A Wise Ape Teaches Kindness: A Jataka Tale
Loading...
Authors
Kassof, Andrea
Āryaśūra
Issue Date
1999
Type
Book, Whole
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
The art here has a heavy accent on pleasing colors presented in a flat, two-dimensional felt-board style. I find it attractive. A kind ape is ready to help the smaller creatures in any way that he can. A farmer falls from a fruit tree near a waterfall. After some days in a pit, he is weak and hungry. The ape happens by and takes pity on the man. He carries him out of the pit on his back and then lies down exhausted and asks the man to watch out for them both. Once the ape is asleep, the man gives in to the desire to eat the monkey's flesh; he throws a stone down on him to kill him. But the man is so weak that the stone does not kill the ape. The ape awakens with pain to comprehend the scene. When he does, he weeps--for the man rather than for himself. He tells the man that now no one, not even the ape himself, has the power to erase the man's misdeed. In kind fashion, he guides the man safely to the edge of the forest. Very soon the man breaks out into sores, and people fear him and drive him away with stones. After some time, this wretched man meets a king in the wilderness and teaches him to be kind to his friends. This is one of many booklets in the Jataka Tales Series that I purchased directly from the publisher.
Description
Citation
Publisher
Dharma Press