Reading Notes: Jatakas Anthology - Two Turtle Jatakas

My favorite Jatakas Anthology is about the two turtles. The turtle stories are really two separate story that involves one where the turtle is tricky and avoids death, while the other one the turtle was foolish and died. The things that really stood out to me was how stark the stories are and how close they correlate with real stories of people. For example, the story of the turtle and the geese was kind of like an Aesop's fable about keeping one's mouth shut. The story portrayed an instance where a turtle became such good friends with a pair of geese that he was going to fly away with them. The only postulate for flying away with the geese was that the turtle must keep his mouth shut. The mentioning of the keeping the mouth shut is important as it seems to be commentating on a real life instance where keeping one's mouth shut is necessary to preserve life and stay healthy. The idea of keeping the mouth shut juxtaposes with the first story of the turtle who because he opened his mouth was able to preserve his life.

https://sites.google.com/view/jatakas/turtle

Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt


The image was taken from Mainlesson