The Wise and the Foolish Merchant
I liked this story. It was different than I was expecting. To begin with, I thought it was interesting that the Wise merchant knew when to give up the battle with the Foolish merchant. It wasn’t done out of cruelty, just done out of wisdom. However, I do wish there had been more of a friendship between the two. He didn’t seem terribly sad that the other merchant had died, which I thought was interesting. I was not expecting the presence of the demon. I thought it was very cruel, but clever that he used many tactics to convince the Foolish merchant to throw out his water. The Wise merchant was smart to pay attention to such a little detail as to whether or not the demon had a shadow. That was the first time that I had heard of that detail.
The Elephant Girly-Face
I like that the elephant gets his name from his friendliness and kindness. I thought it was interesting that he listened to the robbers, and it was very sad that those evil men influenced Girly-Face. I thought it was very wise to send the kind men to re-teach Girly-Face how to act. My one question is, if Girly-Face can understand humans, why couldn’t the humans that know Girly-Face just go in and talk to him about the fact that those men are bad and that he shouldn’t behave like them?
The Banyan Deer
I was not expecting the mother deer to have to go and die! I wish the King would have accidentally/ intentionally killed the King of the Monkey Deer. How cruel! I was amazed that the King of the Banyan Deer was so selfless and offered up his own life for the sake of her and her child. He didn’t ask someone else to do this. So far, I think this has been my favorite story of the Jatakas Tales. It is the first one in which someone has truly made a sincere sacrifice for another person. I also thought it was very noble of the King to recognize this sacrifice and reward it.
Below is an image of "The Elephant Girly-Face" from the Jatakas Tales by Ellsworth Young.
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