Week 11 Story: The Framing

The Framing

There once were three dogs who lived with a family. One dog was named Maggie. Maggie was a great dog. She was ten-years-old, a beagle-mix, and very calm. Maggie never did anything bad. Along with Maggie, there was an eight-year-old chihuahua named Fred. Fred was also a very well-mannered dog, but he was prone to some relapses in his behavior from time-to-time.

Maggie is always happy to be petted. Image from me

Maggie and Fred had a younger friend named Niko. Niko was a puppy who was six-months-old. He was a silver lab mixed with a catahoula, and had a very pretty silver coat.  Niko was a very smart dog but also liked to cause trouble and play rough. Every day, Niko liked to test the limits of his owners. He would grab things he knew he was not supposed to have just so he could get a reaction out of his owners. However, Niko also pushed the limits of the other dogs. He would often do his best to get on Fred's nerves by bumping Fred over and sitting on him.

Niko sitting on Fred's head to try to get a reaction.
Image from me.

One day, Fred and Maggie were left alone in the house when Fred started to feel particularly mischievous. He went into the mudroom and grabbed his owner's shoe and chewed the shoe up. He knew that he could get in trouble, but he had a plan. He was going to frame Niko. Why wouldn't the owners believe that Niko had chewed the shoes? After all, the owners had Fred for eight years but had only had Niko for six months. Fred took some scraps of the shoes and took them to Niko's kennel. He knew the owners would think that Niko had done the shredding. He just had to get Maggie on board. Maggie was easy to convince because she knew she could look guilty since she was also left inside. She was going to help blame Niko.

When the owners got home and saw the shredded shoe in Niko's kennel, the owners were furious. Niko should have known better than that. They were going to punish Niko by making him stay outside for the rest of the week. Niko heard the owners talking and knew he had to act fast. Niko ran up to the owners and the owners said, "Bad dog! Why would you destroy Marshall's shoe?"

Niko calmly responded, "I could not have chewed Marshall's shoe. I was outside all day chasing butterflies."

The owners rebutted, "Then who could have done it!"

"Fred was the only one inside today. He had to have chewed the shoe."

The owners began to realize their mistake and apologized to Niko and sent him on his way inside. The owners then handed down the punishment to Fred and Maggie instead. The owners learned their lesson to not hold judgment until all of the evidence and facts have been gathered. Niko was given a new chew toy and some treats as an apology for the accusation and was treated more fairly from then on.

Author's Note

I based my story off of the jataka "The Guilty Dogs". In "The Guilty Dogs", some of the king's dogs chewed up leather harnesses and reigns for the horses. The king immediately thought that it was a dog from the village, and ordered all of the village dogs to be killed. The chief village dog went to talk to the king and explained that the village dogs could not get into the palace, so there is no way they could have chewed the leather. He urged the king to purge the stomachs of the palace dogs, and, sure enough, they threw up the leather. The king punished his dogs and rewarded all of the village dogs with good meals. I thought the story had a good moral, and the story reminded me of my dogs back home. Niko, Fred, and Maggie are all dogs my family actually has, and, like the story says, Niko is naughty, Maggie is calm and good, and Fred can be naughty at times while he is typically good. The story reminded me of the past summer when I came home from work to one of my crocs being chewed up by one of my dogs. While Niko really did do it, I thought it would be fun to merge this story with the plot of "The Guilty Dogs". Niko also does love to chase butterflies.

"Twenty Jataka Tales". Retold by Noor Inayat. Found Online at this lin

Reading Notes: Babbitt, More Jataka Tales, Part B

The Hawks and Their Friends

On an island in a lake, a mother hawk and father hawk had a nest with young hawks. The father hawk had made friends with a turtle, a kingfisher, and a lion. One day, a hunter settled in for camp under the tree that held the hawks' nest. The hunter started a fire, and the smoke caused the young hawks to cry, alerting the hunter to their presence. The hunter decided to try to eat the young hawks, so the father hawk took off to get the kingfisher for help. The kingfisher repeatedly put out the hunter's fire, but eventually, the kingfisher grew too tired to help. The hawk went to grab the turtle for help, and the turtle put mud over the fire. Then the turtle had to dive into the lake to escape a net the hunter made. Then, the hunter was still not done. So, the father hawk ran to grab the lion who scared the hunter away. The story ends with the hawk saying, "Friends in need are friends indeed."

Prince Wicked and the Grateful Animals

There was a prince who was very rude to all around him. One day, the prince and his servants were swimming in a river when a big storm hit and caused the river to rise. The prince grabbed onto a log. Soon, a rat, a parrot, and a snake joined him on the log. As they were floating down the river, a poor man in his shack saw the prince, the rat, the parrot, and the snake floating. The poor man swam out to the log and pulled the prince, rat, parrot, and snake in. Once in the lodge, the poor man started a fire and fed the snake and the rat first since they were in worse condition. The prince was upset about this. When all were back to health and leaving, the rat promised the poor man money if he ever needed it. The snake promised the poor man gold. The parrot promised him rice. And the prince promised the poor man wealth once he became king. Years down the road, the poor man went to see if each would follow up on their promises. The three animals kept their promises without hesitation; however, the prince did not. He was now king and ordered his men to kill the poor man until the poor man told the prince's men about the prince's promise. The people killed the prince in fear that he may turn on them as well and made the poor man king. The poor man brought the snake, rat, and parrot into his palace and gave them the best homes and amazing food.

A white-throated kingfisher is a species of kingfisher in India.
Image source: Wikimedia

Bilbiography

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

     

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