Week 4: Essay Option 2
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| Twenty-Two Goblins |
This week I read Twenty-Two Goblins. I really enjoyed this unit! This was probably my favorite one that I have read so far. I think it was fun because it was a bunch of puzzles that made me think. The stories were very interesting because even though the riddle was was at the beginning of the story and you already knew what was going to happen, you had no idea how it was going to get there. There were some that were more surprising than others, and some that were more predictable. I found myself wanting to keep reading even past the halfway mark. I finished it all in one day and also did the storytelling that day. I think these stories were nice because they were shorter than some, and also very easy to understand. I used the audio book to read along with and that really helped. I tend to start thinking and daydreaming when I read and so it takes me forever to read something. The audio book helped me keep focused and pay attention a lot more so I got done a lot quicker and finished faster. A few of my favorite stories included: "Brave, Wise, Clever," "Food, Women, Cotton," "The Three Delicate Wives," and "The Three Lovers." My least favorite stories (based on the endings) "The General's Wife," "The Old Hermit," "The Snake's Poison," and "The Girl and the Thief." I did not like some of the endings on these because the people die at the end, or something strange happened. I thought it was neat how this story was made up of little stories, but was overall one giant story altogether. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and thought that it was a very nice read. It did not need any notes or anything and everything was pretty straight forward. The description was dead on, and that was what made me choose this unit.
Stephanie, I am so glad you liked this unit! I noticed your essay and just had to comment about that - the author of this translation, Arthur Ryder, is a real hero of mine and it makes me really happy that his book is in the public domain now so that I can make it available to the class for free. And with the audio book too. Anyway, I am glad you enjoyed it, and if you like Ryder's style, he is also the translator of the Panchatantra unit too. He was a Sanskrit professor at Berkeley, long before I was a student there, but sometimes when I was using Sanskrit books in the library there I wondered if maybe he had used the same books too! :-)
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