Reading Notes: Jakata Tales, Part A

How the Turtle Saved His Own Life, by E. C. Babbitt

  • A classical story about how a non-human character, namingly a turtle, outwitted his/her human counterpart in benefit of itself
    • Includes instance of royalty, mainly to underscore that even one of the most powerful and important humans can fall for such trickery and ignorance
    • Usage of easy to understand, modern language 
    • Underlines faults of human thinking, such as ignorance and being gullible
  • Again, usage of non-human characters but this time, story is not directly influenced in the story, but instead as accompanying and emphasizing components to the the story between the geese and the turtle
  • Contrary to the first story, the Turtle here is depicted as the ones with fault
    • Fault: talking too much, even in inappropriate situation that is emphasized as life-threatening
    • Usage of the village children almost like the narrators to depict the theme of the story, "That fellow could not keep his mouth shut. He had to talk, and so he lost his life."
  • Instead of deceit and wit, here the story depicted more of a dynamic relationship between animal and man, where the ox-master treated his ox with kindness, but when he treated the ox differently, the ox did not return the favor.
    • Showed another human fault, where we are always boastful and act unaccordingly depending on the environment that we are in.
    • There are usage of clear, English dialogue between the animal and the human, which is a common scenario in many Jatakas.

(The Owner Whipping His Ox. Source: Gateway Classics)

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