Extra Reading Extra Credit Week 14

Big surprise that I wanted to read more Jataka stories! I love the Jataka stories. They are still my favorite out of all the stories I have read in this class.

Forest Fire Story

The Forest Fire

I love this story because I drew the moral of the story to be that if you are strong and confident in what you do and believe in yourself, you can do almost anything. The little bird was born weaker than his brothers and sisters in the nest. So one day when the big forest fire came, he was left in the nest because he was unable to fly away. Instead of being scared, he just faced the fire and told it that it had no business here. The fire then turned away and the little bird was safe and lived happily ever after.

The Noble Horse

I liked this story because I think it teaches an important messaged about perseverance and also mercy. The horse sacrificed himself for the good of the kingdom even though he knew it would result in his ultimate death. That was inspiring to me. Also, when he is dying he tells the king that they should not kill all of the enemy but instead show mercy and allow them to return home promising that they will never return again.

The Noble Horse
Source: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.39000000078449;view=2up;seq=152

Extra Credit Reading - Reading Notes (Shibi)

Pashu; Animal Tales from Hindu Mythology. Devdutt Pattanaik. (2014)

Shibi

In this story there is a dove who is flying around one day when a hawk tries to kill it and eat it. The dove cries out to Shibi and begs Shibi to save him. Shibi does because he pities the dove however after the dove flies free the hawk is left without his meal. The hawk explains this to Shibi and asks what he should eat now. Shibi tells him to eat a different dove, the hawk asks him how that is fair. It isn't fair to the dove who was chosen instead of the one who was spared and it also isn't fair for the hawk not to eat and for him and his children to starve. Shibi then suggests that he eat a rat and the hawk counters again asking how that is fair for the rat. Shibi finally tells the hawk that he can have his own flesh of equal weight to the dove that was spared. When they weighed the dove however, it weighed more than Shibi so they couldn't do this either. It was then that the hawk explained to him that nature shouldn't be messed with. All animals have been equipped with adequate abilities and the strongest and smartest will survive. I really liked this story because I think it had a really important message, I have to remind myself of this lesson often because I tend to pity the victim even though it's just the cycle of life.

Shibi weighing himself, even though it appears that he weighs more than the dove (in the story the dove weighs more
Source: Wikipedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kindness_of_Shibi.jpg