29 - Act Now, Think Later
Summary
TLDRIn this episode of 'Stories from India,' host Narad Muni narrates two tales from the Panchatantra. The first story tells of a mongoose mistaken for a threat by its adoptive mother, leading to tragic consequences. The second recounts the tale of a tortoise and geese attempting a daring rescue flight, foiled by the tortoise's quick temper. The podcast also touches on the Panchatantra's educational purpose and the story of the 'Elsa fish,' drawing parallels with the biblical Jonah and the whale.
Takeaways
- 🎵 The podcast 'Stories from India' explores myths, legends, and folktales from India, hosted by Narad Muni, a mythological character with eternal life and knowledge.
- 🐍 The first story features a man who, after forgetting his wedding anniversary, adopts a baby mongoose as a pet for his wife. This mongoose later saves their son from a deadly cobra.
- 👶 The wife initially treats the mongoose like a son, but her attention shifts to her human son when he is born, leading to a change in her attitude towards the mongoose.
- 🐍 In a tragic twist, the wife, unaware of the mongoose's heroic act, kills it, believing it had harmed her son, only to discover later that it had actually saved him from a cobra.
- 🦢 The second story involves a tortoise and two geese who are friends. The tortoise's pond is drying up, and the geese devise a plan to fly the tortoise to a new pond.
- 🌳 The tortoise's pond is the last water body for miles around, making it crucial for the tortoise to find a new home before the pond dries up completely.
- 🚁 The geese and tortoise attempt a daring aerial rescue, with the tortoise holding onto a stick carried by the geese, but the plan fails when the tortoise opens his mouth to speak.
- 📚 Both stories are from the 'Panchatantra,' an ancient Indian collection of fables attributed to Vishnu Sharma, intended to educate and impart wisdom.
- 🌈 The character of the week is the 'rainbow fish,' known for swallowing the Buddha, and its scales represent elements like grass, water, air, and fire.
- 🎶 The podcast's music is sourced from Purple Planet, and there will be a special episode on Buddha's birthday discussing a water filtration method and anger management.
Q & A
What is the name of the podcast and its main focus?
-The podcast is called 'Stories from India' and it focuses on myths, legends, and folktales from India.
Who is the host of the podcast and what is unique about them?
-The host is Narad Muni, a mythological character with the gift of eternal life and knowledge of the past, present, and future.
What is the first story in the podcast about?
-The first story is about a man who finds a baby mongoose and brings it home as a gift for his wife, leading to a series of events involving the mongoose saving the couple's son from a cobra.
Why does the man in the first story bring home a baby mongoose?
-The man brings home the baby mongoose because he has forgotten his wedding anniversary and sees the baby as a last-minute gift for his wife.
What tragic mistake does the wife make in the first story?
-The wife mistakenly kills the mongoose, believing it to be a threat to her baby, not realizing it had saved her son from a cobra.
What is the second story in the podcast about?
-The second story is about a tortoise that befriends a pair of geese and is saved from a drying pond by being flown to a new location.
Why do the geese help the tortoise?
-The geese help the tortoise because its pond is drying up, and they want to save their friend from dying.
What goes wrong during the tortoise's flight to a new location?
-The tortoise opens its mouth to shout at laughing children, causing it to lose its grip on the stick and fall.
What is the source of the stories covered in the podcast?
-The stories are from the Panchatantra, a collection of fables attributed to Vishnu Sharma.
Why was the Panchatantra written?
-The Panchatantra was written to educate a king's sons who were struggling with their studies, using stories to impart wisdom and important ideas.
What is the significance of the rainbow fish mentioned in the podcast?
-The rainbow fish is a creature from a story that swallowed the Buddha, and its scales represent different elements of nature.
What is the connection between the rainbow fish and the biblical story of Jonah and the whale?
-The connection is the theme of a person being swallowed by a large sea creature, which is a common motif in stories from different cultures.
Outlines
🎶 Introduction to the Podcast and the First Story
The host Narad Muni introduces 'Stories from India,' a podcast about myths, legends, and folktales. Narad, a mythological character with eternal life and knowledge, narrates the stories. This episode features two stories from the Panchatantra. The first story is about a man who forgets his anniversary gift and ends up bringing home a baby mongoose, which his wife loves. As the wife later gives birth to a son, her attention shifts, and she becomes distrustful of the mongoose, fearing it might harm her baby. One day, the mongoose heroically kills a cobra that had entered the house, but the wife, misinterpreting the scene, tragically kills the mongoose, thinking it had harmed her son.
🐍 The Mongoose and the Cobra
The second part of the first story continues with the mongoose being left alone to babysit while the wife goes to fetch water. A cobra enters the house, and the mongoose bravely fights and kills it to protect the baby. The wife returns to find the mongoose with blood on its teeth and, assuming the worst, kills the mongoose with a pot of water. She then discovers the dead cobra and her unharmed baby, realizing her grave mistake and feeling immense guilt for killing the mongoose that saved her child.
🦢 The Tortoise and the Geese
The second story involves a tortoise whose pond is drying up due to a drought. His friends, two geese, come up with a plan to save him by flying him to a new pond. The tortoise has to bite onto a stick carried by the geese and keep his mouth shut during the journey. As they fly over a group of children, the tortoise becomes angry at their laughter and opens his mouth to shout at them, causing him to fall to the ground. The story concludes with the tortoise learning a harsh lesson about keeping his mouth shut.
📚 Closing Remarks and Next Episode Teasers
Narad wraps up the episode, noting that both stories are from the Panchatantra, a collection of ancient Indian tales written by Vishnu Sharma to educate princes. He highlights the educational purpose and storytelling method of the Panchatantra. Narad then introduces the next episode, which will feature a special on the Buddha's birthday and stories from the Ramayana, including a political move by a nanny and a father torn between his love for his wife and son. He also mentions the character of the week, an elephant surviving a crocodile attack with divine help, and invites listeners to subscribe and leave feedback.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Narad Muni
💡Panchatantra
💡Mongoose
💡Cobra
💡Guilt
💡Tortoise
💡Geese
💡Drought
💡Rainbow Fish
💡Moral Tales
💡Mythological Creatures
Highlights
Introduction to 'Stories from India' podcast, a platform for sharing myths, legends, and folktales from India.
Host Narad Muni, a mythological character with the gift of eternal life and omniscience, presents the podcast.
The podcast covers stories from the Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection of fables.
A tale of a man who forgets his wedding anniversary and ends up adopting a mongoose as a gift for his wife.
The mongoose becomes a beloved pet but is later neglected when the wife has her own son.
The mongoose saves the son from a deadly cobra, demonstrating loyalty and bravery.
Tragic irony as the wife, unaware of the mongoose's heroism, kills it mistakenly.
A story of unlikely animal friends: geese and a tortoise facing the challenge of a drying pond.
The geese devise an ingenious plan to fly the tortoise to safety using a stick.
The tortoise's downfall due to opening its mouth mid-flight, leading to a humorous and tragic end.
Discussion on the Panchatantra's significance as an educational tool for imparting wisdom.
The Panchatantra's unique storytelling structure, where stories are chained together.
Introduction of the 'Rainbow Fish', a creature with scales representing elements of nature.
A parallel drawn between the Rainbow Fish and the biblical story of Jonah and the whale.
Announcement of a special episode on Buddha's birthday exploring connections with water filtration and anger management.
A preview of upcoming stories from the Ramayana featuring political intrigue and familial conflict.
Teaser for the next character, an elephant surviving a crocodile attack with divine intervention.
Closing remarks with an invitation to follow the podcast for new episodes and additional content.
Transcripts
[Music]
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[Music]
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hello and welcome to stories from India
a podcast where we talk about myths
Legends and folktales from
India I am your host narad money and I'm
a mythological character myself
I have the gift of eternal life and
knowledge of the past the present and
the
future by profession I'm a traveling
musician and a
Storyteller so the way I'm doing my job
is by
podcast this week we'll cover a couple
of stories from the pchat
Tantra one is about a little baby boy
and his very unlikely animal sibling
the other introduces air travel to a
toris the cost of the flight
ticket he just has to keep his mouth
closed the character this week is a
colorful
creature it's a rainbow
fish I also like to think of it as the
Elsa fish for reasons that'll soon be
clear our first story begins in a little
village in Ancient India where a couple
lived one day as the man was enjoying a
long day out drinking with the boys he
suddenly remembered with
shock it was his wedding anniversary and
he had completely forgotten to get his
wife a
gift he did not even have a
card this was going to be terrible
it was too late now to scare up a gift
from
somewhere he didn't have a choice he had
to face the
music on his way home he saw something
that Disturbed him a
lot it was a tiny baby crying next
to the lifeless body of its
mother the man picked up the baby
mongus alone
and helpless like that it wouldn't last
minutes as he entered his house his wife
saw the baby Mongoose in his hands and
squealed with delight a pet mongoose
that's exactly what she wanted for her
anniversary oh yes said the man
recovering
quickly I had been planning this for
weeks sorry I'm late just took a while
to get this little
fell the wife loved the little baby
mongus and took very good care of him
treating him like he was her own
son that is until she had a real
son at that point her attention shifted
completely to the new
baby the wasn't ignored but he did
Miss all the
attention
nevertheless he kind of understood that
it had to do with the birth of his baby
brother the and the baby got along
really well they played with each other
all
day the wife's treatment of the
unfortunately got
worse while previously she just paid him
less attention
now she was outright
distrustful look at those sharp teeth
she thought of the
who by now was all grown
up who's to say he won't playfully bite
my baby and end up hurting him real
bad she didn't act on this line of
thought though she often nagged her
husband about
it and this turned out to be very
fortunate for
her one day she had to go down to the
river to fetch
water she quite strictly asked her
husband to keep an eye on her baby boy
and the
but the moment she was out of
sight he sneaked off to play poker with
his
buddies folks please don't try this at
home
amongus is usually not an adequate
babysitter well there was a hole in the
wall and an Indian cobra sneaked into
the
house an Indian cobra not to be confused
with the king
cobra is one of the deadliest snakes in
the
world as the cobra slithered in
the spotted it right
away worried about his brother's
safety the mongus entered full battle
mode it was a very even
contest the snake deafly struck out many
times and the mongos narrowly avoided
each
strike finally the sunk its teeth
into the Cobra's Hood and clung on for
what seemed like an
eternity the did not lose in its
grip until after he was sure the snake
had
died
Victory the was proud he had done
his duty by his
family just then he heard footsteps
outside and rushed out to greet his
mom wouldn't mother be pleased to see
the Brave thing he had done he had saved
his little brother from the
Cobra
Well Mother wasn't
pleased the Mongol hadn't anticipated
the psychological impact of a mother
thinking her worst fears had been
realized she saw the with a big
smiling face and its sharp teeth
dripping with
blood she couldn't have know known it
was Cobra blood and not human
blood she reacted
instantly the pot of water she was
carrying on her
head she brought it down hard on the
killing it right
away she then rushed inside to
discover no
husband and wait a minute a smiling baby
boy alive and well in his crib and what
was that it looked like a dead Cobra
bleeding all
over she had just killed the creature
who had saved her baby's
life she would have to live with guilt
all her
life and she would have to live with the
husband who was careless enough to
neglect his babies at
home our Second Story is also about
unlikely animal
friends in this case there were a couple
of GES that made friends with a
toris every day the geese would come to
visit the toris in his pond and they
talk for hours while munching on fish
sticks and frog
legs the toris was a really good
host But as time went by fish and fr
frog seemed harder to come
by and then the tortois realized that
the most horrible thing was
happening his pond his home was drying
up he might have attributed this to
non-anthropogenic climate
change but it was just a regular drought
in the
land unfortunately L the pond would
almost certainly dry up before the next
rainy
season and that meant the toris would
not
survive when the geese visited the toris
later that day he explained the whole
situation to
them the geese had flown all over this
area
surely there was another Pawn not far
away that the tortois could crawl
to but the Gaze sadly shook their
heads there wasn't any other water body
around for hundreds of
miles this Pond was the
last they brainstormed a
bit and until finally they hit upon a
brilliant
idea the toris was too heavy for either
of the geese to
carry but they could divide the
load without actually dividing up the
tortoise they were going to fly him out
of
here in an animal version of
mcgyver they hatched a
plan each of the geese would clamp onto
one end of a
stick the toris would bite onto the
middle of the stick
the geese would be able to fly with the
stick and the
Tortoise they did a short and low
altitude test tried to
confirm the only
catch the toris could not let go he had
to keep his mouth shut throughout the
whole
journey but the geese were
fast and they could take maybe a break
or two on the
way the T da said a tearful goodbye to
the place that had been his home his
whole
life with a heavy heart but with just a
trace of
optimism he grabbed the stick as did the
geese and they were
off the takeoff was
smooth and so far they had had no
turbulence and look at the pretty sides
down there the toris had never imagined
what an aerial view of the land looked
like and there down there at
2:00 there was a group of children
playing and wait they had spotted the
geese and the Tortoise and they were
laughing nasty little kids how dare they
laugh at
him mind your own business screamed the
the
toris in a Wy coyote versus Roadrunner
moment he stopped suddenly in
midair he realized that in opening his
mouth to address the Laughing
kids he had let go of the
stick unlike Wy coyote
however the toris was unlikely to order
a pair of clipon wings from Acme to
complete his journey
that's all for now some notes on the
show both of these stories are from the
panchatantra we have previously covered
a couple of panchatantra stories in
episode 4 hay
Tales both of these stories are also
well known outside of
India thanks to tourism and
trade the punat Tantra was was written
by Vishnu Sharma as a
challenge a king was having a hard time
managing his
sons they were pretty poor
academically I guess they just didn't
have the aptitude to read dozens of
textbooks and to turn in homework
assignments and sit through 3-hour
exams Vishnu Sharma had the challenge of
educating the boys
and it was a time Box
challenge to do this he thought of a
revolutionary new
idea well it was revolutionary 2,000
years
ago he wrote and then told them stories
that could help them absorb important
ideas from
lectures so the pchat Tantra was a bit
like the for dummies or the idiots guide
book
series wisdom for
princes a story book for the rest of
us the stories in the panchatantra are
actually chains of
stories at the conclusion of each
incident one of the characters narrates
a new
story a little bit like in the thousand
one tales from the Arabian
Knights but without all the Cliffhangers
the character this week is a colorful
creature it's a rainbow
fish I also like to think of it as the
Elsa
fish the rainbow fish is a fish that was
as large as a
whale not to be confused with matsa from
episode 1 unicorn fish which was much
much
larger the rainbow fish is claim to fame
is that it swalled the Buddha the
founder of
Buddhism the Buddha didn't stay
swallowed of
course a group of fishermen and Fisher
women captured the rainbow
fish they rescued the
Buddha and guess
what they had enough fish fillets for
the rest of the
year the rainbow fish was called so
because scales were colored red blue
green and
yellow I suppose orange and violet
should really have been
present but I'm sure at a particular
angle of
sunlight those colors would have been
visible
too I'm deliberately not including
Indigo which is a madeup color in the
rainbow
anyway the green scales represented
grass the blue scale scales meant
water the yellow represented air even
though the air is
colorless and lastly the red scales
represented
fire a more plausible explanation would
have been to have the yellow represent
fire and the red represent the
air at least at sunrise and sunset the
sky does have a distinctly reddish tint
the story of the rainbow fish has some
parallel with the biblical Jonah and the
whale this may seem surprising but there
are many tales all around the world of
people being swallowed by a large sea
creature that's all for this week if you
have comments or suggestions please
leave a comment or a review on the site
sfip podcast.com
or tweet at SFI
podcast you can also find me on
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new
episodes thanks to all your listeners
for your continued
support the music is from purp
planet.com that's
purple-planet.com
this Thursday is the Buddha's birthday
so I'm going to do a special episode on
that day where we'll learn the
connection between a water filtration
method and anger
management but next weekend we'll pick
up where we left off in the
ramayan we'll see a nanny who executes a
very houseof card style political
move we'll also see a father conflicted
between his his love for his wife and
his love for his
son the character next week is an
elephant that manages to survive a
crocodile
attack thanks to some Divine
interference I'll see you next
[Music]
week
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