Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

For this week’s reading assignment, the stories that grabbed my attention the most was from the “Jataka Tales,” in which both stories were written by Ellen C. Babbitt from the versions in Jataka Tales. In one story “The Turtle and the King,” the turtle acts wisely, whereas in the other story “The turtle and the Geese,” the turtle acts foolishly. Both stories were written fairly short and simple, getting straight to the point. I think that the author wrote the stories to teach the reader or listener certain life lessons. 

Furthermore, in first story about the wise turtle, the author writes about how a king desires to punish a turtle by throwing it into the lake where it flows out over the rocks and into the river, as the king had always feared of the water. I think that this was quite funny because as a king, he should’ve known that by throwing the turtle into the river, the chances of him dying from drowning would be zero since he lives in water. Still, the turtle was really smart in the fact that he only popped his head out of his shell after the king declared his idea because he knew that he would survive the king’s punishment and not the others. I think that something that I would change about the plot is about how the prince discovers the turtle in the lake. 

The second story about the foolish turtle was probably the one I found to be the most interesting. In a comment from the people who watched the turtle fall to death, they explained how the turtle couldn’t keep his mouth shut, in which he had to talk and lost his life in the process. If he was to have ignored the ridicule from the village children for being carried by his geese friends by a stick, then he probably would have still lived since he opened his mouth instead of grabbing hold of the stick. I think that being unable to hold your tongue at the right time can be considered to be a weakness. 

Image information: Turtle, Image Credit: Kidspot