Essay: Evaluating the Indian Fairy Tales Reading Unit

I had the pleasure of reading another wonderful unit this week: Indian Fairy Tales. I was a little apprehensive at first because I don't know a lot about Indian culture or storytelling traditions, but I successfully made it through this unit without needing much foreknowledge about the subject. However, there were a few things I would have liked to have had clarification on. They are mostly small things that didn't really detract from the reading or make it more difficult to complete. For one thing, I didn't know what some of the professional titles of certain characters meant. There were several men called Brahmans (Brahmen?). Even after reading the stories, I don't know what they are, but not knowing didn't really factor into how well I understood the stories. Since information can't be added into the stories themselves, I would suggest adding just quick notes before the stories to let unfamiliar readers know a little bit about culture-specific characters before they encounter them in the tales.

While being unfamiliar with the Indian stories was a small snag, it actually played a part in why I enjoyed this unit. I like discovering new stories and types of literature that I like to read. I haven't had a lot of experience with Indian mythology or fairy tales, but my first encounter with them has been a positive one. There were stories that made me laugh, stories that made me upset (the big fake Harisarman gets away with everything!), and stories that might just become some of my favorites from the whole course.

Another thing I liked about this unit was the fact that it included stories from the Panchatantra and Jatakas. When I was trying to decide which units I would be reading for weeks 4 and 5, I had a tough decision to make because I wanted to read Panchatantra and Jataka stories but I was also interested in the different fairy tale units. This unit proved to be a happy compromise; I got to experience all three kinds of stories.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading and learning about Indian fairy tales and I would definitely recommend the unit to anyone who is interested in it. If I had an extra semester (I graduate in May), I would have loved to have been able to take the Indian Epics course.

Cover of Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, with illustrations by John D. Batten, (1912)