Extra Credit Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, Part A
Character Charting
In the short stories of the Jataka Tales, there were similar traits the characters from the stories shared with each other.
Greatest Strength: Cleverness
In "The Monkey and The Crocodile", the greatest strength was the Monkey's cleverness which saves his life. If he was not clever he would have died.
In "How The Turtle Saved His Own Life", the turtle was also clever and used that to save his life as well. He tricked the people into throwing him back into the lake.
The second merchant of Seri knew the value of the gold bowl and was able to take advantage of that and was not greedy, so he lived a comfortable life after that. I'm not sure if this is cleverness, but he was clever to take up the deal.
Greatest Weakness: Foolishness
In"The Turtle Who Could Not Stop Talking", the turtle was acting like a fool and could not keep his mouth shut when people were talking about him.
In "Sandy Road" the merchants expected to reach the next city the next day so they threw out all their wood and water. That was foolish. The driver also fell asleep at the wheel while driving that night and they ended up where they start the night before, this time with no water.
In the "Quarrel of the Quails", the quails were acting foolishly by not working together when they were captured. Their lives were at risk and they still acted pettily.
In the "Measure of Rice", the king was both foolish and greedy to let go of his good price setter for one that did not know prices. He was foolish to think he would get away with it.
In the final story, "The Foolish Rabbit", it is actually in the title, that the rabbit is foolish.
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