The Crow and the Coin
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| Crows Crows |
To authors note: a similar story plot as The River Fish and the Monkey, including the Bodhisatta and the younger brother. however, rather than being based on the water, this story involves horses, crows, and a tree spirit. And of course gold!
A very, very long time ago during the rule of Brahmadatta over Benares, the Bodhisatta was born into a family as a farmer.
The Bodhisatta was a virtuous and successful farmer who was kind to his herds, watchful over his fields, and cared very much for his family. He enjoyed the riches of family and his money and always sought to bring prosperity to others. The Bodhisatta had a younger brother.
Soon after the death of their farmer father, the two men ventured to the city on horses to settle the lands that had once belonged to the father. Upon selling the lands, the two brothers received two bags of gold. One for each brother. They packed their gold on the horses and started home.
Stopping to eat and rest, the two brothers shared the meal. The Bodhisatta sprinkled his leftover meal amongst the ground for the crows to eat and promptly laid back for a short nap under a tree. The tree spirit noticed the Bodhisatta’s generosity to the small animals and shook his branches expressing his happiness.
While Bodhisatta slept the younger brother thought to himself that he was as good as his older brother yet his older brother had more success. He decided that he deserved all the gold that was left to them from their father. He took the bag of gold from the Bodisatta’s horse and hide the bagged gold in his hat. He awoke the Bodisatta screaming that they had been robbed while they slept and their gold was gone. Bodhisatta was unconcerned and said “and so be it.”
The tree spirit saw what had unfolded and told the crows. While the two brothers were riding home, the crows swooped out of the sky and attacked the younger brothers head. His hat fell off and with it the bags of gold. The Bodhisatta looked at the gold bags on the ground and sadly, turned to his brother and said, “perhaps you needed more,” and rode away.
Bibliography: Jakata Tales unit (Shedlock), The River Fish and the Monkey, http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/story-source-eastern-stories-and.html
Hey Hannah,
ReplyDeleteYou did an excellent job in writing this story. It was such a fun read, and it was not too long so that the reader loses interest at the end. It was a good length. I do wish your author’s note had a bit more detail for those who did not read the original story. Other than that, great job and I look forward to reading more.
-Andy
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteI liked the story you told. It had a good lesson and really showed how kind and generous the Boddhisatta is.I like that he did not retaliate against his brother for his thievery. While I enjoyed the telling of your story it was really hard to read. The grey font on the black background is really tough to read so I really had to zoom in to see it.
Hi Hannah,
ReplyDeleteGreat job with this adaptation. I like that you put it in a slightly different setting but maintained the same tone.
I think it's interesting how the Bodhisatta was really rich and also generous - it seems like a lot of the time in folktales the characters who are rich are stingy, but I like that he was willing to share his resources.