Week 7 Story: The Rice and The Man
(The Broken Pot by John D. Batten)
The updated version of the story is here on my Portfolio!
In a small village in Gujarat, India, there lived a man named Vittap. His name evidently signified his behavior; he guarded his wealth closely.
One day, Vittap had gathered a surplus amount of rice grains from working in his neighbor's fields and begging in the village. Growing rice was no easy task. After eating the rice that same evening, Vittap put the remaining rice in a pot. The pot was hung over his couch so that he could bathe in its glory.
As Vittap became drowsy, he dreamed about his future with the rice. He thought, "My beautiful rice. Oh, how beautiful! If there is a famine, I will always have my rice. Wait, can the rice not make me some profit?"
"I can buy a few goats with the rice and eventually have a family of goats!"
"I can then sell the goats, and get a couple of cows!"
"I can then sell cow milk and purchase buffaloes. Once the mares have foaled, I can have horses!"
"By then, I shall have accumulated plenty of gold to buy a house. A Brahman will even offer me his lovely daughter with a massive dowry. Oh, the future sounds amazing already."
"My love will birth a son, who will be greater than I am. While she cleans and cooks, I will play football with my son."
"Then I will kick the ball and make a goal!"
And with that, he kicked his beautiful pot of rice and ruined the rice and his future."
Years later, Vittap has not accomplished the goals he set for himself. He has not learned that to be successful, you must not be a miser. To this day, Vittap solely dreams about his future and does not work for it. Vittap's life repeats over and over again. He collects the rice, but the rice is wasted with his kick. As he guards his wealth and spends little, he may never buy goats.
Author's Note: In this week's story, I retold The Broken Pot from the Indian Fairy Tales! For the most part, the retelling was close to the original story. Once again, I changed the name of the main character. Instead of Svabhavakripana, I chose Vittap. The former names means "a born miser," while the latter means "one who guards money." The name change allowed for a more positive connotation of the character. In addition, I also attempted to add detail about what happened to the man in the future. The ending along with the whole story is relatively short. The story mostly consisted of internal dialogue, which showcased Vittap's thoughts and goals. In the internal dialogue, I added repetition ("I can.."), which was also reflected in his future ("Vittap's life repeats over and over again"). I hope my changes made it interesting to read!
Bibliography:
The Broken Pot from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
Hello again, Avani! I’ve never heard the story of “The Broken Pot” before, but I love your rendition of the tale! Vittap is a very relatable character—it’s easy to take advantage of your fortune and dream of the future, but nothing can be achieved without hard work and dedication. A good reminder for us college students, I would imagine. Overall, I liked your use of dialogue to narrate Vittap’s ideals. It was a very enjoyable story, and I can’t wait to read many more!
ReplyDeleteHi Avani! I really enjoyed your retelling of the Broken Pot. I have never read that story, but I will need to take a look at it. I thought your story was very easy to engage with the characters and understand what they were feeling. It is very easy to get caught up in the idea of becoming the richest but lose track of what it takes to achieve it. Great job on the retelling and changing up the character! I am excited to read more of your stories.
ReplyDeleteHello Avani!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your story! It was short and sweet but teaches a very important lesson about the dangers of greed and importance of being proactive. It seems that Vittap had it all planned out, I enjoyed hearing of his plans to make himself a wealthy man. It makes me wonder if that was actually a feasible plan or if he was just exaggerating.
Good luck with the rest of your semester!
Hey there Avani! I have to say that I really enjoyed reading your story. I love to read stories that build on themselves and this was such a great example. The overall meaning and lesson of the original story was still maintained even through your changes. I also really appreciated your detailed author's note, as it really tied everything together. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to reading more of your stories in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi Avani!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your version of the Broken Pot! I appreciate the name change. It's impressive how much a name and its meaning can alter a reader's perspective of a character. The name Vittap is also a lot easier to read and helps the story flow more smoothly. I also love that you added more information about his future! That's always a part that I hope for in stories. Great job!
Hi Avani!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your retelling of this story. I thought the name change of the main character was very clever because, 1) it's much easier to pronounce and 2) it still has a meaning that describes his character. I also like the message in the story; you can't just dream about it, you have to work for it. And because he doesn't want to change his ways, his life won't change either, and it will continue to be this repeated cycle. Great story!