Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, Part A

The Monkey and the Crocodile

(Wild Crocodile) 

• Monkey lived in a tree next to a river full of croccodiles
• The mama croc wanted a monkey's heart, she asked her son to get her one
• The young crocodile thought he would trick the monkey into going to the middle of the lake to an island full of fruit
• The greedy monkey jumped on the tricky crocs back
• The crocodile tried to kill the money  by drowning him
• The monkey said he left his heart on the shore. The crocodile was stupid. 
• The crocodile wanted the heart so he took the monkey back to the bank of the shore
• The monkey of course took off left down the river to live another tree but the crocodile found him and tried to trick him again but it did not work!

How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

• A turtle tricked men who were afraid of him to throw him into the water bc they thought it would kill the turtle. 

I'm thinking about combining a few stories into one. Like a  couple of animals with some good dialogue. 

The Merchant of Seri

(Ancient Gold Bowl)

• Basically a story about greed.
• An old poor lady and her golden bowl and the 2 merchants

The Turtle Who couldn't Stop Talking

• Two geese and a turtle became good friends. 
• The geese wanted to talk him with them so they said as long as you can keep your mouth shut and hold on to this stick you will make it
• The turtle did not and died

These stories are very similar to Giant Crabs and Other Tales. which I just read but it is fun to see the different styles and how some of the gory ones could be turned into nice ones. 

The Ox Who Won the Forfeit

• This is a story about being nice
• The man made a bet but was mean to the ox so the ox did not cooperate until the man said he was sorry

The Sandy Road

• wow. This story was about a desert and how they found/ dug a well.
• I think I like the grim stories better than the happy ones. 

The Quarrel of the Quails

• Tale about the quails that learned to get away from the hunter but quarreled and got caught anyway. 
• Maybe I could make a tale about two children who gets caught stealing candy or something like that. 

The Measure of Rice

• There was a dishonest king
• Maybe I could write a story about the one king who was too kind and this king. They would not get along very well I have a feeling. 
• The valuer on his court was very honest and set the price of things
• Obviously the King wanted to cheat so he found a random person to become his new valuer but he made a laughing stock of himself bc of course he new the value of nothing!
• I hope the king learned his lesson

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

• There was a rabbit who thought the world was breaking up and stated to run when he heard a loud noise. 
• Rabbits began to follow him then deer then a fox then an elephant
• The lion stopped them and made the original rabbit go back to the tree and see what has happened, that is when they saw a coconut and knew that is what scared him.

Bibliography: Jataka Tales. Ellen C. Babbit. Illustrated by Ellsworth Young. 1912.