New Blog

This is exciting! I've always wanted to do one of these, but I found I never had the time. Granted my life is rarely interesting enough to blog about, but I figured it would be a good way to meet some interesting people online, and possibly enhance my writing skills.

I'm a literature student at the moment, so basically I do a lot of reading and writing. You learn a lot more from it than you think you would. I especially like Homer and a lot of the mythology text I've been reviewing lately. That's actually how I came up with my blogger name. I came across this little Chinese myth about a jade rabbit that lives in the moon and makes medicine for the Chinese moon Goddess, Chang'e. It's also present in a lot of Japanese and Korean culture, and there is a Buddhist myth about the rabbit that may be one of my top favorite myths ever.

The story goes that one night a group of animals came across a man who was starving in the woods, and begging for food. While the rest of the animals go out to gather food for the man, the rabbit realizes that the only thing it can gather is grass, which will not feed the man. So instead he has the man build a fire, and then jumps into the fire, so the man can eat him. However, the rabbit doesn't burn in the fire, for as it turns out the man is actually a god in disguise, and he rescues the rabbit. Touched by the kindness the rabbit has shown him, the man paints the rabbit's image on the moon.

It's such a sweet story. Most Myth's rarely have very happy endings like that, and the overall message is that total generosity is rewarded, which is something I can respect.

Well, I think I've gone on enough for my first post. So I guess I'll end it here.

See ya!

- Opal