deserves a special mention. I perceive this to be an earliest
example of the dystopian fiction where the science or the knowledge does not
yield the desired result. The story comes as a warning that knowledge should
not be used recklessly and with an intention only to demonstrate power. In
these modern times we may have subdued the forces of nature to suit our purpose
but we cannot be oblivious to the fact that backlash of these forces can be
devastating.
The
story raises the question of moral implications of the technology. In the times
when genetic engineering has given tremendous options to humans with the same
technology we foresee the harmful implications that can put the future of
humanity at stake. Proverbial lion may have morphed into nuclear power,
biological weapons, etc but our ability to control it may still be
limited.
Saurabh Agarwal, Entrepreneur and Literary enthusiast
W. S. Maugham’s The Ant and the Grasshopper: An Aesthetic
Reflection
Rajan Lal
W. S. Maugham’s The Ant and the Grasshopper is
one of the Fables of Aesop, a collection of fables by Aesop, a Greek
fabulist and storyteller who is believed to have lived between 620 and 564 BCE.
A ‘Fable’ forms a part of ‘Folklore/ oral literature’, which is studied under
‘Folk Literature’. ‘Folklore’ is the traditional lore/knowledge of a particular
group, transmitted from generation to generation through the mouth tradition.
Originally, the term ‘folk’ was applied for rustic scenes and ethos including
poor and illiterate peasants but over time it has undergone multiple changes.
Now it has its dynamism to nation from rustic ethos. ‘Folk Literature’
encompasses legends, folk songs, folk tales, fairy tales, myths, ballads, folk
drama, proverbs, charms, jokes, riddles, fables, parables quotes, and
children's stories.
The literary aim is delightful teaching, or
especially it has hardly anything to do with moral aspect of life. Most of the
people are of aesthetic bent of mind rather than of moral one. Here the ant symbolises diligence while the
grasshopper giddiness. The ant leads a diligent summer while the grasshopper
lazy one. When winter approaches, she is possessed of full larder but he is of
empty one. He demands for some food from her but she declines. As the moral of
the fable is that industry is rewarded and giddiness punished.
But the author, an aesthetic bent of mind,
reflects aesthetic approach to the fable where he talks of windfall in favour
of the black sheep character of Tom Ramsay who keeps blackmailing George Ramsay
and leaving his wife, gets engaged with an old lady who passes away after
leaving a lot of movable and immovable property for him while his brother, an extremely punctual and laborious lawyer,
is able to save a very meagre amount almost even by the end of his service. The
author happens to meet George in a restaurant, who was under utter annoyance
after hearing Tom’s windfall. He asks W. S. Maugham if this is the reward of
diligence but the author bursts into laughter after seeing his anger. He has
reflected life’s phenomenon through aesthetic point of view to make his readers
laugh and not to teach them any moral lesson. While he himself in the outset of
the fable apologises to his readers to overlook the moral of the fable, he
promotes the aesthetic element of the fable.
Dr. Rajan Lal is Assistant Professor of English at JSH
PG College, Amroha
Down
Memory Lane
Nibir
K. Ghosh
As I travel in the mind
to revisit the stories, fables, myths, fairy tales and other narratives that
fascinated me in my childhood, I am happy to recall a wide variety of tales
that kept me rivetted to books and magazines for hours at a stretch at home, in
the school library, and during long-distance train travels. If I have to share
my reading list, I am afraid it may sound boringly long. But, at the same time,
with my friends keenly listening, I cannot help mention stories like Joan of Arc,
the Maid of Orleans; Adventures of Robin Hood; King Arthur and the Knights of
the Round Table; Vikram aur Betaal; Aesop’s Fables; Panchatantra; Arabian Nights,
countless Fairy Tales; Richmal Crompton’s William series; Classics Illustrated
Comics; The Adventures of Tom Sawyer etc.
These tales contributed enormously
to laying a strong foundation for the love of reading that has not deserted me
even today. Through my reading engagements I could develop quite early in life an
avid interest in things that lay far away and distant in the realms of
imagination and in things that made me aware of the need to balance it with a
good deal of rationality what I saw and experienced in my day-to-day
interactions with the vagaries and varieties of life. Like, when I read about
Joan of Arc I could imagine what both love of God and the nation we inhabit could
be all about. Later on, as I matured and read Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan,
I could instantly recall the fascination I had for the thoughts, ideas and
actions of a maid who was burnt at the stake for her love of God and of France.
Again, reading about Robin Hood made me imagine how it felt like an adventurer
who would not hesitate to rob the rich to help the poor in comparison to the mafias
of today who believe only in looting the poor and the helpless to make them
poorer and more miserable.
I would like to end the presentation with
a remark made by Andre Dubus: “I love short stories because I believe they are the way we
live. They are what our friends tell us, in their pain and joy, their passion
and rage, their yearning and their cry against injustice.”
