Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales Part A

File:Contes de Jataka, La tortue bavarde - 1.jpg
The Tortoise and The Geese: Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: 
  • The Monkey Bridge
    • A king found divine fruit and ordered his men to find the tree it came from
    • The tree was eventually found and was filled with monkeys
    • The king ordered the monkeys to be killed, but the monkey king fastened a reed for the monkeys to escape 
    • The reed was not long enough and the monkey chief was hurt after all the monkeys left
    • The King went over to the monkey chief and asked if he had known what he had done
    • The monkey chief was happy to die if it meant the others could live and so the king built a shrine
  • The Guilty dogs
    • A chariot was left outside in the rain and so the palace dogs ate the chariot harness
    • The king was outraged and wanted all the city dogs to die
    • The chief of the city dogs came to the king and proved that it was not the city dogs that ate the harness but the palace dogs and so the city dogs were rewarded
  • Banyan
    • There were two herds of deer in the forest led by two golden deer, banyan and branch
    • The king went to hunt the deer, but trampled the peasants' fields
    • The peasants were tired of this so they led the deer into the palace forest for the king to hunt, but eventually the deer gave up 
    • After a certain point, the golden deer put his head to the stone and king asked why
    • The golden deer said because a mother was to be killed and so the king spared the deer lives
  • The Tortoise and the Geese
    • Geese told a tortoise to come live with them in the cave, but the tortise was unable to get there
    • The geese grabbed a stick and gave it to the tortise to hold onto, while they held the stick in their mouths
    • The tortoise was not allowed to speak, but after seeing children and gloating to them, the tortoise fell to his death 
  • The Fairy and the hare 
    • There was a very kind hare in the forest who told all of his friends to not eat, but to give to someone who may need it 
    • Everyone gathered food and stored it except for the hare who had nothing
    • There was also a fairy in the forest to go out and try to see if they would give their food to the fairy disguised as a beggar
    • Everyone did except for the hare who offered himself, the fairy revealed herself and praised the hare
  • The golden feather
    • A poor father found a fairy and told her that he wanted good fortune for the family 
    • The fairy turned him into a golden goose and the goose gave his family his golden feathers 
    • One day, the mother got greedy and tried to pluck all of his feathers, but they turned white
    • The goose then flew away to a better place and golden feathers returned
  • The Young Parrot
    • There was a young parrot who brought food to his aging parents 
    • The parrot got his foot caught in a trap by the farmer that the parrot was eating in 
    • The farmer asked the parrot why and the parrot said to feed his parents and was able to return from then on
  • The empty lake 
    • There was a lake which had many fish in it with a fish king 
    • The lake dried up and the fish were being eaten, so the fish kind prayed to make it rain. 
    • The rain came and the fish lived happily ever after 
  • The swan kingdom
    • There was a group of 60,000 swans in a lake Manasa and people came to see the swans 
    • A king wanted to see the swans so they built a beautiful lake for the swans to swim in 
    • One day, the 60,000 swans came, but the king got his leg caught in a trap 
    • The guards took the king swan to see the king who admired its beauty the swans were then free to leave
  • The Master Test 
    • A master told his pupils to steal a rich mans purse because the master was poor and weak 
    • All the pupils went, but one who said that he could not steal another mans purse because he himself is always 
    • The master rejoiced and the pupils learned greatly from it
  • Bibliography:
    • Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
    • Author: Noor Inayat 
    • Source: Babel

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