Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part 2

Grannies Blackie: Wikimedia Commons

There was a thrifty merchant and a foolish merchant crossing the desert to a city to sell their goods
The foolish merchant went first into the desert
In the desert, there were demons trying to get the merchants to dump out their water
They made it seem as if they had came by a lake to convince the merchant to dump his water, so they they could overpower him
The foolish merchant obliged, found no water, and was taken away by the demons
The wise merchant did not listen to the demons, and continued safely to the city

There was an elephant named Girly-face, and the elephant was gentle and good
Robbers came by and talked about how evil they were which made Girly-face evil
The elephant killed multiple people, but after it was found out that Girly-face had over heard evil conversation, the king sent out men to have good conversation.
The good conversation made Girly-face kind again

There were two Deer kings. The deer kings had large herds and were hunted by the king in the wild
The townspeople had a good idea to drive all of the deer into the park to kill them easier
After the deer were herded in, instead of fighting, the deer willingly lied their on the block to be killed
One deer who had just given birth was up next, and begged for mercy
The king did not give it, but the king of the deer went instead
The king granted the deer mercy after seeing the selflessness

The queen had three sons and was granted a boon by the king
The queen's boon was to make the youngest son king, but the king refused
The king then sent the two older brothers into the forest, and the younger brother joined
There was a pond with a water fairly which carried off the two younger brothers for answering a question wrong
The third brother got the question right and brought back the younger brother, but since the brother was wise, the middle brother came back too
They all lived in the Kingdom together

There were carpenters who lived in a forest and saw an elephant limping
The carpenters helped the elephant heal and the elephant worked for them while the carpenters cared for the elephant
The elephant had a son with a white hide, and the elephant taught the son how to be useful to the carpenters
The King came by, saw the elephant, and took him away and fed him well for rest of his life

There were two oxen that did all of the carting for a family's farm
The daughter of the farmer was going to be married, so they were going to kill the pig for a feast
The pig had to be fattened, and was fed good food
The good food made the younger ox jealous until the older ox pointed out that the pig would be killed
After the pig was killed, the younger Ox understood there was a reason he was getting the best food

A king gave an elephant to a woman, and the woman never made the elephant do any work
When the woman grew old, the elephant noticed that he should be doing the work for the woman
He pulled wagons across the river for a man who payed him two pieces of silver for each cart
The elephant walked back to the woman with the money and the woman and from then on the elephant began doing work for the woman

The Crane happened upon a drying up pond filled with fish
The crane brought the largest fish to a new lake to tell the other fish about the deeper water
The crane brought the fish to the woods instead to kill and eat them
There was only a crab left, and the crane brought the crab to the woods, but just before the crane could eat the crab, the crab snipped off the cranes neck

A long time ago, people made a man their king, four legged animals made one their king, and fish made one their king
The birds decided that they needed a king and an owl was chosen
The crows did not like they so the owls and crows began to fight and the birds chose a turtle dove as their king

Indian Epics: A Blog by Trace Youngman