Week 6 Reading Diary : Japanese Tale Continued

From the second part of reading, what I have paid attention to most was the personification of the animals. Animals such as monkey, crab, or etc were treated just as a person.

From plot, of the story The Crab and The Monkey, this personification could be observed easily.

"There was once a crab who lived in a hole on the shady side of a mountain. She was a very good housewife, and so careful and industrious that there was no creature in the whole country whose hole was so neat and clean as hers, and she took great pride in it."

I thought this was interesting. I have seen animals act as humans in other mythology I read, so far. However, for Japanese Tales, it was more direct and more specific. The crab was even described as "a very good housewife" just like human. I think this is very interesting technique of the Japanese Tale, and I would like to use the method to rewrite any of the story for my future writing.

"One day she saw lying near the mouth of her hole a handful of cooked rice which some pilgrim must have let fall when he was stopping to eat his dinner. Delighted at this discovery, she hastened to the spot and was carrying the rice back to her hole"

I like this story because he expressed so many characteristics of human in one story.
From monkey, you could see selfish and ignorant person who takes advantage of others. From crab, you could see a viewer who are disgusted by his selfishness.

"In another moment he was swinging himself from branch to branch, eating all the ripest kakis and filling his pockets with the rest, and the poor crab saw to her disgust that the few he threw down to her were either not ripe at all or else quite rotten. 'You are a shocking rogue,' she called in a rage, but the monkey took no notice and went on eating as fast as he could. The crab understood that it was no use her scolding, so she resolved to try what cunning would do."
 
However, I was also surprised by how detailed explanation even on such a brutal scene.
"He peered about for the crab, but in vain; however, his eyes fell on the egg, which he snatched up and set on the fire. But in a moment the egg had burst into a thousand pieces, and its sharp shell struck him in the face and scratched him horribly. Smarting with pain, he ran to the bucket and stooped down to throw some water over his head. As he stretched out his hand, up started the wasp and stung him on the nose. The monkey shrieked and ran to the door, but as he passed through, down fell the mortar and struck him dead."

I could really use some characteristic that I observed from this reading.

(Crab by Rushen)

From Andrew Lang's Japanese Fairy Tales