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Reading Notes Week 11: Jataka Tales A

The story that I enjoyed the most was the story of The Axe, the Bowl, the Drum, and the Diamond. It has a lot of things that I have always enjoyed. It has Castaway elements, a flying pig and even some Lord of the Flies in there, except I hated lord of the flies.

To start off the story we have a character that gets stranded on an island. Typical for most stories that start in the ocean, but all of a sudden he sees something without wings flying toward him. It creates new meaning to the phrase "when pigs fly." I had always pictured a flying pig to be majestic and cute with these huge angel wings, but this pig is not like that all. It has no wings and is large and has tusks. Far from cute. The next part I am a little confused about. The pig does not even see the man on the island. He lands and basically goes straight to bed. I guess the man was hiding and then is brave enough to creep on the pig as it is sleeping. That is how he discovers the magical diamond. The next part made me a little bit mad.

After this he takes the diamond an discovers its power. At first it seemed harmless because it was a beautiful diamond, but he did steal it and then proceeded to kill the pig. The story says the pig was not a nice person though but I do not think the man knew that so I do not think it justifies it. It is still murder.

The next three parts of the story is how he acquired the other magical objects like the bowl, axe, and drum. Personally the bowl was my favorite because free food! I am not trying to kill anyone so I do not really need the others. He continues to kill these evil people, but I am not sure how I feel about it. He even kills an evil king. I am not sure this man is doing these things for the right reason though. He still took all of the magical object and used them for his own advantage, so I am a little torn.
(Flying with the Diamond. Source: Blogspot)

Bibliography: Jatakas, Panchatantra, and Other Fables from India

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