Reading Notes: Jakata Tales B
The Golden Goose:
There was once a very generous goose who had feathers made of gold. He knew that one of his closest neighbors was a poor woman and her children, and he decided he would give them his feathers to sell so that they could live in comfort. One day though, the mother became greedy and decided that they should just hold the goose down and force out all of the feathers out. The gooses feathers however, if forced out, would turn into white feathers, just like an average chicken feather.
The Stupid Monkeys:
One day, the king's gardener heard that his friends were going out to the city and wanted to join, but he knew he had to water the trees that had been planted very recently. But then the gardener remembered that the king had a tribe of monkeys living in the garden, so he went to them and confronted the chief monkey. After giving him instructions to water the trees, he left for the city with his friends. The monkeys began watering the trees just like the gardener had told them, but weren't sure how much to water each tree. So the chief monkey told them to pull out each tree and add more water if the roots were long, and less water if the roots were short. The next day the gardener came back, and all the trees were dead.
The Cunning Wolf:
This story is about a group of people that go camping and run out of food. When this happens, one man from the groups decides that he can trick the animals by playing dead, and when a group of animals finds him, he will attack when they come to get his "dead" body. He went to the area of land by a river and laid down. When a group of animals arrived and saw his body, the chief of the wolves told the others that he thought the man might have been playing a trick on them. The wolf went towards the man and began pulling at the man's walking stick. When this happened the man held on to the stick and then the wolf called him out for playing dead. When the man sprang to his feet to try to attack, all the animals had run off.
The Wood Pecker and the Lion:
This story is about a lion who while finishing his meal, gets a bone stuck in his throat. While he was roaring in pain, a nearby woodpecker came over to ask him what was wrong. The lion told her and the woodpecker said that she was small enough to fit in his mouth and get the bone out, but was worried about the lion chomping down on her. The lion said he would not and told the woodpecker to help. The woodpecker agreed to help, but placed a stick in the lions mouth to keep him from chomping down. Once the woodpecker had removed the bone, she started to fly out of the mouth of the beast and accidentally struck the stick allowing the lion to close his mouth. The lion kept his mouth wide open though and allowed for the woodpecker to return to safety.
The Otters and the Wolf:
A couple of otters were hungry one day and only had one fish. They decided to split it in half but could not decide who got which half. They both wanted the half with the head on it. A wolf came across them arguing and they spotted him, and asked him to settle their debate for them. The wolf proceeded to cut off the head, gave it to one otter, cut off the tail, gave it to the other otter, and finally took the middle portion of the fish for himself. The otters were upset but the wolf said that it was payment for his services.
How the Monkey Saved his Troop:
A king had been surprised by his fishermen one day with a strange new fruit that was discovered to be a mango. When he asked his foresters where the mango tree grows, they gathered a small group of men, and went out to find them. Once they found the tree, the King had them collect as many mangos as they could that day, and then told them that they would rest during the night, and collect more in the morning before returning home. When they had fallen asleep, a tribe of monkeys that lived in trees near the mango trees came upon the group of men and realized what they were doing. The chief monkey knew that they had to escape, but the only way out was the ground, or so he thought. In their loudness, they ended up waking the king, and he told his archers to wait for the monkeys to come out of the trees and on to the ground and then they would shoot them and the king would be able to have monkey meat and mangos to bring back. The monkeys knew that they were going to die unless the chief could find a way out of it. There were two trees that stood on either side of the river, but were too far apart to have every monkey safely jump across. The king told his tribe that he would get ALL of them to safety, and decided that if he hung on one tree with his feet, and the other tree with his hands, he could make a bridge for the entire tribe to get across safely. Once he had done so, he called for all his monkeys to hurry across, and each monkey was able to make it over the river successfully. The king saw this act of heroism and promised that he would make sure that the chief monkey would never be harmed in his life.
Bibliography: Ellen C. Babbitt, The Jakata Tales, Jakata Tales Babbitt
There was once a very generous goose who had feathers made of gold. He knew that one of his closest neighbors was a poor woman and her children, and he decided he would give them his feathers to sell so that they could live in comfort. One day though, the mother became greedy and decided that they should just hold the goose down and force out all of the feathers out. The gooses feathers however, if forced out, would turn into white feathers, just like an average chicken feather.
The Stupid Monkeys:
One day, the king's gardener heard that his friends were going out to the city and wanted to join, but he knew he had to water the trees that had been planted very recently. But then the gardener remembered that the king had a tribe of monkeys living in the garden, so he went to them and confronted the chief monkey. After giving him instructions to water the trees, he left for the city with his friends. The monkeys began watering the trees just like the gardener had told them, but weren't sure how much to water each tree. So the chief monkey told them to pull out each tree and add more water if the roots were long, and less water if the roots were short. The next day the gardener came back, and all the trees were dead.
The Cunning Wolf:
This story is about a group of people that go camping and run out of food. When this happens, one man from the groups decides that he can trick the animals by playing dead, and when a group of animals finds him, he will attack when they come to get his "dead" body. He went to the area of land by a river and laid down. When a group of animals arrived and saw his body, the chief of the wolves told the others that he thought the man might have been playing a trick on them. The wolf went towards the man and began pulling at the man's walking stick. When this happened the man held on to the stick and then the wolf called him out for playing dead. When the man sprang to his feet to try to attack, all the animals had run off.
The Wood Pecker and the Lion:
This story is about a lion who while finishing his meal, gets a bone stuck in his throat. While he was roaring in pain, a nearby woodpecker came over to ask him what was wrong. The lion told her and the woodpecker said that she was small enough to fit in his mouth and get the bone out, but was worried about the lion chomping down on her. The lion said he would not and told the woodpecker to help. The woodpecker agreed to help, but placed a stick in the lions mouth to keep him from chomping down. Once the woodpecker had removed the bone, she started to fly out of the mouth of the beast and accidentally struck the stick allowing the lion to close his mouth. The lion kept his mouth wide open though and allowed for the woodpecker to return to safety.
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| Lion roaring in the moonlight credit: Good Free Photos |
The Otters and the Wolf:
A couple of otters were hungry one day and only had one fish. They decided to split it in half but could not decide who got which half. They both wanted the half with the head on it. A wolf came across them arguing and they spotted him, and asked him to settle their debate for them. The wolf proceeded to cut off the head, gave it to one otter, cut off the tail, gave it to the other otter, and finally took the middle portion of the fish for himself. The otters were upset but the wolf said that it was payment for his services.
How the Monkey Saved his Troop:
A king had been surprised by his fishermen one day with a strange new fruit that was discovered to be a mango. When he asked his foresters where the mango tree grows, they gathered a small group of men, and went out to find them. Once they found the tree, the King had them collect as many mangos as they could that day, and then told them that they would rest during the night, and collect more in the morning before returning home. When they had fallen asleep, a tribe of monkeys that lived in trees near the mango trees came upon the group of men and realized what they were doing. The chief monkey knew that they had to escape, but the only way out was the ground, or so he thought. In their loudness, they ended up waking the king, and he told his archers to wait for the monkeys to come out of the trees and on to the ground and then they would shoot them and the king would be able to have monkey meat and mangos to bring back. The monkeys knew that they were going to die unless the chief could find a way out of it. There were two trees that stood on either side of the river, but were too far apart to have every monkey safely jump across. The king told his tribe that he would get ALL of them to safety, and decided that if he hung on one tree with his feet, and the other tree with his hands, he could make a bridge for the entire tribe to get across safely. Once he had done so, he called for all his monkeys to hurry across, and each monkey was able to make it over the river successfully. The king saw this act of heroism and promised that he would make sure that the chief monkey would never be harmed in his life.
Bibliography: Ellen C. Babbitt, The Jakata Tales, Jakata Tales Babbitt
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