Reading Notes: Babbitt Jataka Part B
the tales of the
ELEPHANTS
the two tales that caught my attention most when reading were
...drumroll...
The King's White Elephant
This story most interested me initially because of the name. "White Elephant" to me is a gift party. So even though I thought it was highly unlikely, I thought maybe, just maybe, it would be about this. Unfortunately it was ABOUT AN ELEPHANT THAT LOSES ITS CHILD. Like what??? It's about this elephant that gets saved by these workers to the elephant is like dang I need to repay them so he works for them. And then he's like ok ok I need to get my son in on this so he can learn. SO HE BRINGS HIS SON WHO'S WHITE AND HE PLAYS WITH THE CHILDREN AND THE KING TAKES HIM. Like I get the humans saved the dad. But what??? They take his son??? He'll never get to see his son again. I utterly don't understand the message but I found the story really interesting as I prepare for the heartbreak of the new Dumbo movie.
The Elephant Girly-Face
So this story got me again with the elephants. Got to love them. I am very excited about this new Dumbo movie. I was raised on Dumbo and the whole existence of a movie with Danny Devito and Collin Farrell is going to get me there singlehandedly. ANYWAYS. So this story is about an elephant who is super chill so they call him Girly-face. But apparently they think elephants are just idiots because he learns from these robbers that he needs to be evil. But then his wise dude says he just needs to hear from better people? So then good people come and talk around him and he stops killing people? Overall not understanding the jatakas as I feel the cultural context is sort of lost on me but this one got me.
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author's note
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bibliography
Ellen C. Babbitt
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image
(Pixabay)
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