EPIC OF GILGAMESH

I. CHARACTER LIST
Gilgamesh - The protagonist of the story and the King of Uruk. He is credited with having built the city
walls of Uruk to protect its people. In most translations, he is described as being one-third man and two-
thirds god. His mother is Ninsun, a goddess. His father is Lugalbanda, a past King of Uruk.
Enkidu - A wild man who becomes Gilgamesh's best friend. After being visited by Shamhat, the
prostitute, Enkidu is civilized and leaves the animal world behind to journey with Shamhat to Uruk.
Enkidu accompanies Gilgamesh to defeat Humbaba before he passes away. Gilgamesh journeys to the
Underworld to try to bring Enkidu back to life.
Shamhat - A temple prostitute sent by Gilgamesh to civilize Enkidu. Shamhat seduces Enkidu and he
sleeps with her for six days and seven nights. She brings him back to Uruk with her where he first
encounters Gilgamesh.
Ninsun - Gilgamesh's mother and a goddess. She prays for Gilgamesh and Enkidu before they embark to
fight Humbaba in the cedar forest.
Humbaba/Huwawa - The Guardian of the cedar forest. Humbaba is defeated and killed by Gilgamesh and
Enkidu.
Ishtar/Irnini - Goddess of Love, Fertility, and War, and daughter of Anu. Ishtar sends the Bull of Heaven
to attack Gilgamesh after he spurns her advances.
Anu - The father of the Sumerian Gods. Ishtar appeals to him for help after Gilgamesh spurns her
advances.
Urshanabi - The boatman who takes Gilgamesh over the waters of the dead to see Utnapishtim.
Utnapishtim - Instructed by Ea to build a boat before the flood that destroyed the city of Shurrupak.
Utnapishtim is granted immortality for his role. Gilgamesh seeks him out after Enkidu's death.
Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of the flood and tells him where to find a magic plant that can grant
immortality.
The Bull of Heaven - Referred to in some translations as "Gugalanna," the Bull of Heaven was sent to
punish Gilgamesh for rejecting Ishtar's sexual advances. Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull of Heaven
and insult Ishtar.
Siduri - A barmaid and alewife that Gilgamesh encounters on his journey into the Underworld. Siduri
resides in a cottage by the sea. She discourages Gilgamesh on his pursuit for immortality but ultimately
directs him to the boatman Urshanabi.
Enlil - The storm god, wind god, and god of destiny.
Lugalbanda - The father of Gilgamesh, a great hero king of Uruk.
Aruru/Mammetum - The mother goddess who established life and death.
Nergal - Lord of the underworld.
Ninurta - The god of war, chaos, and silence.
Shamash - The god of light and the sun, he aids Enkidu and Gilgamesh in their fight with Humbaba.

II. ABOUT THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH

The Epic of Gilgamesh is an ancient epic poem from Mesopotamia dating back to roughly 2000
BCE. It is believed to be one of the earliest works of literature in human history. Scholars believe that its
origins were in ancient Sumerian poems that were later collected into an Akkadian epic in the 18th or
17th century BCE. Hormuzd Rassam, an Assyrian archaeologist, first discovered the clay tablets that
record the epic in 1853, in modern-day Iraq. They were first translated by George Smith, a British
Assyriologist, and were first published in the early 1870s.
Eleven tablets make up the main body of the poem. A twelfth tablet was likely added later, Sin-
Leqi-Unnini added the tablet to the poem, but it is unclear why. It does not correspond to the rest of the
poem and contradicts some of the events outlined in it. It also uses similar imagery and concepts but is
not sequential to the other eleven. This last tablet is sometimes omitted from translations for this reason
 Tablet One
The story introduces Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Gilgamesh, two-third god and one-third man, is
oppressing his people, who cry out to the gods for help. For the young women of Uruk this oppression
takes the form of a droit du seigneur — or "lord's right" to sleep with brides on their wedding night. For
the young men (the tablet is damaged at this point) it is conjectured that Gilgamesh exhausts them
through games, tests of strength, or perhaps forced labour on building projects. The gods respond to the
people's pleas by creating an equal to Gilgamesh who will be able to stop his oppression. This is the
primitive man, Enkidu, who is covered in hair and lives in the wild with the animals. He is spotted by a
trapper, whose livelihood is being ruined because Enkidu is uprooting his traps. The trapper tells
Gilgamesh about the man, and it is arranged for Enkidu to be seduced by Shamhat, a temple prostitute,
his first step towards being tamed, and after six days and seven nights of love making she takes Enkidu to
a shepherd's camp to learn how to be civilized. Gilgamesh, meanwhile, has been having dreams about
the imminent arrival of a beloved new companion.
Tablet Two
Shamhat brings Enkidu to a shepherds' camp, where he is introduced to a human diet and
becomes the night watchman. Learning from a passing stranger about Gilgamesh's treatment of new
brides, Enkidu is incensed and travels to Uruk to intervene at a wedding. When Gilgamesh attempts to
visit the wedding chamber, Enkidu blocks his way, and they fight. After a fierce battle, Enkidu
acknowledges Gilgamesh's superior strength and they become friends. Gilgamesh proposes a journey to
the Cedar Forest to slay the monstrous demi-god Humbaba, in order to gain fame and renown. Despite
warnings from Enkidu and the council of elders, Gilgamesh will not be deterred.
Tablet Three
The elders give Gilgamesh advice for his journey. Gilgamesh visits his mother, the
goddess Ninsun, who seeks the support and protection of the sun-god Shamash for their adventure.
Ninsun adopts Enkidu as her son, and Gilgamesh leaves instructions for the governance of Uruk in his
absence.
Tablet Four
Gilgamesh and Enkidu journey to the Cedar Forest. Every few days they camp on a mountain, and
perform a dream ritual. Gilgamesh has five terrifying dreams about falling mountains, thunderstorms,
wild bulls, and a thunderbird that breathes fire. Despite similarities between his dream figures and earlier
descriptions of Humbaba, Enkidu interprets these dreams as good omens, and denies that the frightening
images represent the forest guardian. As they approach the cedar mountain, they hear Humbaba
bellowing, and have to encourage each other not to be afraid.
Tablet Five
The heroes enter the cedar forest. Humbaba, the ogre-guardian of the Cedar Forest, insults and
threatens them. He accuses Enkidu of betrayal, and vows to disembowel Gilgamesh and feed his flesh to
the birds. Gilgamesh is afraid, but with some encouraging words from Enkidu the battle commences. The
mountains quake with the tumult and the sky turns black. The god Shamash sends 13 winds to bind
Humbaba, and he is captured. The monster pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh pities him. Enkidu, however,
is enraged and asks Gilgamesh to kill the beast. Humbaba curses them both and Gilgamesh dispatches
him with a blow to the neck. The two heroes cut down many cedars, including a gigantic tree that Enkidu
plans to fashion into a gate for the temple of Enlil. They build a raft and return home along the Euphrates
with the giant tree and the head of Humbaba.
Tablet Six
Upon his return to Uruk Gilgamesh bathes his body and dons a clean robe and cloak, and anoints
himself with oil. His appearance is so attractive that Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, is overcome with
lust. She pleads with Gilgamesh to be her husband. She promises him vast riches if he impregnates her.
She tells him they will live together in a house made of cedar, and that she will give him a lapis lazuli
chariot with golden wheels.
Gilgamesh pointedly refuses her advances. He says he has nothing to offer her, since, as a
goddess, she has everything she could ever want. He tells her he knows of the fate of her other human
lovers. Gilgamesh recounts the story of Tammuz, the shepherd, who was a captive in the underworld and
is mourned in festivals every year. Another shepherd she loved became a bird with broken wings, unable
to fly. A goat-herder who loved her was turned into a wolf. Gilgamesh asks why he should expect to be
treated any better.
Ishtar is furious. She goes to her father, Anu, and mother, Antum, and demands that they let her use the
Bull of Heaven to punish Gilgamesh. Her father refuses, stating that what Gilgamesh said was true. Ishtar
is only further enraged. She threatens to free the dead from the underworld so they can feast on the
living. Anu warns her that the bull will also bring a famine. Ishtar assures him that she has made
provisions for the people and the flocks of Uruk, and he gives in.
Ishtar unleashes the Bull of Heaven. The city of Uruk trembles as, bellowing and snorting, it
comes down from the sky. A crack opens up in the earth, and one hundred men fall into it and die. Again
the bull bellows and again the ground cracks open. One hundred more men are swallowed up. The third
time this happens, Enkidu attacks the bull. The bull slobbers all over him and whips him with its tail,
coated in excrement. Enkidu grabs it by its horns and wrestles with it. He calls out to Gilgamesh, who
joins him, and they fight the bull together. At last, Enkidu seizes its filthy tail and holds the monster still
so that Gilgamesh can thrust his sword between its shoulders and kill it. The heroes then cut out its heart
and offer it as a sacrifice to Shamash the sun god.
Ishtar appears on the walls of the city and curses the two friends. Enkidu picks up one of the
bull’s bloody haunches and hurls it at her. He threatens that if she were closer, he would do the same to
her. Gilgamesh and Enkidu again bathe and wash the bull’s blood from their bodies in the Euphrates.
That night, Enkidu has a dream that the gods are meeting in council. He awakens suddenly and asks
Gilgamesh why the gods would do this.
Tablet Seven
In Enkidu's dream, the gods decide that one of the heroes must die because they killed Humbaba
and the Bull of Heaven. Despite the protestations of Shamash, Enkidu is marked for death. Soon
thereafter, Enkidu becomes ill, proving the dream true. Enkidu curses the trapper and Shamhat for
removing him from the wild. Shamash reminds Enkidu of how Shamhat fed and clothed him, and
introduced him to Gilgamesh. Shamash tells him that Gilgamesh will bestow great honors upon him at his
funeral, and will wander into the wild consumed with grief. Enkidu regrets his curses and blesses
Shamhat. In a second dream however he sees himself being taken captive to the  Netherworld by a
terrifying Angel of Death. The underworld is a "house of dust" and darkness whose inhabitants eat clay,
and are clothed in bird feathers, supervised by terrifying beings. For 12 days, Enkidu's condition worsens.
Finally, after a lament that he could not meet a heroic death in battle, he dies.
Tablet Eight
Gilgamesh delivers a lamentation for Enkidu, in which he calls upon mountains, forests, fields,
rivers, wild animals, and all of Uruk to mourn for his friend. Recalling their adventures together,
Gilgamesh tears at his hair and clothes in grief. He commissions a funerary statue, and provides grave
gifts from his treasury to ensure that Enkidu has a favourable reception in the realm of the dead. A great
banquet is held where the treasures are offered to the gods of the Netherworld. Just before a break in
the text there is a suggestion that a river is being dammed, indicating a burial in a river bed, as in the
corresponding Sumerian poem, The Death of Gilgamesh.
Tablet Nine
Gilgamesh roaming the wild wearing animal skins, grieving for Enkidu. Fearful of his own death,
he decides to seek Utnapishtim ("the Faraway"), and learn the secret of eternal life. Among the few
survivors of the Great Flood, Utnapishtim and his wife are the only humans to have been granted
immortality by the gods. Gilgamesh crosses a mountain pass at night and encounters a pride of lions.
Before sleeping he prays for protection to the moon god Sin. Then, waking from an encouraging dream,
he kills the lions and uses their skins for clothing. After a long and perilous journey, Gilgamesh arrives at
the twin peaks of Mount Mashu at the end of the earth. He comes across a tunnel, which no man has
ever entered, guarded by two terrible scorpion-men. After questioning him and recognizing his semi-
divine nature, they allow him to enter it, and he passes under the mountains along the Road of the Sun.
In complete darkness he follows the road for 12 "double hours", managing to complete the trip before
the Sun catches up with him. He arrives at the Garden of the gods, a paradise full of jewel-laden trees.
Tablet Ten
Meeting the ale wife Siduri, who assumes, because of his disheveled appearance, that he is a
murderer or thief, Gilgamesh tells her about the purpose of his journey. She attempts to dissuade him
from his quest, but sends him to Urshanabi the ferryman, who will help him cross the sea to Utnapishtim.
Gilgamesh, out of spontaneous rage, destroys the stone-giants that live with Urshanabi. He tells him his
story, but when he asks for his help, Urshanabi informs him that he has just destroyed the only creatures
who can cross the Waters of Death, which are deadly to the touch. Urshanabi instructs Gilgamesh to cut
down 120 trees, and fashion them into punting poles. When they reach the island where Utnapishtim
lives, Gilgamesh recounts his story asking him for his help. Utnapishtim reprimands him, declaring that
fighting the common fate of humans is futile and diminishes life's joys.
Tablet eleven
Gilgamesh observes that Utnapishtim seems no different from himself, and asks him how he
obtained his immortality. Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood. To save
Utnapishtim the god Ea told him to build a boat. He gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed
with pitch and bitumen. His entire family went aboard together with his craftsmen and "all the animals of
the field". A violent storm then arose which caused the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens. Ishtar
lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. The storm lasted
six days and nights, after which "all the human beings turned to clay". Utnapishtim weeps when he sees
the destruction. His boat lodges on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When
the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the
gods, who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that just as she will never forget the
brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck, she will always remember this time. When Enlil arrives,
angry that there are survivors, she condemns him for instigating the flood. Ea also castigates him for
sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with
eternal life. This account matches the flood story that concludes the Epic of Atrahasis (see alsoGilgamesh
flood myth).
The main point seems to be that when Enlil granted eternal life it was a unique gift. As if to
demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights.
Gilgamesh falls asleep, and Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread on each of the days he is
asleep, so that he cannot deny his failure to keep awake. Gilgamesh, who is seeking to overcome death,
cannot even conquer sleep. After instructing Urshanabi the ferryman to wash Gilgamesh, and clothe him
in royal robes, they depart for Uruk.
As they are leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells
Gilgamesh that at the bottom of the sea there lives a boxthorn-like plant that will make him young again.
Gilgamesh, by binding stones to his feet so he can walk on the bottom, manages to obtain the plant.
Gilgamesh proposes to investigate if the plant has the hypothesized rejuvenation ability by testing it on
an old man once he returns to Uruk.
There is a plant that looks like a box-thorn, it has prickles like a dogrose, and will prick one who
plucks it. But if you can possess this plant, you'll be again as you were in your youth'
'This plant, Ur-shanabi, is the "Plant of Heartbeat", with it a man can regain his vigour. To Uruk-the-
sheepfold I will take it, to an ancient I will feed some and put the plant to the test!' [11]
Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe, it is stolen by a serpent, who sheds its skin as it departs.
Gilgamesh weeps at the futility of his efforts, because he has now lost all chance of immortality. He
returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls prompts him to praise this enduring work to
Urshanabi.
Tablet twelve
Gilgamesh grieves the loss of Enkidu and approaches Enlil for aid. Enlil refuses and Gilgamesh
makes his way to Sin, the moon god for help. Sin ignores his cries for help. Finally, Gilgamesh goes to Ea
for help. Ea intercedes and allows Enkidu’s spirit to rise up and escape the Nether World. Gilgamesh
inquires about the Nether World. Enkidu tells him that it is terrible and that if he tells Gilgamesh,
Gilgamesh will sit down and weep. Gilgamesh implores Enkidu to tell him anyway. Enkidu says that
vermin eat at his body. Gilgamesh sits down and weeps.
After a while, Gilgamesh inquires about the fate of different people: the man with no children,
the man with one son, the man with six sons, the man who died in battle, and a man who left no one
behind to remember him. Enkidu tells him the fate of each, explaining that the man with no sons is
miserable, the man with six sons is happy, and that the man who left no one behind eats garbage. No dog
would eat what he eats.

THE BOOK OF RUTH

(Israel)

I. BACKGROUND
Introduction of Israel

"Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the
same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000
years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-
year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner
candy store."

The people of Israel (also called the "Jewish People") trace their origin to Abraham, who established
the belief that there is only one God, the creator of the universe (see  Torah). Abraham, his son Yitshak
(Isaac), and grandson Jacob (Israel), are referred to as the patriarchs of the Israelites. All three patriarchs
lived in the Land of Canaan, that later came to be known as the Land of Israel. They and their wives are
buried in the Ma'arat HaMachpela, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, in Hebron (Genesis Chapter 23).

The name Israel derives from the name given to Jacob (Genesis 32:29). His 12 sons were the kernels
of 12 tribes that later developed into the Jewish nation. The name Jew derives from Yehuda (Judah) one
of the 12 sons of Jacob (Reuben, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Yisachar, Zevulun,
Yosef, Binyamin) (Exodus 1:1). So, the names Israel, Israeli or Jewish refer to people of the same origin.

The descendants of Abraham crystallized into a nation at about 1300 BCE after their Exodus from
Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Moshe in Hebrew). Soon after the Exodus, Moses transmitted to
the people of this new emerging nation, the Torah, and the Ten Commandments (Exodus Chapter 20).
After 40 years in the Sinai desert, Moses led them to the Land of Israel, that is cited in The Bible as the
land promised by G-d to the descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 17:8).

The people of modern day Israel share the same language and culture shaped by the Jewish heritage
and religion passed through generations starting with the founding father Abraham (ca. 1800 BCE). Thus,
Jews have had continuous presence in the land of Israel for the past 3,300 years.

The rule of Israelites in the land of Israel starts with the conquests of Joshua (ca. 1250 BCE). The
period from 1000-587 BCE is known as the "Period of the Kings". The most noteworthy kings were King
David (1010-970 BCE), who made Jerusalem the Capital of Israel, and his son Solomon (Shlomo, 970-931
BCE), who built the first Temple in Jerusalem as prescribed in the Tanach (Old Testament).In 587 BCE,
Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to
Babylon (modern day Iraq).The year 587 BCE marks a turning point in the history of the region. From this
year onwards, the region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpower empires of the time in
the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Islamic and
Christian crusaders, Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.

II. SUMMARY:
A man named Elimelech from Bethlehem left the country of Israel because of famine and moved
to the land of Moab. With him were his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. After their
father's death, the sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. They lived together for about
10 years until both Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving their mother Naomi to live with her daughters-in-
law. Naomi decided to return to her homeland Israel. The famine has subsided and she no longer had
immediate family in Moab. Naomi told her daughters-in-law about her plans and both of them wanted to
go with her. She advised them to stay in their homeland, remarry and begin new lives. After much
dispute, Orpah acceded to her mother-in-law's wishes and left her, weeping but Ruth insisted on staying
with Naomi and said, “Don’t make me leave you, for I want to go wherever you go and to live wherever
you live; your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God; I want to die where you die, and
be buried there. May the Lord do terrible things to me if I allow anything but death to separate us” (Ruth
1:16-17).

Naomi and Ruth both arrived in Israel while the barley harvest is underway. They are so poor that
Ruth must glean the free grains that have fallen on the ground while harvesters are gathering the crops.
As luck would have it, the field Ruth is working in belongs to a wealthy man named Boaz, who is a relative
of Naomi's deceased husband. When Boaz learned that a woman was gathering food in his fields, he told
his workers: "Let her gather among the sheaves and don't reprimand her. Even pull out some stalks for
her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don't rebuke her" (Ruth 2:14). Boaz then
gave Ruth a gift of roasted grain and told her she should feel safe working in his fields. Ruth thanked
Boaz, but then she questioned why she, a foreigner, should receive such kindness. Boaz replied that he
had learned of Ruth's faithfulness to her mother-in-law, and then he prays to the God of Israel to bless
Ruth for her loyalty.

When Ruth told Naomi what has happened, Naomi told her about their connection with Boaz.
Naomi then advised her daughter-in-law to dress herself up and sleep at Boaz's feet while he and his
workers are camping out in the fields for the harvest.( It was a Jewish custom for a widow to marry her
husband’s closest male relative). Naomi hoped that by doing this Boaz will marry Ruth and they will have
a home in Israel.

Ruth followed Naomi's advice and when Boaz discovered her at his feet in the middle of the night
he asked who she is. Ruth replies: "I am your servant Ruth. Spread the corner of your garment over me,
since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family" (Ruth 3:9). By calling him a "redeemer" Ruth was
referencing the ancient custom. He was interested in marrying her but there is another relative more
closely related to Elimelech who has a stronger claim.

The following day, Boaz went to the marketplace and spoke with this relative with ten of the
chief men of the village as witnesses. Boaz told him that Elimelech and his sons have land in Moab that
must be redeemed, but that in order to claim it the relative must marry Ruth. The relative was interested
in the land, but does not want to marry Ruth since doing so would mean his own estate would be divided
amongst any children he had with Ruth. He asked Boaz to act as the redeemer, which Boaz is more than
happy to do. So he married Ruth, and when he slept with her, the Lord gave them a son. They named him
Obed who became the grandfather of King David.

HUNDRED QUESTIONS FROM MAHABHARATA

 I. INTRODUCTION:
The mahabharatais a classic poem of ancient India. Th title is a Sanskrit word meaning “great
story of Bharata dynasty.” The Mahabharata tells about the feud between two related families- the
Pandavas and the Kauravas-who live in northern India and are descendants of King Bharata. In the story,
the five Pandava brothers lose their kingdom and all their wealth to the Kauravas, their cousins, and are
exiled for twelve years in the forest. After completing their long exile, they battle to regaiun their
kingdom. Although they win the battle, the destruction is so great that their victory is hollow.
Interwoven with this main character in the Mahabharata are the myths and legends as well as
discussions of religion and other subjects. One part of the epic, the Bhagavad Gita, is one of the most
important religious texts of Hinduism. However, Hindus value all of the Mahabharata for its religious
teachings. The central focus of the epic is the Hindu concept of dharma, which is code of conduct or a
person´s duty in life. Hindus believe that people preserve the natural order of the universe by fulfilling
their responsibilities according to their station in life.
Hindu tradition holds that a wise man named Vyasa dictated the Sanskrit verses of the
Mahabharatato the God of wisdom, however, Ganesha, who wrote them down. Many scholars, however,
consider the epic collection of writings by different authors, compiled in its present form about A.D. 400.
¨Hundred Questions¨is an episode from Book 2 of the Mahabharata.This episode takes place
when the Pandava brohers have nearly completed their twelve-year exile in the forest. The account you
will read is from a simplified prose version of the epic by the Indian author R.K.Narayan.
II. SUMMARY:
It all began with the rivalry of two sets of cousins over Kingdom Kurukshetra, the Kauravas and
the Pandavas. The eldest of Kaurava who is Duryodhang became jealous with his father gave a pieca of
the Kaurava kingdom to his cousins,the Pandavas.Duryodhana then defeted them in the game of chance
using a loaded dice and sentenced then twelve years of exile in the forest.
Pandu had a five with Madri, his second wife. They were Yudhistira,the eldest and the most
capable brother;Bhima,the strongest of men; arjuna, the third son and the greatest warrior of the epic;
the twin sons nakula and sahadeva. The five sons of pandu were called the “pandavas”
After their prolonged journey, the pandavas came back to their strating point, Dwaitavana.they
lived a quiet and calm life until such time when a brahmin arrived in a state of great agitation. He said
that a deer with an extra ordinary size stucked the staff and faggots, needed for his religious activities, in
his horn and then the deer vanished after turning around.
With the initiative of yudhistira, they decided to help the brahmin and chase the deer. They tried
to follow its marks and shoot it with their arrows but surprisingly, the deer vanished. And the pandavas
decided to rest under a tree. They were all tired and thirsty.
And so yudhistira commanded his youngest brother nakula to climb a tree to look for any sign of
water. He didn't fall to see one. He rushed to the crystal-clear pond but didn't able to come back. That's
the time when the eldest brother sent sahadeva, then arjuna and followed by bhima. But all of them died
because of one reason. They heard a voice warning them not take nor touch the water not until they
answer the questions. But they did the same thing. And that is they drink the water from the pond
because of so much thirst.
Yudhistira then personally went to the pond to check why his brothers failed to return. And he
saw them lying dead. He also heard the voice warning him not to drink water from the pond without
answering the questions because if he'll die. Out of curiosity, he wanted to see the person behind the
voice and saw an enormous figurebeside the pond. He saw the forest divinity or nature spirit, yaksha.
He decided to answer the questions first before having a drink as much as he can. There were
hundred or more questions thrown for him time to think. He felt thirst, grief and suspense and could only
able to whisper his answers. Yaksha then finally give him that one of his brother will be revived.
 After answering all the questions, he chose nakula to rise but yaksha gave life again to all his
brothers, because of his judicious answers humility. The pandavas brothers lived in disguise outside the
forest for their last year of exile.

THE LION MAKERS, A STORY FROM THE PANCHATANTRA

I. BACKGROUND

The Panchatantra is a collection of ancient stories from India that were written down more than
two thousand years ago, though the stories themselves are much older than that.  They are the first
fables ever told in the world.  They’re mostly humorous stories that have a very pointed point.
In early Indian History, the title Brahman was given to the learned people in the highest caste of
society.    The Brahmans were those men who were highly educated and who understood and carried out
the duties of the priesthood i the Hindu religion.  As years passed not all men born into the Brahman
caste lived up to the high standards of being well educated.  Such is the case  in this story.
II. CONTENT
THE LION MAKERS
Four Brahmans lived near one another and were friends in a small town.  Three of them had been
scholars their whole lives and had learned much, but they had no common sense.  The fourth couldn’t be
bothered to study from dusty dry books, but he had a great deal of common sense.
One day they got together to talk and decided that all their accomplishments and learning were
pointless if they didn’t go out in the world to meet people, see places, gain a little political power, and
make a little money.  So they decided to travel together.
They hadn’t gone far when the eldest said, “One of us is not smart enough or educated enough,
having nothing but common sense.  He won’t make it very far in the world without scholarship, so let’s
not share our money with him.  He should go back home.”
The second said, “That’s true, friend, you should go home.”  But the third said, “No, this is no way
to treat our friend who we have known since we were small children playing together.   He will stay with
us and have a share of the money we earn.”

So they agreed and all four continued on together.  Soon they came upon the bones of a dead
lion in the forest.  One of them said, “Here is a chance to show off how intelligent and learned we are.  
Let’s bring him back to life through our superior knowledge.”

The first said, “I can assemble the skeleton for I know how it should go.”   The second said, “I can
add on the muscles, organs, and skin.”  The third said, “I can give it life.”

But the fourth, who was the man of no scholarship said, “This is a lion.   If you give it life it will kill
every one of us.”

“The scholars replied, “We will not make all our learning pointless.  We must use it at every
opportunity.”  So the fourth replied again, “Then wait a moment while I climb this tree.”

So the man of sense climbed a tree while the other three brought the lion to life.   The lion rose
up and killed the three scholars.  But the man of sense climbed down after the lion had left and went
home.

Scholarship is less than sense;

Therefore seek intelligence:
Senseless scholars in their pride
 Made a lion, then they died.

THE ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS

I. INTRODUCTION
China has traditionally been a nation of poets. From ancient through the first decade of the
twentieth century. Chinese literature is extensive because it includes every form of writing. It contains
book of history, political and philosophical disquisitions, tales of marvels and plays, including beautiful
examples of letter writing. Some of these were written in a highly stylized form. The teachings of the
Confucius or Kung-fu-tze which were collected in his analects are masterpieces of serenity and insights.
They are readily comprehensible. Confucius was the most prolific and persuasive thinker of his time. His
influence never disappeared.
The Analects, or Lunyu (lit. "Selected Sayings"), also known as the Analects of Confucius, is the collection
of sayings and ideas attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius and his contemporaries,
traditionally believed to have been written by Confucius' followers. It is believed to have been written
during the Warring States period (475 BC–221 BC), and it achieved its final form during the mid-Han
dynasty (206 BC–220 AD). By the early Han dynasty the Analects was considered merely a "commentary"
on the Five Classics, but the status of the Analects grew to be one of the central texts of Confucianism by
the end of that dynasty. During the late Song dynasty (960-1279) the importance of the Analects as
a philosophy work was raised above that of the older Five Classics, and it was recognized as one of the
"Four Books". The Analects has been one of the most widely read and studied books in China for the last
2,000 years, and continues to have a substantial influence on Chinese and East Asian thought and
values today.
II. SUMMARY
Confucius is the author of the Analects and is also referred to in it as the master. During his
lifetime, Confucius is known as a sage. Many stories about him flourish that may not be accurate. He
descends from an ancestral sage but little is known about his father Shu Liang and nothing is known
about his mother. Confucius is born in 552 B.C or a year in Lu, the city of his ancestors. As a youth he
becomes skilled in menials tasks. At the age of twenty-seven, he holds a minor office in the Lu court that
gives him access to visiting dignitaries. In addition, he learns about performing ceremonial rites for which
becomes well known. From the years of 525 B.C through 497 B.C, he performs various services and holds
public office in and around Lu.
The Analects of Confucius is an anthology of the brief passages that present the words of
Confucius and his disciples, describe Confucius as man and recount some of the events of his life The
analects includes twenty books, each generally featuring a series of Chapters that encompasses quotes
from Confucius ,which were compiled by his disciples after his death.

Chapter 2, Verse 1
The Master said, 'The rule of virtue can be compared to the Pole Star which commands the homage of
the multitude of stars without leaving its place. 'Lau [2:1]
Chapter 2, Verse 2
The Master said, 'The Odes are three hundred in number. They can be summed up in one phrase,
swerving not from the right path. 'Lau [2:2]
Chapter 2, Verse 4
The Master said, 'At fifteen I set my heart on learning; at thirty I took my stand; at forty I came to be free
from doubts; at fifty I understood the Decree of Heaven; at sixty my ear was attuned; at seventy I
followed my heart's desire without overstepping the line. 'Lau[2:4]
Chapter 2, Verse 7
Tzuyu asked about being filial. The Master said, 'Nowadays for a man to be filial means no more than that
he is able to provide his parents with food. Even hounds and horses are, in some way, provided with
food. If a man shows no reverence, where is the difference? 'Lau [2:7]
Chapter 7, Verse 15
7.15 Ran Yǒu said, “Will the Master become a partisan on behalf of the ruler of Wei?”
Zigong said, “Right – I’ll ask him.”
He entered and said to the Master, “What sort of men were Bo Yi and Shu Qi?”
“They were worthies of ancient times.”
“Did they harbor complaints?”
“They sought ren and gained ren – what complaint could they have?”
Zigong exited. “The Master will not be a partisan in this,” he said.

Chapter 15, Verse 23

15.23 The Master said, The junzi does not raise up a man because of his words, and does not discard
words because of the man
 TAO TE CHING BY LAO TZU (31, 33, 29)

I. INTRODUCTION
Meet Lao – Tzu
“The dragon..soars toward heaven … upon the wind and clouds. Today I have seen Lao – Tzu,
and he is like a dragon.”
The life of Lao – tzu (lou’ dzu’), the legendary author of the Toa Te Ching ( tou ta’ ching’) is
shrounder in mystery. To many followers of Taoism (tou’iz’am), the way of approaching life that is based
on the way of approaching life that is based on the Tao Te Ching, he was a mythical figure who ould
adopt different personalities and who lived more than two hundred years.
According to an early biography, Lao – tzu served as a scholar – historian to the Kingdom of
Chou. After many years, he left the royal court and rode off to the west. He came to a gate asked him to
write down his knowledge. Lao-tzu complied, recording his ideas in the eighty – one – verse Tao Te
Ching (classic of the way of power). Today, many scholars believe the Tai Te Ching was compiled by
followers of Taoism in the fourth and third centuries B.C.
Lao – tzu lived during the sixth century B.C.
II. BACKGROUND
Taoism arose in response to the same conditions – war, chaos, and corruption – that produced
Confucianism. But while Confucius hoped to reform society by having people follow a strict code of
social order. Instead, in the Tao Te Ching, he recommended trying to live in harmony with the natural
world. At heart of his philosophy is the principle of wu wei meaning “nonaction” or “letting things take
their natural course”. Wu wei stresses living in accordance with the under lying harmony of nature.
According to Lao – tzu, if people lead simple lives and follow wu wei, they can achieve unity with the
Tao, or course of nature.
Taoism developed as both a religion and a philosophy. Some religious Taoists attempted to gain
longevity, wealth, and even immortality through varius mystical practices. However, it is as a philosophy,
a way of approaching and understanding the world, that Taoism has had its greatest influence.
III. CONTENT
From the TAO TE CHING
Lao – tzu
Translated by Stephen Mitchell
31
Weapons are the tools of violence
All decent men detest them.

Weapons are the tools of fear;

A decent man will avoid them
Except in the direst necessity,
And if compelled, will use them
only with the utmost restraint.
Peace is his highest value
If the peace has been shattered,
How can he be content?
His enemies are not demons,
But human beings like himself.
He doesn’t wish them personal harm.
Nor does he rejoice in victory
And delight in the slaughter of men?

He enters a battle gravely,

With sorrow and with great compassion,
As if he were attending a funeral
33
Knowing others is intelligence;
Knowing yourself is true wisdom
Mastering others is strength;
Mastering yourself is true power.
If you realize that you have enough,
 You are truly rich.
If you stay in the center
And embrace death with your whole heart,
You will endure forever.
29
Do you want to improve the world?
I don’t think it can be done.

The world is sacred.

It can’t be improved.
If you tamper with it, you’ll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you’ll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,

A time for being behind;
A time for being in motion,
A time for being at rest;
A time for being vigorous,
A time for being exhausted;
A time for being safe,
A time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,

Without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
And resides at the center of the circle.

"PULSE OF THE LAND"

by: Hermel A. Nuyda

I. INTRODUCTION:
Pulse of the Land is a short story written by Hermel A. Nuyda about an American's encounter
with the rural Filipino life.
Hermel A. Nuyda was born on October 4, 1918 in Camalig, Albay. He was well-provided
financially by his father (whose humble beginnings as a road laborer and janitor probably helped him
become a congressman), studied in public schools, and eventually finished law. He went to Manila to
teach social studies for six years. He later had a career in writing and in politics. Following his father's
political career path, he became an assistant in the Philippine Senate and contributed to the drafting of
laws, especially those regarding Philippine-US trade.
Even as a lawyer, Hermel Nuyda took time to write short stories which saw print in various
publications. In Filipino Writers in English: A Biographical and Bibliographical Directory by Florentino B.
Valeros and Estrellia Valeros-Gruenberg (New Day Publishers, Quezon City, Philippines, 1987), there was
mention of a plan to publish a collection of Nuyda's stories. The tentative title was  Fat of the Land, and
features stories that focus on the rural working folk.
One of the more talked about stories of Nuyda is The Pulse of the Land, which was published in
the 1961 edition of Philippine Prose and Poetry (volume 3).
"Pulse of theLand" is in luzon, the largest island that make up the philippines. Mountain ranges
and volcanoes, some if which are still active, dominate the landscape. Mayon volcano has erupted more
than thirty times since 1616, when records began to be kept. This volcano is famous for its perfect cone
shape.
This events in this story took place in early years of Philippine independence, after over 300
years as a Spanish colony and almost 50 years as a possession of United States. During that period, most
Filipinos lived in rural areas. In the decades since the war, however, many Filipinos have moved to
Manila and other cities.

Main characters:
An American tourist
Tourist guide
Little girl
Little boy
Old woman
II. SUMMARY:
An American writer planning to publish a cynical travel and picture book about
the Philippines visits the Mayon Volcano in Albay. A Filipino guide accompanies him on his trek
up the mountain. The two run out of water and seek help from a family living at the foot of the
volcano. The family let the American gargle and drink, and even filled up his jug. When the two
are near the top, they encounter a group of people sitting around with  bamboo poles. The guide
tells the American that the place is called Tagdo (drops) and that the people are waiting in line
to fetch water. The water comes from droplets of moisture caught by a banana leaf and dripped
down to a small shallow well. It is the only source of water for miles around. The American sees
the boy from the family who gave him water waiting in line. He realizes his mistake and is too
struck to take a picture.

“PRISON DIARY: AUTUMN NIGHT”

By: Ho Chi Minh

I. INTRODUCTION:
Ho Chi Minh’s original name was Nguyen Sinh Cung. As a Vietnamese Communist leader, he
adopted the name Ho Chi Minh’s, which means “He Who Enlightens”. He traveled to Europe in his
twenties, working as a waiter, among other jobs. He rose from these humble beginnings to become an
important Communist leader. With the motto “nothing is as dear to the heart of the Vietnamese as
independence and liberation” he led the movement to gain independence in Vietnam. He founded the
Communist party in Vietnam, and he served as president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. Saigon
was renamed Ho Chi Minh after the Communist conquest of South Vietnam in 1975.
As a writer, Ho Chi Minh is best known for the Prison Diary, which contains the poems he wrote
while in prison in China during World War II.

II. CONTENT
The Vietnamese leader is also a poet. In 1942, at age 52, Ho Chi Minh, now Chief of State of
North Vietnam was arrested in South China, accused of being a spy. For fourteen months, bound in leg
irons, he was shifted from jail to jail. Throughout he kept a diary written in poetry. Following is a
selection from Prison Diary, translated from the Chinese by Aileen Palmer and available in paperback
from China Books and Periodicals.
AUTUMN NIGHT
In front of the gate, the guard stands with his rifle.
Above, untidy clouds are carrying away the moon.
The bed-bugs are swarming round like army-tanks on maneuvers,
While the form squadrons, attacking like fighter-planes.
My heart travels a thousand li towards my native land.
My dream intertwines with sadness like a skein of a thousand threads.
Innocent, I have now endured a whole year in prison.
Using my tears for ink, I turn my thoughts into verses.
 AN INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN LITERATURE

European literature started in Greece in the form of Latin Literature in the 3 rd century BC and it only
become a dominant literature because of the readings and writings in Ancient Greeks as late as (121-180
AD).

DARK AGES & MIDDLE AGES/MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

Dark Ages
As the Western Roman Empire became weakened because of the ills within it, barbaric tribes swarmed
into it. These long years after the end of the Western Roman Empire referred to the Dark Age.
 Europe slipped backward almost into savagery.
 The “darkness” which then descended on Europe was to lasted for some eight or nine hundred
years.
 “The Dark Ages” was not simply a poetic name designed to stir the imagination. It was an
appropriate description of the immense loss Europe and Europeans suffered as Roman law and
order broke down and the safety and security of Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, gave way to
danger and uncertainty.

Middle Ages
 Period of gloom was followed by the period middle ages, which extended from the 5 th to 15th
century.
 It represents the gradual but steady and laborious progress of civilization
 In this period, the church was rising into power and authority. Practically all intellectual pursuits
and activities took place in the monasteries
 At the beginning of the middle Ages, many of the kingdoms of northern Europe were not
Christian. Christianity was only common in places that had been part of the Roman Empire, such
as Italy and Spain. As time passed, however, Christianity slowly spread farther north. This spread
was largely through the efforts of two groups of Christians—missionaries and monks.
 Epic
 The literature of civilized Europe is believed to have begun with the epic literature of the middle
age
 Epics are part of the oral literature which, later, was written down.
 Epic is inseparable from the idea of grandeur, it is inferred purely as an individual can be the
proper subject of an epic. A hero remains an individual although he rises above the average
human stature; but a hero becomes an epic hero when he represents something greater than
himself- a nation, a race, a faith.
 They also reflect the life of and civilization of a heroic age and reveal the influence of
Christianity.
 Marie de France was a medieval poet who was probably born in France and lived
in England during the late 12th century.

Giovanni Boccaccio 1313 – 21 December 1375 Boccaccio is particularly noted for his realistic dialogue,
which differed from that of his contemporaries, medieval writers who usually followed formulaic models
for character and plot.

Four Major Epics in Europe

German- Nibelungenlied – The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic
poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians,
how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge.

France-The Song of Roland is a heroic poem based on the Battle of Roncevaux in 778, during the reign
of Charlemagne (Charles the Great). It is the oldest surviving major work of French literature.

Spain- El Cid -Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar 1043 – 1099. Were a Castilian nobleman and military leader in
medieval Spain. He is the national hero in Spain.
Italy- Divine Comedy - Dante Aligheri 1265–1321 was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages.
His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedìa and later called Divina by Boccaccio, is widely considered
the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature.

The history of literature in the Modern period in Europe begins with the Age of

Enlightenment and the conclusion of the Baroque period in the 18th century, succeeding
the Renaissance and Early Modern periods. The early 18th century sees the conclusion of the Baroque
period and the incipient Age of Enlightenment with authors such as Immanuel Kant, Voltaire, Jean-
Jacques Rousseau or Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Europe emphasizing reason and individualism rather
than tradition.
Modernist poetry is a mode of writing characterised by technical innovation in the mode of
versification (sometimes referred to as free verse) and by the dislocation of the 'I' of the poet as a means
of subverting the notion of an unproblematic poetic 'self' directly addressing an equally unproblematic
ideal reader or audience. In English, it is generally considered to have emerged in the early years of the
20th century.

Everyman (Morality Play)

I. SUMMARY

A prologue, read by the Messenger asks the audience to give their attention and announces the
purpose of the play, which will show us our lives as well as our deaths (“our ending”) and how we
humans are always (“all day”) transitory: changing from one state into another.
God speaks next, and immediately launches into a criticism of the way that “all creatures” are not
serving Him properly. People are living without “dread” (fear) in the world without any thought of
heaven or hell, or the judgment that will eventually come to them. “In worldly riches is all their mind”,
God says. Everyone is living purely for their own pleasure, but yet they are not at all secure in their lives.
God sees everything decaying, and getting worse “fro year to year” (from year to year) and so has
decided to have a “reckoning of every man’s person”. Are they guilty or are they godly – should they be
going to heaven or hell?
God calls in Death, his “mighty messenger”. People who love wealth and worldly goods will be
struck by Death’s dart and will be sent to dwell in hell eternally – unless, that is, “Alms be his good
friend”. “Alms” means “good deeds”, and it is an important clue even at this stage that good deeds can
save a sinner from eternal damnation.
God exits and Death sees Everyman walking along, “finely dressed”. Death approaches Everyman,
and asks him where he is going, and whether he has forgotten his “maker” (the one who made him). He
then tells Everyman that he must take a long journey upon him, and bring with him his “book of count”
(his account book as per God’s “reckoning”, above) which contains his good and bad deeds.
Everyman says that he is unready to make such a reckoning, and is horrified to realize who Death is.
Everyman asks Death whether he will have any company to go on the journey from life into death.
Death tells him he could have company, if anyone was brave enough to go along with him.
Fellowship enters, sees that Everyman is looking sad, and immediately offers to help. When
Everyman tells him that he is in “great jeopardy”, Fellowship pledges not to “forsake [Everyman] to my
life’s end / in... good company”. Everyman describes the journey he is to go on, and Fellowship tells
Everyman that nothing would make him go on such a journey. Fellowship departs from Everyman “as
fast as” he can. Kindred and Cousin enter, Everyman appeals to them for company, and they similarly
desert him.
Everyman next turns to his “Goods and riches” to help him, but Goods only tells him that love of
Goods is opposite to love of God. Goods to forsake Everyman and exits. Everyman next turns to his Good
Deeds, but she is too weak to accompany him. Good Deeds’ sister Knowledge accompanies Everyman to
Confession, who instructs him to show penance. Everyman scourges himself to atone for his sin. This
allows Good Deeds to walk.
More friends – Discretion, Strength, Beauty and Five Wits – initially claim that they too will
accompany Everyman on his journey. Knowledge tells Everyman to go to Priesthood to receive the holy
sacrament and extreme unction. Knowledge then makes a speech about priesthood, while Everyman
exits to go and receive the sacrament. He asks each of his companions to set their hands on the cross,
and go before. One by one, Strength, Discretion, and Knowledge promise never to part from Everyman’s
side. Together, they all journey to Everyman’s grave.
As Everyman begins to die, Beauty, Strength, Discretion and Five Wits all forsake him one after
another. Good Deeds speaks up and says that she will not forsake him. Everyman realizes that it is time
for him to be gone to make his reckoning and pay his spiritual debts. Yet, he says, there is a lesson to be
learned, and speaks the lesson of the play:
Take example, all ye that this do hear or see
How they that I loved best do forsake me,
Except my Good Deeds that bideth truly.
Commending his soul into the Lord’s hands, Everyman disappears into the grave with Good
Deeds. An Angel appears with Everyman’s Book of Reckoning to receive the soul as it rises from the
grave. A doctor appears to give the epilogue, in which he tells the hearers to forsake Pride, Beauty, Five
Wits, Strength and Discretion – all of them forsake “every man” in the end.

BISCLAVRET: THE LAIS OF THE WERE-WOLF

BY: MARIE DE FRANCE

I. BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR:

Very little is actually known about Marie De France. In fact, she only mentions i twice, once in
the Fables and once in her most famous work, this collection of lays. For long time, it was uncertain in
what century she lived and wrote. We now believe Marie would have written her work in the late 12 th
century (best estimates are between 1160 and 1199), that she must have been an educated woman,
and that she probably was from France but lived and wrote in a British court.
It was not considered certain for many years whether the same person had written the three
works now attributed to the woman who says in Fables,” My name is Marie and I come from France.
“However, we now attribute to her the following three works: the Fables, a translation of a Latin saint’s
life entitled Espurgatoire Saint Patriz, and this collection of lays.
There is conjecture about who she actually was, with some scholarly camps identifying her as
cousin to the English king and others believing she was connected to an abbey. Her understanding of
courtly life and ritual suggests she must have had some experience of court. Some scholars suggest she
was an illegitimate sister of the English king Henry II, while others believe she might have been the
abbess of Reading. If the former were true, it would make her sister-in-law to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the
figure most closely associated with the chivalrous code that Marie exploits for her stories.
Ultimately, most of what we know about Marie is to be gleaned from this work, which speaks to
her intelligence, her sly subversion of courtly values within a form specifically intended for a courtly
audience, and her talent to touch on universal values within the framework of an even-then archaic
genre.
 II. CONTENT
BISCLAVRET : THE LAIS OF THE WERE-WOLF
BY: MARIE DE FRANCE
Translated by :Judith P. Shoaf
Since I'm making lais, Bisclavret
Is one I don't want to forget.
In Breton, "Bisclavret"'s the name;
"Garwolf" in Norman means the same.
Long ago you heard the tale told--
And it used to happen, in days of old--
Quite a few men became garwolves,
And set up housekeeping in the woods.
A garwolf is a savage beast,
While the fury's on it, at least:
Eats men, wreaks evil, does no good,
Living and roaming in the deep wood.
Now I'll leave this topic set.1
I want to tell you about Bisclavret.
In Brittany there dwelt a lord;
Wondrous praise of him I've heard:
A handsome knight, an able man,
He was, and acted like, a noble man.
His lord the King held him dear,
And so did his neighbors far and near.
He'd married a worthy woman, truly;
Always she acted so beautifully.
He loved her, she him: they loved each other.
But one thing was a bother:
Every week he was lost to her.

For three whole days, she didn't know where,

What became of him, what might befall
Him; his people knew nothing at all.
He came home to his house one day,
So joyous he was, happy and gay;
She began to ask him and inquire:
"My lord," she said, "my friend, my dear,
There's just one thing I might care
To ask, if only I might dare--
But I'm afraid that you'll get angry,
And, more than anything, that scares me."
He hugged her when he heard all this,
Drew her close and gave her a kiss.
"My lady," he said, "Ask me now!
Anything you want to know,
If I can, I'll tell you." "Sir,
By my faith, you work my cure.
My lord, I'm in terror every day,
Those days when you've gone away,
My heart is so full of fear,
I'm so afraid I'll lose you, dear--
If I don't get some help, some healing,
I will die soon of what I'm feeling!
Where do you go? Now you must say
What life you live, where do you stay?
You are in love--that's it, I know--
And you do wrong if this is so!"
"My lady," he said, "Please, God above!
I'll suffer great harm if I tell you:
I'll drive you off, right out of love,
And lose my own self if I do."

The lady heard how he refused.

She was not the least amused.
She brought it up again, and often
She would flatter him and cozen
Him to tell her his adventure--
Till, hiding nothing, he told her.
"My lady, I turn bisclavret;
I plunge into that great forest.
In thick woods I like it best.
I live on what prey I can get."
When he'd told her the entire story
She asked, inquired one thing more: he
Undressed?2 Or what did he wear?
"My lady," he said, "I go all bare."
"Where are your clothes? Tell, for God's sake."
"My lady, I won't say this, no;
For if I lost them by this mistake,
From that moment on, I'd know
I'd stay a bisclavret forever;
Nothing could help me, I'd never
Change back till I got them again.
That's why I don't want it known."
"My lord," the lady replied, "It's true
More than all the world I love you.
You should hide nothing from me, nor
Ever doubt I'm loyal in any affair.
That would not seem like true friendship.
How have I ever sinned? What slip
Makes me seem untrustworthy to you?
Do what's right! Now tell me, do!"
She nagged him thus, and thus harassed
Him till he just had to tell, at last.
"My lady," he said, "near that wood,
Where I come home, along that road,
Standing there is an old chapel,
Which often serves me well?
The stone is there, hollow and wide,
Beneath a bush, dug out inside;
I put my clothes there under the bush
Until I can come back to the house.

The lady heard this marvel, this wonder.

In terror she blushed all bright red,
Filled with fear by this adventure.
Often and often passed through her head
Plans to get right out, escape, for
She didn't want ever to share his bed.

A knight in that country there

Who long had loved the lady fair,
Begging her so, praying hard,
Giving generously to win her regard
(She had never loved him before this,
Nor let him think her love was his)--
She sent a messenger to bring
Him to her, and told him everything.

"My friend, my dear," she said, "be glad!

You've been tormented, driven, sad
Wanting what I'll give you today--
No-one will ever say you nay--
I grant you my love and my body, too:
Take me, make me your lover, you!"

He thanks her very gratefully.

He takes her pledge made solemnly--
She swears an oath on the engagement.
Then she told him how her lord went
Away, and what he turned into.
The path he'd always taken to
Enter the forest--this she shows;
She sent him to get his clothes.
Thus was Bisclavret betrayed
And by his own wife waylaid.

Having lost him so often, indeed,

Everyone generally agreed
That he had finally left for good.
He was looked for, inquiries pursued,
But they couldn't find a trace.
Finally they closed the case.
The lady's marriage was celebrated
To the fellow who'd loved and waited.

So, a whole year, matters rest,

Until the King went hunting one day.
He went straight to the forest
Where the bisclavret used to stay.
When the hounds were loosed and let
Run, they found the bisclavret.
They chased him always that long day,The huntsmen and the coursing dogs,
Till they had him--almost--at bay
And they would have torn him to rags,
But then he picked out the King
And ran there for mercy. To beg,
He seizes the King's stirrup-ring,
And kisses his foot and leg.
The King sees this, and feels great fear;
He calls all his companions over.
"My lords," he says, "come, come here!
Behold this marvel, see this wonder.
How this beast bows down to me!
Its3 sense is human. It begs for mercy.
Drive me those dogs away again,
See that no-one strikes a blow!
This beast understands, feels like a man.
Let's get going! You're all too slow!
To the beast my peace I'll grant.
Now, no more today will I hunt."

With that, the King turns and goes.

The bisclavret follows him close;
It won't escape, it stays right near.
Losing him is its only fear.
The King leads it back to his castle keep;
It pleases him, his delight is deep
For he's never seen such a creature.
He's decided it's a marvel of nature,
And treats it as a great treasure.
He tells his people it's his pleasure
For them to take the best of care
Of it; let no-one harm it, or dare
To strike it, for love of the King.
It must be fed well and given drink.
They're all glad to care for and keep
It; every day it goes to sleep

”Among the knights, close to the King.

Every man thinks it a precious thing,
For it's so gentle, well-bred, polite,
It never would do what isn't right.
Wherever the King might go
It didn't want to be separated, so
It went along with him constantly.
That it loved him was easy to see.

Now listen to what happened next.

The King was holding court; he'd asked
That all his barons attend him,
Those who owed their land to him,
To help him hold his high feast-day,
And see him served in a royal way.
That very knight came to the feast,
Well equipped and richly dressed,
Who had married Bisclavret's wife.
He never thought nor reckoned
To find him so close in his life.
He came to the palace; the second
That Bisclavret saw him standing around,
He made for him with a single bound,
Bit into him and dragged him off.
He would have treated him very rough
If the King hadn't called him back
And threatened him with a stick.
He tried to bite him twice before night.
Many folks were amazed at the sight;
For never had he acted this way
To any man he'd seen, until this day.
All those of the household insist
There must be a reason he's doing this.
He's hurt him, gave him some offense--
For he'd be glad to take vengeance.
This time he lets it drop
Until the feast has broken up
And the lords take leave; each baron
Returns to his home, one by one.
The knight has left, I happen to know,
Among the very first to go,
He whom Bisclavret attacked;
He hates him4--not a surprising fact.

Sometime later (not very long,

I think, unless I heard it wrong),
The King went riding in the wood,
That courteous King, so wise and good,
That wood where they'd found Bisclavret,
And he came along with him. At
Night, time to retire for the day,
In a country lodging he lay.
Bisclavret's wife knew it; she dressed
Herself in her attractive best,
Next day, to go speak to the King--
Sent him a gift, some costly thing.
When Bisclavret saw her entrance,
No man could have held him back;
He ran like mad to the attack--
Listen now to his fine vengeance:
He tore her nose right off her face.
Could anything be worse than this is?
Now they surround him in that place,
They're ready to cut him in pieces,
When a wise fellow tells the King,
"My Lord," he says, "Hear what I say:
It's with you this beast's been living
And every one of us here today
Has watched him a long time; beside
Him we've traveled far and wide.
He's never before hurt anyone,
Or shown a criminal disposition,
Except to this lady you see here.
By the faith I owe you, it's clear
He holds some grudge or other
Against her and her lord together.
This is the wife of that knight who
Used to be so dear to you,
Who was lost such a long time ago;
What happened to him, we don't know.

Now try this lady with some torture,5

And see if she doesn't have more to
Tell you why the beast hates her!
If she knows, make her say it!
Many strange things we see occur
In Brittany, early and late."

With this advice the King agrees.

On the one hand, the knight they seize;
The lady's taken, on the other,
And seriously made to suffer.
From pain just as much as from fear,
She told him her lord's whole affair:
How she'd betrayed him, she said,
And taken away the clothes that he shed,
The adventure he'd told, so she'd know,
What he became and where he'd go.
Since she'd stolen all his linen,
In his lands he'd not been seen;
But she believed--her mind was set--
The beast was indeed Bisclavret.
The King wants the clothes on the spot;
Whether the lady wants to or not
She has them brought back out
And given to the Bisclavret.
They set them down in front of his nose,6
But Bisclavret ignores the clothes.
That wise fellow speaks to the King,
Who'd given the other advice, too:
"Sire, you're doing the wrong thing.
He will never make the least
Move to get dressed in front of you
And change from the form of a beast.
This is terrible--you don't know--

Something he's far too ashamed to show.

Have him taken to your own room,
And his lost clothes brought with him;
A good long time, leave him alone;
Then we'll see if he becomes a man."

The King himself took Bisclavret

Inside, and closed all the doors tight;
He returned when the time was done.
He brought along two barons, not one.
They entered the chamber, all three.
On the king's royal bed, they see
Lying fast asleep, the knight.
The king ran to hug him tight;
He kissed him a hundred times that day.
When he catches his breath, he hands
Him back all his fiefs and lands,
And more presents than I will say.

The lady, now, they expell

From that realm, from that time forward.
He goes with her, as well,
For whom she betrayed her lord.
She had plenty of children; grown,
They were, all of them, quite well-known,
By their looks, their facial assembly:
More than one woman of that family
Was born without a nose to blow,7
And lived denosed. It's true! It's so!
The adventure you have heard
Is true--don't doubt a single word.
Of Bisclavret they made the lay,
To remember, forever and a day
 World Literature

THE STORY OF GRISELDA FROM DECAMERON

BY: GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO

I. BACKGROUND OF THE STORY

The Decameron (Italian: Decamerone), is a collection of novellas by the 14th-century Italian

author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame storycontaining 100 tales
told by a group of seven young women and three young men sheltering in a secluded villa just
outside Florence to escape the Black Death (was one of the most devastating pandemics in human
history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the
years 1346–53), which was afflicting the city. They retire to a rich, well-watered countryside, where, in
the course of a fortnight, each member of the party has a turn as king or queen over the others,
deciding in detail how their day shall be spent and directing their leisurely walks, their outdoor
conversations, their dances and songs, and, above all, their alternate storytelling. This storytelling
occupies 10 days of the fortnight (the rest being set aside for personal adornment or for religious
devotions); hence the title of the book itself, Decameron, or “Ten Days’ Work.” Each of the days,
moreover, ends with a canzone (song) for dancing sung by one of the storytellers, and these canzoni
include some of Boccaccio’s finest lyric poetry. In addition to the 100 stories, Boccaccio has a master
theme, namely, the way of life of the refined bourgeoisie, who combined respect for conventions with
an open-minded attitude to personal behavior. Boccaccio probably conceived the Decameron after the
epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353.

The somber tones of the opening passages of the book, in which the plague and the moral and
social chaos that accompanies it are described in the grand manner, are in sharp contrast to the
scintillating liveliness of Day I, which is spent almost entirely in witty disputation, and to the playful
atmosphere of intrigue that characterizes the tales of adventure or deception related on Days II and III.
With Day IV and its stories of unhappy love, the gloomy note returns; but Day V brings some relief,
though it does not entirely dissipate the echo of solemnity, by giving happy endings to stories of love
that does not at first run smoothly. Day VI reintroduces the gaiety of Day I and constitutes the overture
to the great comic score, Days VII, VIII, and IX, which are given over to laughter, trickery, and license.
Finally, in Day X, all the themes of the preceding days are brought to a high pitch, the impure made pure
and the common made heroic.

During the years in which Boccaccio is believed to have written the Decameron, the Florentines
appointed him ambassador to the lords of Romagna in 1350; municipal councilor and also ambassador
to Louis, duke of Bavaria, in the Tirol in 1351; and ambassador to Pope Innocent VI in 1354.

The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit,
practical, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. The prefaces to the days and to the individual stories
and certain passages of especial magnificence based on classical models, with their select vocabulary
and elaborate periods, have long held the attention of critics.

In addition to its literary value and widespread influence (for example on Chaucer's Canterbury
Tales), it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the  vernacular of the Florentine language, it
is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italianprose.
II. CONTENT

Gualtieri, the Marquess of Saluzzo, spent so much time at hunting and other sports that he gave no
thought about marrying and establishing a family. His friends and subjects, fearing that old age would
overtake him before he acquired an heir, pressured him to take a wife. Finally, more to silence his critics
than to satisfy any desire that he might have for matrimony, he resolved to court a beautiful, but poor
young woman from a neighboring village. Her family's low station in life would spite those who had so
urgently insisted that he marry, and her beauty, he thought, would make living with her at least
bearable.

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Gualtieri informed Griselda -- that was the young woman's name -- of his intention to marry her, and
asked her if she would accept him as a husband, to love, honor, and obey, for better or for worse, and
never criticize him nor question his authority. She readily agreed, and their wedding was celebrated
forthwith.
Griselda appeared to be a worthy addition to Gualtieri's noble household, but the marquis, unsure
of the depth of her character, decided to test her loyalty and her patience. Thus, soon after the birth of
their first child -- it was a beautiful girl -- he informed her that his subjects were unhappy with the child
and that it was to be put to death. Without hesitation she acceded to her husband's demands and
surrendered the child. However, instead of killing the baby girl, Gualtieri had her spirited away and
tended in a secret place.
Sometime later Griselda gave birth to a son, and her husband, intent on carrying his test still further,
berated her and insisted that her child be put to death. She again yielded to his demands without
complaint, and as before, he took the child to a secret place where he was well cared for.
Still unsatisfied, Gualtieri devised a final test. He publicly denounced Griselda, claiming that the pope
had granted him dispensation to divorce her and to take a more deserving wife. Griselda, wearing only a
shift, was sent back to her father. All these indignities she bore without complaint.
As the day approached when Gualtieri, as it was supposed, was to take a new bride, he asked
Griselda to return to his palace, for no one knew better how to prepare for guests than did she. Griselda
returned to her former residence, now as a cleaning woman and servant, to make preparations for her
former husband's wedding.
Gualtieri had his and Griselda's daughter, who was now twelve years old, dressed in bridal clothes,
and he presented her to Griselda, who could not have known that this was her own child. "What do you
think of my new bride?" he asked.
Griselda replied without guile, "If her wisdom matches her beauty, then the two of you will be very
happy together."
At last recognizing Griselda's sincerity, faithfulness, and patience, Gualtieri revealed to her the trials
that he had devised to test her loyalty. With tears of joy, she received her children and once again
assumed her position as Gualtieri's ever loyal and obedient wife.

THE LORELEI
By: HEINRICH HEINE

I. INTRODUCTION:
The Lorelei is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine nearSt. Goarshausen, Germany, which
soars some 120 metres above the waterline. It marks the narrowest part of the river between
Switzerland and the North Sea, and is the most famous feature of the Rhine Gorge, a 65 km section of
the river between Koblenz and Bingen that was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in June 2002.
A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there. Lorelei is
also the name of a feminine water spirit, similar to mermaids or Rhine maidens, associated with this
rock in popular folklore and in works of music, art and literature.
German composer Felix Mendelssohn began an opera in 1846 based on the legend of the Lorelei
Rhine maidens for Swedish soprano Jenny Lind; however, he died before he had the chance to finish it
German composer Clara Schumann composed another version of Heine's poem in 1843.

II. CONTENT
The name comes from the old German words lureln, Rhine dialect for "murmuring", and the
Celtic term ley "rock". The translation of the name would therefore be: "murmur rock" or "murmuring
rock". The heavy currents, and a smallwaterfall in the area (still visible in the early 19th century) created
a murmuring sound, and this combined with the special echo the rock produces to act as a sort of
amplifier, giving the rock its name. The murmuring is hard to hear today owing to the urbanization of
the area. Other theories attribute the name to the many accidents, by combining the German verb
"lauern" (to lurk, lie in wait) with the same "ley" ending, with the translation "lurking rock". The rock and

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the murmur it creates have inspired various tales. An old legend envisioned dwarves living in caves in
the rock. In 1801, German author Clemens Brentano composed his ballad Zu Bacharach am Rheine as
part of a fragmentary continuation of his novel Godwi oder Das steinerne Bild der Mutter. It first told the
story of an enchanting female associated with the rock. In the poem, the beautiful Lore Lay, betrayed by
her sweetheart, is accused of bewitching men and causing their death. Rather than sentence her to
death, the bishop consigns her to a nunnery. On the way thereto, accompanied by three knights, she
comes to the Lorelei rock. She asks permission to climb it and view the Rhine once again. She does so
and falls to her death; the rock still retained an echo of her name afterwards. Brentano had taken
inspiration from Ovid and the Echo myth.
In 1824, Heinrich Heine seized on and adapted Brentano's theme in one of his most famous
poems, Die Lorelei. It describes the eponymous female as a sort of siren who, sitting on the cliff above
the Rhine and combing her golden hair, unwittingly distracted shipmen with her beauty and song,
causing them to crash on the rocks. In 1837 Heine's lyrics were set to music by Friedrich Silcher in the art
song Lorelei that became well known in German-speaking lands. A setting by Franz Liszt was also favored
and over a score of other musicians have set the poem to music. The Lorelei character, although
originally imagined by Brentano, passed into German popular culture in the form described in the Heine-
Silcher song and is commonly but mistakenly believed to have originated in an old folk tale. The French
writer Guillaume Apollinaire took up the theme again in his poem "La Loreley", from the collection
Alcools which is later cited in Symphony No. 14 (3rd movement) of Dmitri Shostakovich.

THE LORELEI
NEW TRANSLATION BY A.Z. FOREMAN

I know not if there is a reason

Why I am so sad at heart.
A legend of bygone ages
Haunts me and will not depart.

The air is cool under nightfall.

The calm Rhine courses its way.
The peak of the mountain is sparkling
With evening's final ray.

The fairest of maidens is sitting

Unwittingly wondrous up there,
Her golden jewels are shining,
She's combing her golden hair.

The comb she holds is golden,

She sings a song as well
Whose melody binds an enthralling
And overpowering spell.

In his little boat, the boatman

Is seized with a savage woe,
He'd rather look up at the mountain
Than down at the rocks below.

I think that the waves will devour

The boatman and boat as one;
And this by her song's sheer power
Fair Loreley has done.

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IN THE TERRIBLE NIGHT

I. BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa was a noted literary figure of the 20th century Portugal and
is known to be the greatest poet of the Portuguese language. He was a multi-talented literary
personality involved with writing, literary criticism, publishing, translating, and practicing astrology and
occult all his life. Pessoa was born in Portugal but spent most of his youth in South Africa with his
mother and his stepfather. He went to University of Cape Town and fell in love with the English
language, the language in which he exhibited a lot of command and fluency. He shifted back to Portugal
in 1905 and his literary journey started from there. He translated commercial and literary material for
various magazines and started his own publishing house on two different occasions. Pessoa was a
unique writer who used to write under heteronyms and had at least 72 heteronyms apart from
'Fernando Pessoa'. He preferred writing like this as it gave him a chance to write outside his own
personality and create something exceptional. He was also interested in practicing spirituality and
occultism and was known to be a medium (one who purportedly mediates communication between
spirits of the dead and other human beings) and wrote down his experiences as a medium in many of his
writings. He also practiced astrology and used to charge for making horoscopes. Most of his work was
only published after he died and while he was still alive, he got an opportunity to get only one book
published in Portuguese, "Mensagem".

Trivia:
 It is said that this notable Portuguese author could see "magnetic auras" which is similar to
radiographic images. 
 Pessoa designed more than 1,500 astrological charts, of well-known people like William
Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Chopin, Robespierre, Napoleon I, Benito Mussolini,
Wilhelm II, Leopold II of Belgium, Victor Emmanuel III, Alfonso XIII, or the Kings Sebastian and
Charles of Portugal, and Salazar.  
 Pessoa was a fan of esotericism, occultism, hermetism and alchemy. Along with spiritualism and
astrology, he also practiced rosicrucianism, neopaganism and freemasonry, experiences from
which he included in his literary work.  
 He left a lot of unpublished manuscripts and fragments—some 25,000 texts, that are still being
edited and translated.

II. CONTENT
IN THE TERRIBLE NIGHT
By Francisco Pessoa
Translated by: Jonathan Griffin
In the terrible night, natural substance of every night,
In the night of insomnia, natural substance of all of my nights
I remember, awake in tossing drowsiness,
I remember what I’ve done and what I might have done in life,
I remember, and an anguish
Spreads all through me like a physical chill or a fear,
The irreparable of my past—this is the real corpse!
All the other corpses may very well be illusion.
All the dead may be alive somewhere else,
All of my own past moments may be existing somewhere.
In the illusion of space and of time,
In the falsity of elapsing
But what I was not, what I did not do, what I did not even dream;
What only now I see I ought to have done,
What only now I clearly see I ought to have been—
That is what is dead beyond all the Gods,
That—and it was, after all the, best of me—is what not even the Gods make bring to life.

If at a certain point,
I had turned to the left instead of to the right;
if at certain moment,

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I had said yes instead of no, or no instead of yes;

If in a certain conversation,
I had hit on the phrases which only now, in this half-sleep, I elaborate—

If all this had been so,

I would be different today, and perhaps the whole universe
Would be insensibly made brought to be different as well.

But I did not turn in direction which is irreparably lost,

Not turn or even think of turning, and only now I perceive it;
But I did not say no or say yes, and only now I see what I didn’t say;
But the phrases that I failed to say surge up in me at present, all of them,
Clear, inevitable, natural
The conversation gathered in conclusively,
The whole matter resolved...
But only now what never was, nor indeed shall be, hurts.
What I have missed definitely holds no sort of hope
In any sort of metaphysical system.
Maybe I could bring what I have dreamed to some other world,
But could I bring to another world the things I forgot to dream?
These, yes, the dreams going begging, are the real corpse.
I bury it in my heart forever, for all time, for every universes,
In this night when I can’t sleep and peace encircles me
Like a truth which I’ve no share in,
And the moonlight outside, like a hope I do not have, is invisible to me.

HOW MUCH LAND DOES A MAN NEED?

BY: LEO TOLSTOY

I. CONTENT

An elder sister from the city visits her younger sister, the wife of a peasant farmer in the village.
In the midst of their visit, the two of them get into an argument about whether the city or the peasant
lifestyle is preferable. The elder sister suggests that city life boasts better clothes, good things to eat and
drink, and various entertainments, such as the theater. The younger sister replies that though peasant
life may be rough, she and her husband are free, will always have enough to eat, and are not tempted
by the devil to indulge in such worldly pursuits.

Pahom, the husband of the younger sister, enters the debate and suggests that the charm of the
peasant life is that the peasant has no time to let nonsense settle in his head. The one drawback of
peasant life, he declares, is that the peasant does not have enough land: “If I had plenty of land, I
shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!” The devil, overhearing this boast, decides to give Pahom his wish,
seducing him with the extra land that Pahom thinks will give him security.

Pahom’s first opportunity to gain extra land comes when a lady in the village decides to sell her
three hundred acres. His fellow peasants try to arrange the purchase for themselves as part of a
commune, but the devil sows discord among them and individual peasants begin to buy land. Pahom
obtains forty acres of his own. This pleases him initially, but soon neighboring peasants allow their cows
to stray into his meadows and their horses among his corn, and he must seek justice from the district
court. Not only does he fail to receive recompense for the damages but also he ruins his reputation
among his former friends and neighbors; his extra land does not bring him security.

Hearing a rumor about more and better farmland elsewhere, he decides to sell his land and
move his family to a new location. There he obtains 125 acres and is ten times better off than he was
before, and he is very pleased. However, he soon realizes that he could make a better profit with more
land on which to sow wheat. He makes a deal to obtain thirteen hundred acres from a peasant in
financial difficulty for one thousand rubles and has all but clinched it when he hears a rumor about the

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land of the Bashkirs. There, a tradesman tells him, a man can obtain land for less than a penny an acre,
simply by making friends with the chiefs.

Fueled by the desire for more, cheaper, and better land, Pahom seeks directions for the land of
the Bashkirs and leaves on a journey to obtain the land that he thinks he needs. On arrival, he
distributes gifts to the Bashkir leaders and finds them courteous and friendly. He explains his reasons for
being there and, after some deliberation, they offer him whatever land he wants for one thousand
rubles. Pahom is pleased but concerned; he wants boundaries, deeds, and “official sanction” to give him
the assurance he needs that they or their children will never reverse their decision.

The Bashkirs agree to this arrangement, and a deal is struck. Pahom can have all the land that he
can walk around in a day for one thousand rubles. The one condition is that if he does not return on the
same day to the spot at which he began, the money will be lost. The night before his fateful walk,
Pahom plans his strategy; he will try to encircle thirty-five miles of land and then sell the poorer land to
peasants at a profit. When he awakes the next day, he is met by the man whom he thought was the
chief of the Bashkirs, but whom he recognizes as the peasant who had come to his old home to tell him
of lucrative land deals available elsewhere. He looks again, and realizes that he is speaking with the devil
himself. He dismisses this meeting as merely a dream and goes about his walk.

Pahom starts well, but he tries to encircle too much land, and by midday he realizes that he has
tried to create too big a circuit. Though afraid of death, he knows that his only chance is to complete the
circuit. “There is plenty of land,” he says to himself, “but will God let me live on it?” As the sun comes
down, Pahom runs with all his remaining strength to the spot where he began. Reaching it, he sees the
chief laughing and holding his sides; he remembers his dream and breathes his last breath.

Pahom’s servant picks up the spade with which Pahom had been marking his land and digs a
grave in which to bury him: “Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed.”

SONNET 145 (MEXICO)

SOR JUANA INES DELA CRUZ
I. INTRODUCTION

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Writer, Women's Rights Activist, Nun (c. 1651–1695)
Juana Inés de la Cruz was born out of wedlock in San Miguel Nepantla, Tepetlixpa—now called
Nepantla de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz in her honor—near Mexico City, circa November 12, 1651, when
Mexico was still a Spanish territory.
In 1667, owing to her desire "to have no fixed occupation which might curtail my freedom to
study," Sor Juana began her life as a nun. She moved in 1669 to the Convent of Santa Paula of the
Hieronymite in Mexico City, where she remained cloistered for the rest of her life.
Juana had plenty of time to study and write in the convent, and she amassed a large library. She also
gained the patronage of the viceroy and vicereine of New Spain, and they supported her and had her
works published in Spain.
Writing Development
Sor Juana's enduring importance and literary success are partly attributable to her mastery of
the full range of poetic forms and themes of the Spanish Golden Age, and her writings display
inventiveness, wit and a wide range of knowledge. Juana employed all of the poetic models of her day,
including sonnets and romances, and she drew on wide-ranging—secular and nonsecular—sources.
Unlimited by genre, she also wrote dramatic, comedic and scholarly works—especially unusual for a
nun.
Sor Juana's most important plays include brave and clever women, and her famous poem,
"Hombres necios" ("Foolish Men"), accuses men of behaving illogically by criticizing women. Her most
significant poem, "Primero sueo" ("First Dream"), published in 1692, is at once personal and universal,
recounting the soul's quest for knowledge.
Defending Women's Rights
With Sor Juana's growing renown, however, came disapproval from the church: In November
1690, the bishop of Puebla published (under the pseudonym of a nun) without her consent Sor Juana's
critique of a 40-year-old sermon by a Portuguese Jesuit preacher, and admonished Sor Juana to focus on
religious studies instead of secular studies.

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Sor Juana responded with stunning self-defense. She defended the right of all women to attain
knowledge and famously wrote (echoing a poet and a Catholic saint), "One can perfectly well
philosophize while cooking supper," justifying her study of secular topics as necessary to understanding
theology.

II. CONTENT
Sonnet 145

This thing you see, a bright-colored deceit,

displaying all the many charms of art,
with false syllogisms of tint and hue
is a cunning deception of the eye;

this thing in which sheer flattery has tried

to evade the stark horrors of the years
and, vanquishing the cruelties of time,
to triumph over age and oblivion,

is vanity, contrivance, artifice,

a delicate blossom stranded in the wind,
a failed defense against our common fate;

a fruitless enterprise, a great mistake,

a deceit frenzy, and rightly viewed,
a corpse, some dust, a shadow, mere nothingness.

TWO COUNTRIES
By Jose Marti

I. BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

José Julian Perez Marti was one of the greatest known writers in Latin America, more so, in the
Spanish-speaking world. He was known as Cuba’s national hero, Apostle of our Independence, and was
instrumental in helping and motivating the Cuban revolution against Spain. He has written important
literature that shaped the history of Cuba, and has also created literary works such as poetry, plays,
children’s stories and articles.
José was born in Havana in 1853 to Spanish parents Mariano Marti Navarro and Leonor Pérez
Cabrera.At the age of sixteen, his editorials and poems were already being published in local
newspapers.In 1869 José’s writing got him in serious trouble for the first time. The Ten Years’ War
(1868-1878), an attempt by Cuban landowners to gain independence from Spain and free Cuban slaves,
was being fought at the time, and young José wrote passionately in support of the rebels. He was
convicted of treason and sedition and sentenced to six years’ labor. He was only sixteen at the time. The
chains in which he was held would scar his legs for the rest of his life. His parents intervened and after
one year, José’s sentence was reduced but he was exiled to Spain.There Marti published Political
Imprisonment in Cuba, about the harsh treatment he received in jail.
Jose Marti devoted his life to Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain. When he was
sixteen, the colonial government sentenced him to hard labor for his political activities. He spent almost
all of his adult years in exile.
Marti believed that art grows out of suffering. Critics have praised his imagery, which he said
came to him through visions. In addition to poems, Marti wrote a novel and many essays and newspaper
articles.
To free Cuba, Marti joined forces with two nationalist generals from the Ten Years' War,
Maximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo. He raised funds from Cuban exiles and political organizations to
support their efforts. On January 31, 1895, Marti left New York City to make his way to Cuba. He and his
fellow nationalist supporters arrived in Cuba on April 11 and began the fight for independence.
Unfortunately for him, Marti did not last long on the battlefield. He died on May 19 during some fighting
in Dos Rios. After his death, his compatriots continued their war against the Spanish, but the country did
not achieve its independence until years later.

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Through his life and writings, Marti served as an inspiration for revolutionaries around the world. Cuban
leader Fidel Castro has called him an important influence on his own revolution in Cuba decades later.
Although Marti once was sent into exile for his political activities, he is now considered a national hero
in Cuba.
II. CONTENT
I have two countries: Cuba and the night.
Or are both one? No sooner does the sun
Withdraw its majesty, than Cuba,
With long veils and holding a carnation,
Appears as a sad and silent widow.
I know about that bloodstained carnation
That trembles in her hand! My breast
Is empty, destroyed and empty
Where the heart lay. Now is the time
To commence dying. Night is a good time
To say farewell. Light is a hindrance
As is the human word. The universe
Talks better than man. Like a flag
That calls to battle the candle’s
Red flame flutters. I feel a closeness
And open windows. Crushing the carnation’s
Petals silently, widowed Cuba passes by
Like a cloud that dims the heavens. . . .

THE LUCK OF TEODORO MENDEZ ACUBAL BY ROSARIO CASTELLANOS

I. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Rosario Castellanos (25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. Along with
the other members of the Generation of 1950 (the poets who wrote following the Second World War,
influenced by Cesar Vallejo and others), she was one of Mexico’s most important literary voices in the
last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues about cultural and gender
oppression, and her work was influenced feminist theory and cultural studies. Through she died young;
she opened the door of Mexican literature to women, and left a legacy that still resonates today.

II. SUMMARY OF THE STORY:

Teodoro Mendez is a man of lowly status. He is a Chamula. There are three social classes:
Chamula, Ladino and Caxlanes. Teodoro is a lowly Chamula. Chamula’s are people of full Mayan
heritage. But, on one special day he finds a coin buried in the ground. He spends sleepless night deciding
on what he should buy. Months go by and finally he makes his decision, a small clay figurine of Virgin
Mary. The figurine resides at the shop of Don Agustin. After Teodoro sees the figurine, he can’t take his
eyes off it and spends a lot of time simply looking at the figurine. Don Agustin is a Ladino. He is a man of
poor character. When he sees Teodoro standing at the front of his shop, he is afraid. How could an
Indian be so bold to stand on the side walk and look into his shop? Don Agustin’s shallow security was
shaken. He has no idea how to deal with Teodoro. He thinks of his mother. She was so disappointed with
her son. He had never measured up to the man his father was. In fact, the only respect the Agustin’s had
left was because of Don’s Father. Teodoro finally developed the gall to enter the store. With the aid of
liquor anything is possible. He walked in the store and the Don was terrified. The latter sees this as an
opportunity to prove him. He calls out to Teodoro. Teodoro does not understand what is going on
because he does not speak Spanish. He stares at Don Agustin. Don Agustin goes to the gun under the
counter. He is too afraid to shoot so he calls for the police instead. Teodoro run but the commotion has
created a crowd outside and he cannot escape. He is pushed to the ground, his lucky coin falls from his
sash. With the Virgin Mary’s eyes upon him, Don Agustin lies to everyone and claims Teodoro stole the
coin. Since Teodoro is one of the lower class no one bothers to find the truth and he is sent to jail.
Ironically it’s his lucky discovery that ultimately puts him to jail.
Teodoro lived in Latin America, a place south of the US and Mexico. After the Spanish landed in
South America they practiced a brutal regime of oppression and murder.

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HORSES
BY PABLO NERUDA

I. BACKGROUND OF THE AUTHOR

Author : Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda was the pen name and, later, legal name of the Chilean poet-diplomat and
politician Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. He chose his pen name after the Czech poet Jan Neruda. In
1971 Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Born: July 12, 1904, Parral, Chile
Died: September 23, 1973, Santiago, Chile
Spouse: Matilde Urrutia (1966–1973)

II. CONTENT

HORSES
by Pablo Neruda
From the window I saw the horses.
I was in Berlin, in winter. The light
had no light, the sky had no heaven.

The air was white like wet bread.

And from my window a vacant arena,

bitten by the teeth of winter.

Suddenly driven out by a man,

ten horses surged through the mist.

Like waves of fire, they flared forward

and to my eyes filled the whole world,
empty till then. Perfect, ablaze,
they were like ten gods with pure white hoofs,
with manes like a dream of salt.

Their rumps were worlds and oranges.

Their color was honey, amber, fire.

Their necks were towers

cut from the stone of pride,
and behind their transparent eyes
energy raged, like a prisoner.

There, in silence, at mid-day,

in that dirty, disordered winter,
those intense horses were the blood
the rhythm, the inciting treasure of life.

I looked. I looked and was reborn:

for there, unknowing, was the fountain,
the dance of gold, heaven
and the fire that lives in beauty.

I have forgotten that dark Berlin winter.

I will not forget the light of the horses

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THE HANDSOMEST DROWNED MAN IN THE WORLD 

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I. BACKGROUND
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and
journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most
significant authors of the 20th century, he was awarded the 1972 Neustadt International Prize for
Literature and the 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature.[1] He pursued a self-directed education that resulted in
his leaving law school for a career in journalism. From early on, he showed no inhibitions in his criticism
of Colombian and foreign politics. In 1958, he married Mercedes Barcha; they had two sons,  Rodrigo and
Gonzalo.[2]
García Márquez started as a journalist, and wrote many acclaimed non-fiction works and short
stories, but is best known for his novels, such as One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967), The Autumn of
the Patriarch (1975) and Love in the Time of Cholera (1985). His works have achieved significant critical
acclaim and widespread commercial success, most notably for popularizing a literary style labeled
as magic realism, which uses magical elements and events in otherwise ordinary and realistic situations.
Some of his works are set in a fictional village called Macondo (the town mainly inspired by his
birthplace Aracataca), and most of them explore the theme of solitude.
II. CONTENT
THE FIRST CHILDREN who saw the dark and slinky bulge approaching through the sea let
themselves think it was an enemy ship. Then they saw it had no flags or masts and they thought it was a
whale. But when it washed up on the beach, they removed the clumps of seaweed, the jellyfish
tentacles, and the remains of fish and flotsam, and only then did they see that it was a drowned man.
They had been playing with him all afternoon, burying him in the sand and digging him up again,
when someone chanced to see them and spread the alarm in the village. The men who carried him to
the nearest house noticed that he weighed more than any dead man they had ever known, almost as
much as a horse, and they said to each other that maybe he'd been floating too long and the water had
got into his bones. When they laid him on the floor they said he'd been taller than all other men because
there was barely enough room for him in the house, but they thought that maybe the ability to keep on
growing after death was part of the nature of certain drowned men. He had the smell of the sea about
him and only his shape gave one to suppose that it was the corpse of a human being, because the skin
was covered with a crust of mud and scales.
They did not even have to clean off his face to know that the dead man was a stranger. The
village was made up of only twenty-odd wooden houses that had stone courtyards with no flowers and
which were spread about on the end of a desert-like cape. There was so little land that mothers always
went about with the fear that the wind would carry off their children and the few dead that the years
had caused among them had to be thrown off the cliffs. But the sea was calm and bountiful and all the
men fitted into seven boats. So when they found the drowned man they simply had to look at one
another to see that they were all there.
That night they did not go out to work at sea. While the men went to find out if anyone was
missing in neighboring villages, the women stayed behind to care for the drowned man. They took the
mud off with grass swabs, they removed the underwater stones entangled in his hair, and they scraped
the crust off with tools used for scaling fish. As they were doing that they noticed that the vegetation on
him came from faraway oceans and deep water and that his clothes were in tatters, as if he had sailed
through labyrinths of coral. They noticed too that he bore his death with pride, for he did not have the
lonely look of other drowned men who came out of the sea or that haggard, needy look of men who
drowned in rivers. But only when they finished cleaning him off did they become aware of the kind of
man he was and it left them breathless. Not only was he the tallest, strongest, most virile, and best built
man they had ever seen, but even though they were looking at him there was no room for him in their
imagination.
They could not find a bed in the village large enough to lay him on nor was there a table solid
enough to use for his wake. The tallest men's holiday pants would not fit him, nor the fattest ones'
Sunday shirts, nor the shoes of the one with the biggest feet. Fascinated by his huge size and his beauty,
the women then decided to make him some pants from a large piece of sail and a shirt from some bridal
brabant linen so that he could continue through his death with dignity. As they sewed, sitting in a circle
and gazing at the corpse between stitches, it seemed to them that the wind had never been so steady
nor the sea so restless as on that night and they supposed that the change had something to do with the
dead man. They thought that if that magnificent man had lived in the village, his house would have had

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the widest doors, the highest ceiling, and the strongest floor, his bedstead would have been made from
a midship frame held together by iron bolts, and his wife would have been the happiest woman. They
thought that he would have had so much authority that he could have drawn fish out of the sea simply
by calling their names and that he would have put so much work into his land that springs would have
burst forth from among the rocks so that he would have been able to plant flowers on the cliffs. They
secretly compared him to their own men, thinking that for all their lives theirs were incapable of doing
what he could do in one night, and they ended up dismissing them deep in their hearts as the weakest,
meanest and most useless creatures on earth. They were wandering through that maze of fantasy when
the oldest woman, who as the oldest had looked upon the drowned man with more compassion than
passion, sighed: 'He has the face of someone called Esteban.'
It was true. Most of them had only to take another look at him to see that he could not have any
other name. The more stubborn among them, who were the youngest, still lived for a few hours with
the illusion that when they put his clothes on and he lay among the flowers in patent leather shoes his
name might be Lautaro. But it was a vain illusion. There had not been enough canvas, the poorly cut and
worse sewn pants were too tight, and the hidden strength of his heart popped the buttons on his shirt.
After midnight the whistling of the wind died down and the sea fell into its Wednesday drowsiness. The
silence put an end to any last doubts: he was Esteban. The women who had dressed him, who had
combed his hair, had cut his nails and shaved him were unable to hold back a shudder of pity when they
had to resign themselves to his being dragged along the ground. It was then that they understood how
unhappy he must have been with that huge body since it bothered him even after death. They could see
him in life, condemned to going through doors sideways, cracking his head on crossbeams, remaining on
his feet during visits, not knowing what to do with his soft, pink, sea lion hands while the lady of the
house looked for her most resistant chair and begged him, frightened to death, sit here, Esteban, please,
and he, leaning against the wall, smiling, don't bother, ma'am, I'm fine where I am, his heels raw and his
back roasted from having done the same thing so many times whenever he paid a visit, don't bother,
ma'am, I'm fine where I am, just to avoid the embarrassment of breaking up the chair, and never
knowing perhaps that the ones who said don't go, Esteban, at least wait till the coffee's ready, were the
ones who later on would whisper the big boob finally left, how nice, the handsome fool has gone. That
was what the women were thinking beside the body a little before dawn. Later, when they covered his
face with a handkerchief so that the light would not bother him, he looked so forever dead, so
defenseless, so much like their men that the first furrows of tears opened in their hearts. It was one of
the younger ones who began the weeping. The others, coming to, went from sighs to wails, and the
more they sobbed the more they felt like weeping, because the drowned man was becoming all the
more Esteban for them, and so they wept so much, for he was the more destitute, most peaceful, and
most obliging man on earth, poor Esteban. So when the men returned with the news that the drowned
man was not from the neighboring villages either, the women felt an opening of jubilation in the midst
of their tears.
'Praise the Lord,' they sighed, 'he's ours!'
The men thought the fuss was only womanish frivolity. Fatigued because of the difficult
nighttime inquiries, all they wanted was to get rid of the bother of the newcomer once and for all before
the sun grew strong on that arid, windless day. They improvised a litter with the remains of foremasts
and gaffs, tying it together with rigging so that it would bear the weight of the body until they reached
the cliffs. They wanted to tie the anchor from a cargo ship to him so that he would sink easily into the
deepest waves, where fish are blind and divers die of nostalgia, and bad currents would not bring him
back to shore, as had happened with other bodies. But the more they hurried, the more the women
thought of ways to waste time. They walked about like startled hens, pecking with the sea charms on
their breasts, some interfering on one side to put a scapular of the good wind on the drowned man,
some on the other side to put a wrist compass on him , and after a great deal of  get away from there,
woman, stay out of the way, look, you almost made me fall on top of the dead man, the men began to
feel mistrust in their livers and started grumbling about why so many main-altar decorations for a
stranger, because no matter how many nails and holy-water jars he had on him, the sharks would chew
him all the same, but the women kept piling on their junk relics, running back and forth, stumbling,
while they released in sighs what they did not in tears, so that the men finally exploded with  since when
has there ever been such a fuss over a drifting corpse, a drowned nobody, a piece of cold Wednesday
meat. One of the women, mortified by so much lack of care, then removed the handkerchief from the
dead man's face and the men were left breathless too.
He was Esteban. It was not necessary to repeat it for them to recognize him. If they had been
told Sir Walter Raleigh, even they might have been impressed with his gringo accent, the macaw on his

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shoulder, his cannibal-killing blunderbuss, but there could be only one Esteban in the world and there he
was, stretched out like a sperm whale, shoeless, wearing the pants of an undersized child, and with
those stony nails that had to be cut with a knife. They only had to take the handkerchief off his face to
see that he was ashamed, that it was not his fault that he was so big or so heavy or so handsome, and if
he had known that this was going to happen, he would have looked for a more discreet place to drown
in, seriously, I even would have tied the anchor off a galleon around my nick and staggered off a cliff like
someone who doesn't like things in order not to be upsetting people now with this Wednesday dead
body, as you people say, in order not to be bothering anyone with this filthy piece of cold meat that
doesn't have anything to do with me. There was so much truth in his manner that even the most
mistrustful men, the ones who felt the bitterness of endless nights at sea fearing that their women
would tire of dreaming about them and begin to dream of drowned men, even they and others who
were harder still shuddered in the marrow of their bones at Esteban's sincerity.
That was how they came to hold the most splendid funeral they could ever conceive of for an
abandoned drowned man. Some women who had gone to get flowers in the neighboring villages
returned with other women who could not believe what they had been told, and those women went
back for more flowers when they saw the dead man, and they brought more and more until there were
so many flowers and so many people that it was hard to walk about. At the final moment it pained them
to return him to the waters as an orphan and they chose a father and mother from among the best
people, and aunts and uncles and cousins, so that through him all the inhabitants of the village became
kinsmen. Some sailors who heard the weeping from a distance went off course and people heard of one
who had himself tied to the mainmast, remembering ancient fables about sirens. While they fought for
the privilege of carrying him on their shoulders along the steep escarpment by the cliffs, men and
women became aware for the first time of the desolation of their streets, the dryness of their
courtyards, the narrowness of their dreams as they faced the splendor and beauty of their drowned
man. They let him go without an anchor so that he could come back if he wished and whenever he
wished, and they all held their breath for the fraction of centuries the body took to fall into the abyss.
They did not need to look at one another to realize that they were no longer all present, that they would
never be. But they also knew that everything would be different from then on, that their houses would
have wider doors, higher ceilings, and stronger floors so that Esteban's memory could go everywhere
without bumping into beams and so that no one in the future would dare whisper the big boob finally
died, too bad, the handsome fool has finally died, because they were going to paint their house fronts
gay colors to make Esteban's memory eternal and they were going to break their backs digging for
springs among the stones and planting flowers on the cliffs so that in future years at dawn the
passengers on great liners would awaken, suffocated by the smell of gardens on the high seas, and the
captain would have to come down from the bridge in his dress uniform, with his astrolabe, his pole star,
and his row of war medals and, pointing to the promontory of roses on the horizon, he would say in
fourteen languages, look there, where the wind is so peaceful now that it's gone to sleep beneath the
beds, over there, where the sun's so bright that the sunflowers don't know which way to turn, yes, over
there, that's Esteban's village.

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