Reading Notes: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India; Part A

All readings derived from The Giant Crab and Other Tales of Old India, by W. H. D. Rouse

The Crocodile and the Monkey

• Story is told from 2nd person point of view, with references to the narrator talking to the readers directly with uses of "you."
• Vivid description of the crocodile, including the size of the animal, the hardness and color of its scales, the length of the jaw, the sharpness of its teeth, and how to refer them to things in real life such as a bed.
• Animals' names are usually just the name of the animal itself. In this example, the case of the wife and husband crocodiles were with prefixes such as "Mr." and "Mrs."
• This story was another author's recreation of the "Monkey's Heart" as I've read in previous Jataka tales.
• However, in this one, there was more emphasis on the point of view and background of the crocodiles and the dialogue between them

The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot

• Starts off with the stereotypical introduction of "once upon a time." I think this is something that I can use for introductions in my stories as well per genre
• Dialogue in this story is short and straight forward, unlike other formatting where the conversations are embedded within the stories themselves
• Vocabulary choice for these stories are uncomplicated and very succint in their description of the components of the story itself.
• Why is the dialogue italicized? Is there a particular reason for is this just in terms of style?
• Here, unlike other stories, the characters do have a name, which is the case in "Beaky" the parrot of the master

(The Master and His Parrots. Source: W. Robinson)