Reading Notes: More Jatakas Tales Part B

This week, I continued reading about the Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. As per usual, while they all were interesting, three stood out in particular.

The first is How the Monkey Saved His Troop. This one was interesting for me because it seemed odd that there was such a fixation on mangoes. I really thought that there would be a war over the food for the mangoes, but it was moreso a protection battle for the king versus the monkeys. It is interesting to me that after watching a larger monkey give himself up that the king decides to protect him, but most of these stories all have some honor theme to them.

The second story is The Brave Little Bowman. This seems like a very common theme where someone with skill is passed over due to a semi-non-essential trait. The larger one probably should have practiced and learned from the better Bowman as well. Overall, it is odd that such a large man just runs back to the city, but when you think about it, the smaller one is better of because he has less surface area to be hit by. He can probably just hide behind the elephant.

The final story is The Stolen Plow, a story where we learn that refusing to return a simple tool is about as bad as kidnapping. It gives an interesting contrast between Western culture of today and former culture in India as property was likely valued very highly. I think it is nice to seem some logical skills used by the trader, and the judge was right to make the decision. However, he still admits to a crime and the father never does, so you'd think there'd be some kind of harsh consequences in a modern court.

Overall, these stories were very fun to read, and I think I got a great look into a different culture, as well as different story telling techniques.

Often thought of as a sport of skill, one story gives us an insight into a small bowman. Source: PixaBay

Bibliography

More Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

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