Reading Notes: Jataka Childrens Tales

A hypocritical cat, though not so hypocritical, was too weak to hunt for mice so instead he decided that he would wait outside of their hole and stand in a weird pose. After a long enough time, the rats were curious and approached him. He stood on one foot and looked at the sun. He told the rats he worshipped the sun, and at no food. In a way, the cat posed as a deity to the rats. And so the rats worshipped him. They passed by him every day with offerings and bows, and sometimes the cat would offer life advice or words of wisdom. He managed to pick off rats one by one when the others weren’t looking till one day he was caught red handed. The king of the rats was suspicious of the cat, as his “troops” were going missing...hmmm. They caught him in the act, the rat victim jumping out of the way in time to survive. The rats were vicious and overthrew him, killing him, and eating him. What a vicious way to die...

There was a crocsdile couple that lived in the river, and a money that hung out in the trees near their underwater home. The crocodile wife wanted to eat this monry, so she sent her husband after the guy in hopes to eat the monkey for supper. The husband wasn’t so bright, and although he hatched a plan to get the monkey on his back, he still managed to fail going through with it, being tricked by the monkey in believing that his heart was a fig on a fig tree.So the crocodile believed the monkey and helped him get to his heart, which the monkey began to consume...laughing at the dumb crocodile. Suprisogly the wife didn’t seem so pissed.

(W. Robinson)

The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse with illustrations by W. Robinson, online at: Internet Archive.

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