151 Jataka Tales

Long ago, trees could talk. One day, they were having an angry discussion. A fir tree said, “All the animals come and rest under us and dirty the area.” The pine tree said angrily, “Let us teach them a lesson that they will not forget!” A wise old banyan tree said, “Calm down, my friend.

Once, a man overheard another man saying, “A man can build a fortune even from such small beginnings as this dead mouse.” Now, this man was none other than the king’s adviser. The man decided to act on his words. He picked the mouse that the adviser pointed to. As soon as he picked the

A rich old man had a son whom he loved very much. One day, the old man died. The old man’s wise friend told the son, “Your father buried his wealth deep in the forest. Only your servant knows its location.” The son took the servant with him to bring the wealth. When they reached

Once, a kind white elephant lived in a forest. Now, in that forest entered a man looking for riches. But he lost his way. The elephant came to his rescue. The man was relieved. But he was very greedy. He saw the elephant’s tusks and lied, “I am very poor. Can I take your tusk

A priest, who performed the royal ceremonies in a kingdom, passed away. His young son became the priest. Now, the festival of elephants was fast approaching, so the other priests went to the king and said, “Your Majesty, the priest in-charge is too young to perform the ceremony. Let us handle the ceremony.” The king

An elephant king had six tusks. He had two wives. One day, the elephant, by accident, hit a tree with his trunk. In the process, flowers fell on the first wife and red ants fell on the second wife. The second wife thought the elephant loved the first wife more. She left her husband forever.

Long ago, there was a flock of geese led by a wise leader. A king, impressed by the wise goose, became its friend. They used to meet every day and talk of many things. Now, one day, two young geese got into an argument as to who was the faster. They decided to race against

Once, two fish lived in separate rivers. They both were pretty. One day, by chance, they met each other. The first fish said, “Hello! I think you come from another river as I have never seen you before.” The second fish replied, “Yes, I live in another river.” After introducing themselves, the fish started talking.

A parrot used to live on a fig tree. He loved the figs and enjoyed living on the tree. Time passed by. After several years, the fig tree stopped bearing fruit. It had become old now. The parrot felt sad but did not leave the tree. God saw this. He disguised himself as a bird

A large number of monkeys lived together with their leader. One day, it was very hot and the monkeys were very thirsty. They found a lake which was very beautiful. The monkeys were very happy and decided to jump into the lake. But before they could do so, their leader stopped them. He warned them,

Once, a hare was resting under a tree when a thought occurred to him, ‘What if the earth gets destroyed? What would happen to me?’ Suddenly, a big fruit fell from the tree with a thud. The hare thought, ‘The earth is falling apart.’ Without looking back, he started running out of fear. Another hare

A king’s chief priest was respected by everyone. The priest thought, “Am I respected because of my birth or my knowledge or my goodness?” He decided to find out. He went to the royal coin maker and picked up a coin. The coin maker did not say anything. The priest repeated this thrice. The third

There was a sailor who loved exploring new lands. One day, he came upon a beautiful island. This island had delicious fruits. The sailor enjoyed himself but his greed for more made him sail away. Next, he reached a land which was full of good food and wine. The sailor spent some days there but

Once, an ascetic found a lotus flower larger than its actual size. He had a doubt that something was in the flower. He found a baby in a lotus flower. The ascetic tended her as his daughter. She became very beautiful over the years. Rumours of her beauty spread far. A king came to seek