Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales Part A

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The Girl Monkey and the String of Pearls
I found this story very endearing; I love how the monkeys are personified. Humans and animals often interact in the Jataka tales as if all living creatures are equals sharing the earth, which is an intriguing dynamic. And who knew monkeys could love pearls as much as a human?

-The palace royalty go down to the lake for a swim
-The Queen leaves her jewels with a servant in the garden
-A girl monkey waits until the servant has fallen asleep and steals the pearls
-The chief guard plays a trick to find out which monkey stole the pearls
-Hangs strings of glass beads in the garden
-All the girl monkeys rush to get to the beads except for the monkey with the pearls
-In the end, her ego gets the best of her
-As she brags to the other girl monkeys about her pearls being more beautiful than their glass beads, she reveals herself as the thief

The Otters and the Wolf
-The animals in the title initially led me to believe that the wolf would be going after the otters as prey
-The otters catch a fish and are unable to decide how to divide it between themselves
-The wolf settles the otters' dispute, and is paid for his work by taking part of the fish with him
-A beautiful phrase: "Lord of the gray-grass color"

Story Idea: Attorney Wolf
-The wolf seemed to me to almost act as a lawyer arranging a settlement
-The animals of the Jataka tales are already personified; why not give them human occupations?
-Perhaps the otters are a squabbling couple and are in need of a divorce settlement
-Or in a cheerier version, they seek couples therapy from therapist wolf
Monkeying around. Source: Wikimedia Commons

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Bibliography:

Babbitt, Ellen C. More Jataka tales. 1992. http://iereadingguides.blogspot.com/2015/05/free-book-babbit-jataka-tales-and-more.html

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