Resourceful addition to creative literature
Professor Sunanda Mahendra
LITERATURE: Folklore had always been a subject directly
connected with child rearing in most cultures. This is observed as one
of the ancient as well as most modern methods of helping the child to
know his cultural susceptibilities, the parental links, and in general
trends and the aspects of socialization.
In ‘Childhood in contemporary cultures’ (1955), the two sociologists
Margaret Mead and Martha Wolfenstien mould their works in a more
methodical and creative manner than one could imagine.
The existence of literature, it is said, is to teach parents the way
of bringing up their children, which is indicative of a changing
culture. In traditional cultures, where the same pattern is repeated
from generation to generation, the elders are authorities in these
matters.
Here the creative writers have a task to perform that is to visualize
how the traditional modes of expression came to be understood by the
members of a particular society. The main source of inspiration in this
direction is the oral tradition of story telling that came to be written
down later.
Nirupa Thushari’s translation of the Japanese traditional folk
literature “Chun Kurulla” (Sarasavi 2007) centers round a kind-hearted
old man, with his adventures in the work, finds a small house-sparrow.
The bird is a tiny wounded creature molested by an eagle and the old man
brings home to name it Chun out of sheer love.
The old man looks after the small bird like a child in his family.
But his old wife does not even like the sight of her husband loving the
bird. When the bird felt hungry one day, it ate a good part of the sweet
victuals prepared by the old woman; the woman gets angry and cut its
tongue as a punishment.
The bird flies away leaving the house of its much loving old man,
with the pain. The old man was to find his tiny bird, when he heard the
sad news. The old man’s ordeal looking for the bird is a series of
encounters with various types of people.
Agonies
This old man’s ordeal is one of the finest areas in creativity
typifying the agonies one undergoes. Initially when the old man asks the
whereabouts of the sparrow, the unbelievable things, quite typical of
folktales, take place. A number of times, he is asked to do unbelievable
things such as drinking seven buckets of water left over after bathing
animals.
However, the old man manages to find his precious child in a bamboo
grove hidden from humans and other creatures. The lovely creature got
overjoyed by the sight of the old man and comes flying and rests on the
shoulder of the old man.
The encounter becomes one of the most sensitive events as they find
themselves once again regaining their intimacies.
The old man is ushered into the house of sparrows in the bamboo
grove, and gets warm greetings with two boxes: a small and a big box.
The old man prefers the small box over the big one, as it’s easier to
carry.
This situation teaches the child a moral lesson to stay away from the
greed for the big presents, which is not a good cultivation of the
personality. Inside the small box is the best riches of gold, silver and
money; this is found in many folktales as the gift of goodness exceeds
the material barriers.
What happens next is quite interesting for the elders as well as
children.
Craving for riches
When the old woman sees her man with riches, she develops a craving
to all those riches. She also undergoes an ordeal reaching the
destination of the bamboo grove and she is treated in the same manner by
the little creature’s relations.
The old woman however prefers the big box over the small one however
difficult it is to carry. The old woman is shown as an impatient old
woman stirring ill at ease until she opens to see what is inside the
box.
She rests a while under a shady place and opens the box to see what
is inside. To her grave dismay and bewilderment she finds all sorts of
evil creatures like devils and inhumans emerging out of it as in the
age-old Pandora’s box of the Greek legend.
They all follow her and ask one question: ‘would you harm the little
creatures in future?’ Then she replies that she will never ever do so
and she is pardoned for her misdeeds of cutting the tongue of the little
sparrow.
As for the story, the theme is narrated in the simplest form possible
enabling the parents and teachers to either narrate the story orally or
allow the child to read it while the elders listen; either way is
possible.
In many ways it is good to have selected the original Japanese
illustrations but some readers would prefer to see a local flavour as
the translation is meant for the local child reader. The traditional
sense of loving kindness that should be inculcated towards all beings is
highlighted.
This Japanese trait is observable as a common heritage that goes
beyond geographical and cultural barriers possessing all the salient
qualities of a local folktale. In a historical perspective child
training begins with simple story telling process related to codes of
conduct, self-discipline, religious susceptibilities and other factors.
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