Reading Notes: Jataka Tales B

Jataka Tales
Author source: Ellen C. Babbitt
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Fish, Etsy

These notes focus on the story, The Crab and the Crane. The story first begins by introducing a setting and the central conflict of the story. In the midst of a summer, animals are deprived of water. In particular, it mentions that out of all the animals, the fish suffer the most. After all, aquatic animals like them, need water to live. A crane approaches the fish and seems to be offering sympathy and pity for them. He asks if they would like to be moved to a place with more water. The fish seem to be skeptical and smart as they question the bird. The fish are normally a main source of nutrients for the bird. The crane insists that he is being truthful, but how can the fish trust him? They are essentially helpless in their current, dry state. A fish volunteers, however, to test whether the crane is lying. The noble fish morbidly exclaims that he would rather be eaten by a bird than dry out to death. These fish are very insightful, inquisitive, and realistic. 

It turns out that the volunteer fish was used to gain the trust of the fish. The crane brought the fish back from another source of water, and he told the other fish that they should go on the crane's back. One by one, the crane took the fish and ate them, instead of taking the fish to the location plentiful of water. If the crane needed a fish for food, why did he just eat them right there? This information implied to me that the crane wanted to genuinely help the creatures. However, I was most certainly wrong. What was the point of tricking the poor fish? 

The readers are brought resolution to this sad ending, when the crab gets revenge on the crane. The crane was greedy and still hungry after eating the other fish. The crab says that he will go with the crane if he can latch onto the nick, for he was too heavy for the crane's back. When the crab sees the realization of what the predator was doing to the fish, he cuts the crane's head off with he claws.