Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)
Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair
Year: 1939
Online Source
The Monkey-Bridge
I liked this retelling of this story a lot. It had a lot more detail than the other story, and I like how the foresight of the monkey chief is explained with more detail about not allowing the fruit to fall and the precautions they needed to take. The moral was made a lot more obvious in this one by having the Chief sit down with the king and have a very explicit conversation of "rule with love not power"
The Guilty Dogs
A pretty simple, happy story, again about a loyal and smart chief of animals who was able to impress a king and save his tribe
Banyan
I like this one. There are two tribes of deer in the woods that keep getting wounded and killed for the king. Finally they decide to just sacrifice themselves to prevent the useless injuries, but then one day it's a young mother's turn but she doesn't want to leave her child so one of the chief's goes in her place and the king is moved by pity and the deer gets him to say he'll spare all deer and other 4 footed creatures and also birds and also fish. Not sure why he pushes for all of that but it does work out
The Tortoise and the Geese
This is another one where the lesson is made extremely obvious. Always seems to be with animals and kings. This one is a bit sadder than the first version I read though, because instead of him being warned and unable to help himself from bragging anyway, this time he's getting made fun of and gets mad
The Fairy and the Hare
Interesting. Several animals decided to be generous and give away the food they gathered instead of eating it but the hare decided to just sacrifice itself? And then a fairy tested them and since the rabbit was willing to sacrifice itself she drew the picture of it on the moon bc that makes sense
The Golden Feathers
This was so much sadder than the original and the original was sad! This time the goose was the family's husband trying to find them fortune and they mistreated him and took advantage of him and finally he was able to escape and go live with other birds and the family never even learned how horrible they were although they did lose the golden feathers
The Young Parrot
Sad that none of the other parrots stayed to help him when he was trapped, but a happy ending nonetheless. I don't understand why he was so cryptic in his response though, saying "A duty I fulfill each day, A treasure do I store away" because that definitely makes him sound guilty
The Empty Lake
This one's strange and doesn't fit with the others and there a King and Queen of Thunder and Rain and they make it fill up a dry lake and that's about it
The Swan Kingdom
This king put in a lot of work to make a beautiful lake to entice some swans. Reminds me of the Mahabharata when they build the glass palace to outdo the Pandevas.
The Master's Test
This one's really short but I like it. It's a reminder to yourself about your conscience, knowing that even when no one else is watching and you can get away with something, your self is still watching.
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)
Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair
Year: 1939
Online Source
The Monkey-Bridge
I liked this retelling of this story a lot. It had a lot more detail than the other story, and I like how the foresight of the monkey chief is explained with more detail about not allowing the fruit to fall and the precautions they needed to take. The moral was made a lot more obvious in this one by having the Chief sit down with the king and have a very explicit conversation of "rule with love not power"
The Guilty Dogs
A pretty simple, happy story, again about a loyal and smart chief of animals who was able to impress a king and save his tribe
Banyan
I like this one. There are two tribes of deer in the woods that keep getting wounded and killed for the king. Finally they decide to just sacrifice themselves to prevent the useless injuries, but then one day it's a young mother's turn but she doesn't want to leave her child so one of the chief's goes in her place and the king is moved by pity and the deer gets him to say he'll spare all deer and other 4 footed creatures and also birds and also fish. Not sure why he pushes for all of that but it does work out
The Tortoise and the Geese
This is another one where the lesson is made extremely obvious. Always seems to be with animals and kings. This one is a bit sadder than the first version I read though, because instead of him being warned and unable to help himself from bragging anyway, this time he's getting made fun of and gets mad
The Fairy and the Hare
Interesting. Several animals decided to be generous and give away the food they gathered instead of eating it but the hare decided to just sacrifice itself? And then a fairy tested them and since the rabbit was willing to sacrifice itself she drew the picture of it on the moon bc that makes sense
The Golden Feathers
This was so much sadder than the original and the original was sad! This time the goose was the family's husband trying to find them fortune and they mistreated him and took advantage of him and finally he was able to escape and go live with other birds and the family never even learned how horrible they were although they did lose the golden feathers
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| The Golden Feathers turning white (Amazon) |
The Young Parrot
Sad that none of the other parrots stayed to help him when he was trapped, but a happy ending nonetheless. I don't understand why he was so cryptic in his response though, saying "A duty I fulfill each day, A treasure do I store away" because that definitely makes him sound guilty
The Empty Lake
This one's strange and doesn't fit with the others and there a King and Queen of Thunder and Rain and they make it fill up a dry lake and that's about it
The Swan Kingdom
This king put in a lot of work to make a beautiful lake to entice some swans. Reminds me of the Mahabharata when they build the glass palace to outdo the Pandevas.
The Master's Test
This one's really short but I like it. It's a reminder to yourself about your conscience, knowing that even when no one else is watching and you can get away with something, your self is still watching.
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