My Book that I read this week (and finished)

Mai
16.03.13
English 6B
Ms. Stanisic

                    The book that I have read this week is a book in Hebrew, about legends from all over the world: Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Americas and others. The book has 106 pages and 47 short stories. It explains a lot about wisdom and the ways that people think and function. There are a lot of details, interesting stories and legends. These legends may be new to you or maybe you know them already, they can be realistic or made up. Sometimes they have a point about life and some are just to entertain. I will retell 1 legend translated from Hebrew.

This is the cover of my book, it has a few pictures from some legends and myths.

The legend below is translated from Hebrew:

           In a little village in India there lived a huge snake that imposed a great fear on the residents of the village and bit whoever passed by to death.The miserable villagers called one of the wise village residents and complained about the nastiness of the large snake. The wise one went and spoke to the snake that night. "What did the villagers do to you?" The wise one asked the snake. "Why are you scaring them all and why do you murder their comrades?" The wise one spoke quietly, and the snake was embarrassed with his doing and promised to behave better and to relinquish his violence. And so, he kept his promise and did not bother the humans.

           Right after the discussion with the wise villager, the large snake changed completely. He was not the same snake. The large, evil reptile became a long worm, slim and weak. He lost all his power and didn't dare touch anything, not even the smallest speck of dust. The villagers, who's memory was short, came and teased the large snake. "Look at him!" They said, "He has poisonous fangs and he never uses them!" The little kids threw sticks and stones on the reptile, and sometimes even dared to come close and kick the helpless snake. And the snake himself? The snake stayed down quietly and suffered, although he did not react. 

           After a few months the snake got fed up with all the suffering he dealt with and requested advice from the wise villager. He crawled slowly to the wise one's home and in a very quiet voice he whispered " I did all you asked me to do, but I feel that I am not myself anymore. The villagers are no longer scared of me and don't even respect me. They tease me and hit me and I don't know what to do!" . "Very simple," the wise one replied," I may have forbidden you from killing the villagers, but did I forbid you to mutter, whistle, to blow and to deter the people of the village?"


Hindu Legend

Epilogue:

Buddha believed that people needed to find the correct way to behave and manage ourselves: as violence cannot solve anything, the weakness is not the answer. He called the wise behavior as the "golden way". The knowledgeable Hindu Mahatma Gandhi (1869- 1948) consequent the advice of Buddha. He formulated a suitable and adequate way that allows us to fight and protect ourselves without the use of violence. Battle- Yes, Violence- No. 


Do you also think that we can fight in order to protect ourselves without using violence?


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-Mai