For this week's reading, I decided to read some of the Jataka Tales instead of more Krishna. I really liked the Jataka Tales when we read them at the beginning of the semester and all of the stories in part b I really enjoyed. The first story that caught my eye was the story of "The Princes and the Water-Sprite". This story was very engaging and while there was not much detail it was still a well-rounded story. The brother's attitudes caught me off guard. Even though the mother preferred the youngest son the older brothers were not angry with him for being the favorite and for being the reason that they were banished. It is also interesting how common banishments are in Indian mythology. The water-sprite is a tricky character who is able to change shape. This ability makes all of his encounters different. I like that the oldest brother chose the younger brother to save but also got to save the middle brother. I am a sucker for happy endings and was happy that this story had one.
The second story that I thought was worth reading was "The King's White Elephant". This story had some classic storylines in it. The animal was hurt and the humans helped so then the animal helped the humans. However, this story went a step further and the elephant brought his son, the white elephant, to help the carpenters when he got too old. I liked this part of the story because at this point they had a mutually beneficial relationship that the father wanted to pass onto his son. I also like that even though the king kind of stole the elephant from the carpenters he paid well and also took very good care of the elephant throughout his life.
Bibliography:
Babbitt. The Jataka Tales. Source:
BlogSpot.
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