Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part A

For this week I read Part A of the "Twenty-Two Goblins" unit, which was translated from Sanskrit.

Bibliography: Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).

I want to focus on character names, as Ryder has translated the Sanskrit name meanings into English equivalents.

Right from the start, we get a sense of the setting and main character from the translated name meanings: "On the bank of the Godavari River is a kingdom called the Abiding Kingdom. There lived the son of King Victory, the famous King Triple-victory, mighty as the king of the gods."
A place called "Abiding Kingdom" with a King whose name implies military success suggests power and strength. We then meet a "monk called Patience" in the introduction. This name seems to clash in style with the name of the King, but both could be relevant parts of an "Abiding" kingdom. Names can carry so much literary weight in stories! In contrast to these names, we also meet another central character in the introduction: the goblin. The goblin isn't given a name, which is perhaps also significant.

In the first riddle of the goblin, readers meet a "very beautiful daughter named Coral." This is a nice name that seemingly signifies innocence and perhaps purity. In the next story, we are told of a king named "Merit," perhaps indicating his success and goodness. The king's advisor in the story has a daughter named "Moonlight, who was worthy of her name, for she was famous for her matchless beauty and charm." Names play a significant role in introducing how a character will operate in a story. This especially seems to be the case in short stories where the author has less time to develop a character's profile via detailing their actions.

I really enjoyed the stories from this week's part A of the unit. The riddles were clever and often stumped me, and the framing story was highly entertaining! Focusing on names allowed me to think closely about different characters and their attributes.

Illustration by Perham W. Nahl from 

Arthur W. Ryder's Twenty-Two Goblins (1917).

Source: Wikimedia