The Grateful Elephant and Other Stories Translated from the Pali
Loading...
Authors
Burlingame, Eugene Watson
Issue Date
1923
Volume
Issue
Type
Book, Whole
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Formerly in the Belmont High School Library. The twenty-six stories here are selected from the author's Buddhist Parables from Yale in 1922. A beginning T of C points out that for several stories there is both a canonical version and an uncanonical version. The T of C is followed by a list of the book's ten full-page illustrations. Of these, only the frontispiece is colored. A quick look at titles suggests the tenor of the stories: The Grateful Elephant; Grateful Animals and Ungrateful Man'; Antelope, Woodpecker, Tortoise, and Hunter; A Buddhist Tar-Baby; Blind Men and Elephant; How Not to Hit an Insect; Monkey-Gardeners; and Two Caravan Leaders. An introduction says that the Buddha often used parables, similes, fables, and other stories. Eleven of those related here belong to the oldest verifiable layer -- from about 250 BCE -- and many of them may come from the Buddha himself. The rest, except for the last two, come from the Jataka Book from soon after 400 CE. In the older canonical versions of several of these Jatakas, the future Buddha is not even mentioned. The introduction offers copious comparisons with later tales, including the Panchatantra, Aesop's fables and Grimms' fairy tales. Notes on the Illustrations explain each illustration quite copiously. Story #3, Elephant and Forester (19), may be particularly graphic: Buddha in the form of an elephant gives an ungrateful man first part and then all of his tusks in bloody operations. The earth opens and consigns the man to hell. Story #7, Antelope and Hunter, is the familiar story from Kalila and Dimna, in which several animal companions work together to outwit a hunter. A key story seems to be #8, Brahmadatta and Mallika (52). It is an object lesson in overcoming evil with good. The sub-title of Blind Men and Elpahant (79) is Avoid vain wrangling. Story #15, A Buddhist Henny-Penny (92), is about the earth collapsing rather than the sky falling.
Description
Citation
Publisher
Yale University Press
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
Identifier
9898 (Access ID)