Reading Notes: Babbitt, More Jataka Tales, Part A

The Tricky Wolf and the Rats

A wolf pretended that his front legs did not work to trick a group of rats. The wolf told the group of rats that he was lonely because his legs didn't work and that he could only eat air. The rats visited the wolf every morning and night since the wolf was lonely. However, the wolf would always snatch the very last rat so that he could eat. Eventually, the rats realized their numbers were dwindling and the chief decided to be the last to leave. When the wolf sprang at him, the chief dodged the bite and countered with biting the wolf. The wolf was killed by the bite.

The Stupid Monkeys

A gardener for the king had to take water the trees while the rest of the workers and his friends a day off and they were all going to the city. The gardener asked the troop of monkeys who lived in the palace if they could take care of watering the trees. The chief said yes. The gardener told them to water the trees enough but not too much. When it came time to water the trees, the chief told his troop that they should pull the trees to see how long the roots were to water them the proper amount. Of course, this killed all of the young trees and the gardener returned to tons of dead trees.

The Penny-Wise Monkey

A king and his soldiers were marching to conquer another kingdom to get more land. Along the way, they fed their horses peas at a stop. A monkey took a handful and a mouthful of peas and scampered up a tree. Once in the tree, the monkey dropped a pea and then took off after it. In the process, the monkey lost all of his other peas. The monkey then said something along the lines of, "If only I hadn't been so greedy. Then I wouldn't have lost everything." The king learned the lesson the monkey learned and returned to his kingdom without attacking the other kingdom.

A troop of Rhesus Macaques. After reading the jatakas, I was interested
in learning more about monkeys in India, and I found this species. I thought
it was interesting because many of the pictures of the rhesus macaques
are in areas where people exist. I found it interesting that people likely
interacted with monkeys on a daily basis back when the jatakas were
created as well. Found on Wikimedia

Bibliography

"More Jataka Tales". Ellen C. Babbitt. Found online here