Reading Notes B: Jataka Tales

The Wise and Foolish Merchant

- thrifty and stupid merchant

- thrifty merchant goes first

- demons neared the foolish merchant

- foolish merchant obeyed the demon

- thrifty merchant sold all of the foolish merchant's goods

The Elephant Girly-face

- elephant named girly face

- robbers woke up girly face

- girly face killed keeper

- she needs good talk

The Banyan Deer

- gold deer

- silver horns

- red mouth

- bright hoofs

- king of 500 Banyan deer

- park for deer

- king of the banyan deer volunteered his life in place of a mothers

- deers were shown mercy

The Princes and the Water-Sprite

- king had three sons

- princes of stars, moon, and suns

- asks to give kingdom to sun prince

- water sprite and king at pond

- built a home for the water-sprite

The King's White Elephant

- carpenters on a river bank

- went in boats to the forest to cut down trees

- elephant pulled up trees for them

- the white elephant did as told

- the king wanted the elephant for his own

The Ox Who Envied the Pig

- ox named big red

- younger brother = little red

- pig is eating the food of death

- the fattened pig was killed and cooked for feast

Granny's Blackie

- rich man gave a baby elephant to a woman

- elephant carried children on his back

- would not touch the money to help pull wagons

- earned the family silver

The Crab and the Crane

- summer

- low water in the pong

- crane ate the fish

- crane tricked them

- crane tricked the crab

- crab pinched the crane's neck and his head fell off

Why the Owl Is Not King of the Birds

- owls sleep in the day time

- the crows did not want the owls to be kings

- the crows and owls became enemys

- the turtle dove became king

"Elephant" by Colin the Scot is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0