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Reading Notes Week 7: Tibetan Folktale Part A, "The Man and the Ghost"


  • "The Man and the Ghost"
    • A man walks down a steep mountain pass
    • meets a ghost
      • the ghost turns to walk with the man
    • man is frightened  but didn't show the ghost
    • The pair come to a river
      • no boat or bridge to cross
      • they must swim
      • the man makes a lot of noise crossing - splashing etc.
      • the ghost makes no noise at all
    • ghost asks the man why he makes so much noise in the water
      • the man replies: "Oh, I am a ghost and have a right to make all the noise I want to."
    • ghost offers friendship and mutual aid
      • man agrees
    • the ghost asks the man what he is afraid of
      • the man says nothing even though he is quaking inside
      • the man asks the ghost the same question
        • ghost says nothing but the wind blowing through the barley fields
    • the come to a town
      • the ghost says he is going into town
      • the man says he is tired and lays down to sleep in a barley field
      • the ghost wreaks havoc in town and steals the soul of the king's son
      • brings the soul to the man in the barley field and says he has something to do and he will be back for the soul
      • the man goes into town dressed as a lama (Tibetan holy man) and goes begging
      • he hears that the king's son is sick and he knows why
      • goes begging at the palace
      • the king tells the disguised man that he can have half of everything he owns if he will heal his son
      • the man makes an idol of a meal and places it in the sack that holds the boy's soul
        • the soul escapes and returns to the boy
        • the man prays over the sack to "heal" the boy even though he knows that the soul has returned to the boy
        • word reaches the king that his son is recovering 
        • The king kept his word to the man
    • rumored that the ghost never returned for the sack he had left with the man
      • the man wondered if this was how the relationship between man and ghost worked 
  • storytelling notes:
    • This story has a lot of potential. I always like a good ghost story and I like the premise of this one. I like that the ghost is a trickster but he seemingly tricks people for the good of his friend. I want to expand the story a bit and show how the ghost takes the boy's soul. I also want to show what may have happened after the story ended - if the ghost had returned. 
  • Bibliography: Tibetan Folktales by A.L. Shelton, illustrated by Mildren Bryant (1925)
(Tibetan Monk attends the Beating Ghost Festival at the Lama Temple from gettyimages)

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