Reading notes: Francis and Thomas. Jataka Tales Part A

You thought I was done with Jataka Tales? Of course not! I am having a blast reading these for one reason or another and you can bet I'll continue for most all of the remaining readings! One thing will be different for these notes though. I will still take more thorough notes on two or three of the tales that I have something to say, but I am going to try to be much more positive than I have been in the past. I have been rather critical of these stories thus far and no more!

The Little Gildmaster:
What a great story to start talking positively about! This little tale is wonderfully reminiscent of a kind of Tom Sawyer type of childhood bliss where you can make it through the world on wit alone. It was very entertaining to read as I grew up reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and I can only image it was a favorite of children everywhere.
One thing I really liked about the way the story was told is that it made an effort to be clever. I could easily see some tellings of this children's story passing up on the cleverness because of the intended audience. It did a very good job of making the audience feel as if they were in on the clever ruse at the right times and on the outside for the wrong times.

The Guilty Dogs:
This story is wonderful. I think the set up may be one of a my favorites so far. The "bad guy" is so clearly established, because who wouldn't hate a dog killer. Especially as a child, those being told this story knew who to hate. That being said the "villain" is redeemed by the end of the story. It teaches children forgiveness and to not blindly pass judgement. This is a great tale.
I've noticed with the stories in this book, unlike the previous Jataka tale book I read, there is less of a reverent tone towards the King or the rich. Both the stories I am writing about do this where the poor man is lifted upon them. This makes me think these stories were written by and for a poorer class than the other ones. I have no proof of this, but it seems like a reasonable assumption.

Reading Source
Image Source

Reading: The Giant crab and Other Tales Part 2

Note time! I was actually kind of happy to have an excuse to come back to this book. I quite enjoyed the first part. It really felt like reading bedtime stories albeit a bit stranger than the ones I was told. But maybe my own would look weird if I heard them outside my memory again. Once again I'll write about my thoughts on a few of the stories I read.

Birds of a Feather:
I have never heard the term skinflint before today, but I think I love it. Overall this story is pretty straight foreword. That is one of the reasons I decided to choose this one to write about. Generally, the stories I read in the previous chapters all had some bizarre and twisted message that was somewhat lost in the mix of strange metaphors and somewhat backwards sensibilities. This story however seems to translate quite well over to modern society. It appears a wonderful explanation of the birds of a feather expression and furthermore it tries to have a little bit of a message. That being said the moral of the story is a tiny bit clouded by the fact that the horse owner is expected to just kinda live with the kings evil doings, but that is definitely to be expected from the times and might even be seen more subtly in modern stories.

Spend a pound to win a penny:
Normally I would spread the writing about readings a bit more evenly, but the story directly after the previous one caught my attention so much I couldn't help but write about it. I will assume whoever reads this (if anyone besides for me really) they will have read the story.
This story has such a clear and simple moral message that I am shocked at how specific the story was. It could have been about just about anything, but they decided to choose a monkey stealing some peas. Now I bring this up because not only does it feel like a bizarre choice for the story, but it also feels a bit cheap. The story feels a bit forced in that the monkey spills all his peas to get the one? I understand that's the point of it, but my question is why is this somewhat stretch of an event the one the writer chose. I guess maybe telling this to toddler age children might help, I could see one of them doing something like that, and I get that a monkey is a cuter tale than someone with a gambling addiction, but I feel like there could be better alternatives. Maybe I'm just a jerk, I don't know.
A somewhat similar decision of a strange nature can be seen later on in the story Lacknose. The lie the boys tell about his nose growing doesn't make any sense, not only is it a lie, but even if it was the truth it doesn't feel much like flattery. Any lie could have done, but this one feels weird to me. I will admit this one could very well be a cultural difference though.


I criticize some of these stories for their logic, but honestly, part of their appeal to me is that they don't always make the most sense. I quite enjoy reading them partially because of how nonsesical they are and I wonder if that is part of the reason they are so beloved by kids. The stories are often fun and whimsical to the end.

A link to the reading!
And the image source!