Reading Notes: Francis' Jataka Tales, Part A

This week, for the Part A Reading, I read the first collection of jataka tales in Francis' collection, Jataka Tales. My favorite jataka tale in this part of the book was called "The Monkey and the Ogre." I really enjoyed this jataka tale, because it includes a supernatural element with the ogres and "water-ogres." Also, the part of the story where the water-ogre manifests itself as monster was pretty cool and fantastical.

One thing I didn't like very much was that the dialogue was not offset. Instead, back and forth of dialogue was in the same compressed paragraph and it was hard to follow.

The conclusion of the story was also fantastical and cool, as the Bodhisattva does a magical trick to create hollow reeds to suck up the water and avoid the wrath of the water-ogre. I also thought that the inclusion of 80,000 monkeys at the end was a cool hyperbole to underscore the point which the jataka tale is trying to make.

Stay out of his swamp. Source.

Bibliography: Francis, H.T. Jataka Tales. Here.