This week I am reviewing the first half of Jataka Tales. I will give a short summary of some of the stand-out stories (whether good or bad) and explain my position!
The Merchant of Seri
The Merchant of Seri was a great little story about being a good person (a common theme you will see repeated in this blog post), where one greedy merchant tried to take advantage of someone by devaluing a piece, but another honest merchant was able to take advantage of the greedy merchant's cockiness. Overall, the theme of the story was to not be a d*ck. I liked that the honest merchant offered his entire stock just for that one gold bowl, and he was still able to live off that one trade for a good amount of time. Good for him.
The Ox Who Won the Forfeit
The Ox Who Won the Forfeit was another 'don't be a d*ck' story. In this one, the farmer tried to be all tough and macho in front of the townspeople, completely embarrassing his strong ox in the process. The strong ox understandably refused to move and win the bet for his owner. But fortunately, both parties had a good feelings-dump after the bet and the ox agreed to win his owner more money! Yay for kindness and helping your friends get rich!
Picture of the owner decorating his ox before the 2nd bet : Internet Sacred Texts Archive
The Sandy Road
The Sandy Road, I think, still falls. under the category of 'don't be a d*ck', but in a different way than the other two stories. Here, the guide makes a mistake, and instead of trying to blame it on other people or anything, he owned up to it and made it right. I respect that a lot! Especially since the guide's entire thought process was, "it's all up to me to make this right, so let's not stop until everything is ok!" Not only that, though, but the guide also marked the well for other travelers to use. How kind of him! I liked this story the best because it rewarded someone for working hard.
Vaga-Buon Voyage!
Bibliography:
Ellin Babbit. "Jataka Tales" http://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=babbitt&book=jataka&story=monkey
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