Week 10 Reading Notes: Jatakas Tales B

I continued reading the Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, this time reading nine new tales that I had not previously read. There were three in particular that really stood out.

The first one was The Wise and Foolish Merchant. This one is interesting because for some reason, I pictured it occurring in the midwest or in a country style way. The story sets it up to think that the wise merchant has tricked the foolish merchant, and that the wise merchant will be punished in the end. However, this story really connotes the word "wise" well, because it talks about how he is able to defend himself. It was reminiscent of Barnyard, oddly, when they were camped out in the middle of the night to protect themselves.

The second story was The Banyan Deer. This is a great example of sacrifice, and it reminds me of the Chronicles of Narnia. The king of the deer sacrifices himself in an attempt to save the mother, in a way similar to how Aslan sacrifices himself. The main question that comes up is why the king continuously kills the deer, but decides to stop after the Banyan king sacrifices himself. Overall, he would have to kill another species right? Then what stops the story from cycling there?

The finally story is Why the Owl is not King of the Birds. This one mainly just because of how short and illogical it is. There are textual arguments that humans disobeying Gods create sin, that animals are born to hate each other as is nature, but this one shows that a crow once just got really mad at an owl, and now, they try to kill each other all the time. Makes no sense.

Overall, this has been a great read, and I really enjoyed the Jatakas Tales.

A deer in the plains, the main subject of The Banyan Deer. Source: Wikipedia

Bibliography:

Jatakas Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

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