Indian Epics

The otters and the wolf: There is a wolf couple in this story and one of them wants fresh fish. The other goes to the river to get the fish for them. At the river, an otter was catching a fish, but the fish was too big and started pulling the otter away. The otter started calling for help an a second otter went and helped the other to shore with the fish. Now ashore, they began to fight because they both wanted the half of the fish with the head on it. The wolf approached the scene now, and the otters asked him if he could help them decide. So the wolf cut the large fish into the head and tail, but also cut out the middle section. He gave the head to one, the tail to the other, and kept the middle for himself. The otters thought this was unfair but could not do anything to stop him since he was a wolf. When he got home, his mate asked him how he got the fish and he said that he got it as payment for settling a fight. Image Info: Flickr, Wolf,  Source Bibliography: Ellen C. ...

The Red Bud Tree: In this story there is a tree that everyone wants to see. The 4 princes decide that they must see the tree so one by one they have their chariot take them into the forest so they can see what is so great about the red bud tree. The first one goes and it looks dead because it has no leaves or red buds. The second one goes, and cannot figure out why it is called the red bud since it is covered in green leaves. The third one goes and cannot believe how amazing the tree with all the red buds are. The fourth one goes, and it is covered in green pods. One day they start discussing the tree and are confused by what the others saw until the king comes and explains that it was indeed the same tree, they just each went in different seasons. Image Information: Wikimedia Commons, Red Bud Tree,  source Bibliography: More Jataka Tales, Ellen C. Babbitt, 1992  Source