Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

     Out of this week's anthology reading, the stories that stood out to me the most were the one's involving the monkey and the crocodile. I chose to take my reading notes over these two stories because they are connected, and I liked the plot twist at the end of the second monkey and crocodile story, that the crocodile was Buddha's reincarnated rival. 

The Monkey and the Crocodile Stories 

Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart, in Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock.

- Main lesson: Being happy/satisfied with what you have/being quick-witted and thinking on your feet.
    - "Enough of them, I want them not; My fig is good enough for me"

    - Wouldn't have been in danger if he hadn't wanted the fruit on the other side of the river

- Climax: When the crocodile started the sink the monkey.

- Characters:
    - Monkey
        - quick-witted
        - knows when to give up (forgetting about the fruit and settling for the figs)
        - a little boastful
    - Crocodile
        - sneaky
        - dim-witted
    - Mrs. Crocodile
        - Greedy and demanding

The Crocodile in the River, by Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka: Volume 1 translated by Robert Chalmers.

    Same plot and lesson as the Crocodile and the Monkey's Heart, but I liked how in this story they referenced the older one, and explained how the crocodile was, and is, Buddha's rival Devadatta. 

- Main lesson: same as the other story, but different virtues are being praised

    - having the virtues of truth, foresight, fixed resolve, and fearlessness

    Here is an image of Buddha's rival, Devadatta being sucked into the ground for trying to kill the Buddha, found on Wikimedia. 

(Devadatta being swallowed by the Earth, Wikimedia.)