Week 11 Untextbook Feedback

For this week's Indian Epics untextbook feedback, I chose to read the story of The Giant Crab from The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse (1897).

First thing, I really liked reading the book in the HTML version, it just seemed like I had to click through a few things before getting to the story so the link might need to be adjusted a little. The links for the other stories I read worked fine and took me directly to the story. Otherwise, I loved the pictures! I decided to review this book because the title jumped out at me and I knew I hadn't read the story before when I took Indian Epics. It just sounded like fun. This story was broken up really well, keeping it from getting boring or monotonous. It was also easy to read, and I felt like anyone could understand it. It would be an especially good choice for someone who planned to do a children's book themed storybook because it was written in that format to start. I would highly suggest including this in your untextbook for Indian Epics. I really enjoyed it and feel like it would be a refreshing change from some of the more difficult to read content associated with the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.

I thought it was fun and silly to imagine a giant crab asking an elephant for a kiss. It made me smile. In fact, most of this story made had me grinning like a fool while I read it at an agency fair in Oklahoma City. I have to admit, I was a little sad that the crab died, but not too sad because that meant he couldn't kill anymore tigers (which are my favorite animal, I know, i'm biased).

I also read the Hypocritical Cat  which initially got me interested for two reasons:
1. Cats. Enough said.
2. Hypocritical?

I liked the amount of dialogue in this story. I also liked that it was really short. This unit's stories are short and fun which I really like. They don't contain large blocks of text and they aren't a trek to get through. It's really refreshing and felt like I was reading for fun, not just for class. Anyway, I liked the cat's character. He seemed kind of pompous and full of himself, much like how i'd like to imagine my cat would be if she could talk. I was surprised by the ending, but liked it because i've got a morbid sense of humor and enjoy strange, dark stories. Who'd ever think of rats eating cat meat? I love it.

The final story I read was The Crocodile and the Monkey. It was an interesting story, probably my least favorite of the three I read, but not bad. I liked that both characters actively engaged in trickery with the other. I'm not a fan of monkeys though, so I have to admit I was rooting for the crocodile. Plus, i'm a Crocodile Hunter fan, and always have been.