151 Jataka Tales

Once, a queen was childless. She prayed for a child and her wish got fulfilled. Once, the prince heard his father giving a harsh punishment to some men. The prince was disturbed, as he did not want to punish anyone. He decided never to become a king. But, he needed a way to avoid being

A dog was very loyal to his master. His master was also very happy with him. But, his master noticed that his dog went away somewhere in the night and came back in the morning all wet. The master decided to follow his dog one night. He discovered that his dog swam across a river

Once, a king was out in his chariot. His chariot was drawn by two white horses with fine leather straps. When he came back, nobody bothered to unfasten the fine leather straps. The king’s royal dogs chewed on the leather straps. The next day, a servant told the king that some stray dogs had chewed

Long ago, a learned Brahmin had a son. The Brahmin sent his son to a hermitage for education. One day, the teacher decided to test the students. He told them, “I am very poor. I need money. The best way to get money is to steal it.” All the students, except the Brahmin’s son, started

An ascetic was a royal guest of a king. He stayed in the royal park and spent time in meditation. Now the king had a son. The son was ill-tempered. The king had called many teachers to reform his son but they had all given up. The king requested the ascetic to help him. One

Once, there were eight siblings. The eldest, a boy, mastered all the religious books and teachings. He became very famous for his profound knowledge. He renounced the world and became an ascetic. His siblings followed his footsteps. They started dwelling in a forest. The ascetics used to eat lotus stalks for food. They became renowned

There were two kings. One was very kind and the other was very cruel. The kind king’s kingdom flourished partly due to his kindness and partly due to the presence of a Naga serpent. The cruel king’s kingdom did not prosper at all. As a result, people starting leaving their kingdom and went to the

Once, a wicked prince was swept away by a storm. A rat, a snake and a parrot were also swept away. They found a log and climbed on it. A sage saw that and saved them. He comforted the the rat, the parrot and the snake first and then came to the prince. The prince

A kingdom was ruled by a very just and kind king. One day, the king went around his kingdom in disguise to see how the people were faring under his rule. While moving around, he came to a hermitage. An ascetic saw him and offered him some figs. The king found the figs very sweet

A king had no son though he had sixteen thousand queens. Seeing his pain, one of the queens performed severe penances. God granted her two sons – one wise but ugly and the other foolish but handsome. When the ugly prince came of age, his parents thought of marrying him off. They found a very

Once, there lived a wise man in a village of just thirty families. The wise man taught all that was good and noble. As a result, the village became crime-free. However, the village headman was unhappy. Earlier, when crimes occurred, he used to punish people, collect fines, etc. But it was all over now. So,

Long ago, there lived a rich merchant. He was very wise and honest. One day, he died and left all he had earned for his son. The rich merchant, due to his kind deeds, became a divine being in heaven. Now, the son was a scoundrel. He squandered away all the wealth in gambling and

Once, a king saw some terrible dream. He was very upset after this and could not sleep. The next day, he called his royal priest and told him about his dream. The priest told him that the dream was a bad omen. It meant something was about to happen to the king or the kingdom.

Once, a king was very lazy. He never worked and spent his entire time resting and sleeping. He never looked into the welfare of the people. The people of his kingdom grew restless because of this. Now, the king had a wise minister. He knew that it would be useless to tell the king to