Story: So my grandma would always tell me this story- well he’s not really a god but he’s the incarnation of a god, um, Krishna, but he’s the incarnation of i think Vishnu if i remember correctly? And it’s just like a cute little story that she used to tell me when i went to sleep, it was to kinda put me to sleep at night, of um so he grew up in a village, he’s the incarnation of a god so he grew up around normal people. And he was a really mischievous kid and him and his friend – his mother used to live in the village and she used to churn butter at  a specific time of the year, and him and his friend would just be like super mischievous and steal that butter, like as they were churning it and  while they weren’t looking. He was known in the village as being this really naughty kid who always did that. And once they caught him and they opened his mouth- because he was like ‘oh I didn’t steal the butter’- and when they opened his mouth they saw the whole universe in his mouth. And that’s when they knew he was divine and uh… yeah.

Thoughts: The informant always really liked Krishna as a child, since their middle name is a form of that name, and was named after Krishna. It was also significant to them because their grandmother used to tell them that story while putting them to bed and they always really looked forward to that. She has since passed away, and it makes him happy to remember her.

Context: The context of this performance was over the phone, and I recorded the informant talking about their own folklore.

Analysis: This story made me want to paint- it was so beautiful and also unlike any story I have ever heard before. I thought a lot about why, and I think it is because there is no real point to the story, it is just visuals. Usually there is a plot to a story, an aim, a goal, a culprit, a villain. This story was more of an exposure of who Krishna really was on the inside, both metaphorically and physically.