Jataka tales

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Bhutanese painted thangka of the Jataka Tales, 18th-19th Century, Phajoding Gonpa, Thimphu, Bhutan

The canonical book itself comprises 547 poems, arranged roughly by increasing number of verses. According to Professor von Hinüber,^[1] only the last 50 were intended to be intelligible by themselves, without commentary. The commentary gives stories in prose that it claims provide the context for the verses, and it is these stories that are of interest to folklorists. Alternative versions of some of the stories can be found in another book of the Pali Canon, the Cariyapitaka, and a number of individual stories can be found scattered around other books of the Canon.

Many of the stories found in the Jataka have been found in numerous other languages and media — many of them being translations from the Pali but others are instead derived from vernacular traditions prior to the Pali compositions^{[citation needed]}. Sanskrit (see for example the Jatakamala) and TibetanJataka stories tend to maintain the Buddhist morality of their Pali equivalents, but re-tellings of the stories in Persian and other languages sometimes contain significant amendments to suit their respective cultures.

Apocrypha

Within the Pali tradition, there are also many apocryphal Jatakas of later composition (some dated even to the 19th century) but these are treated as a separate category of literature from the “Official” Jataka stories that have been more-or-less formally canonized from at least the 5th century — as attested to in ample epigraphic and archaeological evidence, such as extant illustrations in bas relief from ancient temple walls. Some of the apocryphal Jatakas (in Pali) show direct appropriations from Hindu sources, with amendments to the plots to better reflect Buddhist morals.

[edit]Buddhism

In Theravada countries, several of the longer Jataka tales are still performed in dance, theatre, and formal (quasi-ritual) recitation to this day, and several are associated with particular holidays on the Lunar Calendarused by Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

[edit]Translations

The standard Pali collection of jatakas, with canonical text embedded, has been translated by E. B. Cowell and others, originally published in six volumes by Cambridge University Press, 1895-1907; reprinted in three volumes, Pali Text Society^[2], Bristol. There are also numerous translations of selections and individual stories from various languages.

Contents

• Interpreter’s Introduction
• From the Storyteller to the Reader

• King Goodness the Great[Perseverance]

King Fruitful and Queen Sivali

• Rebirth of the Bodhisattva) [chapter 1]
• Gaining Power [chapter 2]
• Giving Up Power [chapter 3]
• A Gang of Drunkards [Sobriety]
• The Whatnot Tree [Prudence]
• Prince Five-Weapons and Sticky-Hair [The Diamond Weapon]
• A Huge Lump of Gold [Moderation]
• Mr Monkey and Sir Crocodile [Good Manners]
• A Prince of Monkeys [Carefulness]
• Two Ways of Beating a Drum <[Excess]
• <Two Mothers [Renunciation]
• The Priest Who Gambled With a Life [Misguided Morality]
• The Wicked Lady and the Buttermilk Wise Man [Seduction]
• Country Man and City Wife [Adultery]
• The Wisdom of Queen Tender-hearted [Lust]
• <Wife and Mother Who Was a Sister First [An Intelligent Woman]
• The Strong-minded Snake [Determination]
• The Shovel Wise Man[Renunciation]
• The Green Wood Gatherer [Laziness]
• The Elephant King Goodness [Generosity and Ingratitude]
• Four on a Log [Gratitude]
• New Homes for the Tree Spirits [Wise Advice]
• The Fish Who Work a Miracle [Power of Truthfulness]
• The Meditating Security Guard [Fearlessness]

The Dreams

• The 16 Frightening Dreams [chapter 1]
• Roaring Bulls With No Fight [chapter 2]
• The Frightening Sound of ‘Munch, Munch, Munch’ [chapter 3]
• Teaching [chapter 4]
• Illisa the Cheap [Miserliness]
• A Motherless Son [Betrayal]
• Fear Maker and Little Archer [Self-deception]
• Forest Monks in a Kings Pleasure Garden [Pupils without Teacher]

The Curse of Mittavinda

• Jealousy [chapter 1]
• Greed [chapter 2]
• Pleasure[chapter 3]
• A Hero Named Jinx[Friendship]
• A Question From a 7-year-old [Six Worthy Ways]
• A Lesson From a Snake [The Value of Goodness]
• A Priest Who Worshipped Luck[Superstition]
• The Bull Called Delightful [All Deserve Respect]
• The Phoney Holy Man [Hypocrisy]
• <One Way Hospitality [Ingratitude]
• Poison Dice [Deception]

The Mystery of the Missing Necklace

• One Crime Leads to Another [chapter 1]
• The Mystery is Solved [chapter 2]
• The Careless Lion [Circumspection]
• The Holy Man Who Tired To Be Too Holy [Extremism]
• Clear-sighted the Great [Impermanence]

The Prince and the She-devils

• Five Meals in the Forest [chapter 1]
• A Feast in the Palace [chapter 2]
• A Man Named Bad [Self-Acceptance]
• A Man Named Wise [Cheating]
• Achieving Nothing [Nothing]
• A Mother’s Wise Advice [Non-violence]

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jataka_tales
http://www.buddhanet.net/bt_conts.htm

Seven Wise Masters

(“The Book of Sindbad”), a cycle of stories, presumably Indian in origin, that made its way through Middle Persian and Arabic into Western lore. In the frame story, an Oriental king entrusted the education of his son to a wise tutor named Sindbad (not to be confused with the sailor of The Thousandand One Nights). During a week when the prince was ordered by Sindbad to maintain silence, his stepmother tried to seduce him. Having failed, she tried to accuse the prince before the king and sought to bring about his death by relating seven stories. Each of her narratives, however, was confuted by seven sages, who in turn told tales of the craft of women. The prince’s lips were at last unsealed and the truth was exposed.

The oldest surviving text of the story is in Middle Arabic and is included in The Thousand and One Nights (nights 578–606 in Sir Richard Burton’s translation, vol. 6, 1886). The Arabic text gave rise to Hebrew, Syrian, and Spanish translations (13th century); the Greek version (11th century) is derived from the Syrian. Of the Persian versions the most important is that of al-Samarqandī (12th century). The tales entered Latin via the Greek version, in the 12th century, under the title Dolopathos, which was translated into French. The German, English, French, and Spanish chapbooks of the cycle are generally based on a Latin original.

The history of the seven masters of Rome, which had been published before the Reformation, was issued in a revised version in 1576 as a moral story for the ignorant, in the belief that ‘pleasing allurements of tales and fables’ would help their souls become ‘quicker sighted’. In the story the emperor (signifying the world) has one son (man) and tries to bring him up well, but the son loses his mother (‘reason or divine grace’) and falls into the hand of his bewitching wicked stepmother (sin). A star from heaven warns the son to avoid sin, and he is also given advice by the seven wise masters of the title, who represents the seven liberal sciences; as a result he defeats sin and wins a rich crown of glory and happiness. Readers were told that if they made right use of this moral, it would provide a rich banquet to their souls. The elements of fairy story, the parallels with romantic works like Richard Johnson’s The seven champions of Christendome (and later Thomas Howard’s History of the seven wise mistresses of Rome), and its publication in black-letter type, with ‘many pretty pictures’ in later editions, all perhaps help to explain the enduring popularity of this work, which had reached its twenty-fifth edition by 1700. In 1673, when Francis Kirkman was describing the purchases of a fictitious son of a London merchant, the Seven wise masters  was the second book mentioned. In Ireland too, he said in the preface to another work, the Seven wise masters was used as a first reading book for children, and many were said to have learnt to read well as a result. ‘so great is the pleasure that young and old take in the reading thereof’. 

Source:
Seven Wise Masters. (2009). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 29, 2009, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/536547/Seven-Wise-Masters

I. M. Green. (2000). In Print and Protestantism in early modern England. (chapter 7 section vi p. 421). Retrieved July 29, 2009 from http://books.google.com/books?id=G9YIlrlacgMC&pg=PT444&lpg=PT444&dq=Seven+Wise+Masters+moral&source=bl&ots=xvEfM3yKRV&sig=X2sUeXllddV6VcvBFBnoe9zIW-M&hl=en&ei=ud5vSve3No6BkQWh1rzJBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1 

Hitopadesha Tales

The Hitopadesha is a remarkable compilation of short stories. Composed by Narayana Pandit, Hitopadesha had its origin around a thousand years ago. In Indian Literature, the Hitopadesha is regarded more or less similar to the Panchatantra. In the vein of Panchatantra, the Hitopadesa was also written in Sanskrit and following the pattern of prose and verse. Hitopadesh tales are written in reader-friendly way, which also contributed to the success of this best seller after ‘Bhagwad Gita’ in India. Since its origin, Hitopadesa has been translated into numerous languages to benefit the readers all over the world.

The term ‘Hitopadesha’ is a joint effort of two terms, ‘Hita’ (welfare/ benefit) and ‘Upadesha’ (advice/ counsel). As the term suggests, the Hitopadesha is a collection of tales that counsel and advice for the welfare and benefit of everyone. Imparting morals and knowledge, Hitopadesha is one amongst the most widely read Sanskrit book in India. The Hitopadesh is still very much popular children story book that actually help them to develop into responsible and mature adults. Here are provided some popular stories from Hitopadesha. 

Old Tiger and Greedy Traveller
This is another interesting story / tale from the Hitopadesha collection. Once upon a time, there lived a Tiger in a forest. With the passing years, he became too old to hunt. One day, the Tiger was walking by the side of a lake and suddenly, a gold bangle came across his sight. Quickly he picked up the bangle and thought that he could use it as an allure to catch someone. As he was under the thought process, a traveler happened to pass through the opposite side of the lake. 

Blind Vulture
The Blind Vulture is one of the most interesting stories/ tales from the collection of Hitopadesha Tales. Once upon a time, there was a hill that sloped down to the banks of a river. At the bottom of the hill, there was a tree which made the shelter for many birds. One day, a blind old Vulture came to live in the hollow of the tree. The birds welcomed the blind vulture and decided to give him a share of their food since he was old. 

Elephant and Jackal
This is a nice tale / story from the collection of Hitopadesha Tales. Once upon a time, there lived an Elephant by the name of Karpuratilaka in a forest. He was brutal and haughty by nature. He used to roam in the forest without restraint. All the animals of the forest were afraid of this wild Elephant. Without any purpose, he used to pull down the trees and ripped the branches. In this way, he destroyed innumerable nests with eggs and crushed the nestlings under his massive feet.

Birds and Shivering Monkeys
This is another interesting tale/ story from the collection of Hitopadesha Tales. Once upon a time, there was a huge tree on the banks of a river. The tree made a comfortable home for the family of birds who had built their nests on its branch. The birds were living there happily as the tree with its widespread branches sheltered them from scorching sun and heavy rains.

Rabbits and the Elephants
This is another nice story from the Hitopadesha collection. Once upon a time, there lived a herd of Elephants in a forest. A mighty Elephant by the name of Chaturdanta was their king. There was a big lake in the middle of the forest where all the animals used to go to drink water and to take a bath. Once it so happened, that there was no rain for the whole year and the lake dried up. Many of the birds and the animals died of thirst. The Elephants got worried that if they didn’t get water soon many of them would die of thirst. 

Sages Daughter
It is another interesting story / tale from the Hitopadesha album. Once upon a time, there lived a Sage on the banks of a river. The sage and his wife didn’t bear any children. They were unhappy about this fact of their life. One day, when the sage was engaged in penance, a kite dropped a she-mouse and it happened to fall in the lap of the Sage. The Sage thought that the God might have sent this mouse to him. He thought that if he would take the mouse to his home, people would laugh at him. So he decided to change the mouse into a girl. 

Beware of Mean Friends
This is one more interesting story from the Hitopadesha Tales. Once upon a time, there lived a Lion by the name of Madotkata in a forest. Among his followers, a Jackal, a Crow and a Wolf had developed friendship with him. However, all the three had a selfish motive behind this so-called friendship. They knew that the Lion was the King of the forest and friendship with such fierce creature would always help them. To meet their selfish ends, they started obeying and were always available at the service of the Lion. 

Jackal and Arrow
This is another nice story/ tale from the collection of Hitopadesha Tales. Once upon a time, there lived a hunter in a village. He was living there happily with his family. One fine morning, he set out from his home with the intention of hunting a deer in the nearby forest. It was a fortunate day as he saw a deer and killed him instantly. He hung the carcass of the deer over his shoulder and happily started for his home. 

Washerman Donkey and Dog
This is another interesting story / tale from the Hitopadesha Collection. Once upon a time, there lived a Washerman in a village. He had kept a donkey and a dog to serve as his pets. The Dog used to guard his master’s house and escort him wherever he went. The Donkey used to carry stack of clothes on his back to and fro the river. Both of them slept in the washerman’s courtyard. Like this, they were leading their life under the kind shelter of the Washerman.

Monkey and Bell
This is another nice story from the collection of Hitopadesha Tales/ Stories. Once upon a time, there lived a robber in a village. One day, he stole a temple bell and ran towards the forest. A Tiger heard the jingle of the bell and became curious to locate the sound. As soon as, he saw the robber, he jumped upon him and killed him at once. The bell fell on the ground. After a few days, a group of monkeys passed through that way. They spotted the bell and carried it to their home.

Source: http://www.culturalindia.net/indian-folktales/hitopadesha-tales/index.html