Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, Part B

Painting of a decorated white elephant. Source: Wikipedia

The King's White Elephant

  • carpenters lived by the riverbank near a forest
  • a limping elephant came to them, hoping they would help remove the splinter in his foot
  • the men removed the splinter and in return, the elephant helped them
  • elephant removed the trees from the ground, rolled logs to the river and brought the carpenters their tools.
  • carpenters fed the elephant morning, afternoon, and night
  • the elephant decided to take his son, who was a white elephant, to the carpenters since they have treated him so well since he was getting older and could not work like he used to
  • the son helped out the carpenters just like his father and would play with the carpenters' children in the river
  • a king came to the river and paid a huge price for the elephant and the baby elephant went to live with the king, who treated him well and took great care of him
The Ox Who Envied the Pig
  • Two brother oxen, Big Red and Little Red lived on a farm
  • the farmer had a daughter who will be marrying soon and the mother wanted to fatten the pig up for the feast
  • Little Red asked his brother why the pig was given delicious food while they were stuck eating straw and grass
  • Big Red told him not to be jealous of the pig and that they are just fattening him up so that he will be a good feast for the wedding
  • the pig was killed and cooked
  • Big Red told his brother to see what happened to the pig after he was fed the feast of food
  • Little red realized and said we can eat bland food for years, but the pig was fed a feast and died shortly after. The feast was great for him but it was short-lived.
Bibliography:
Babbit, Ellen. Jataka Tales. Source.

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