Week 12 Reading Diary: The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai

The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai: by Maude Dutton

This week, I decided to read another collection of children's stories. I enjoyed it so much a couple weeks ago, I found another collection with stories extremely similar to the style I read before.

The first few of the stories were a bit sad but they did each teach a lesson! The one that I really liked was one called the Poor Man and the Flask of Oil. In the story, an old man thinks about selling the bottle and seeing what he could buy with it, how much money he'd make, how he'd spend it and so on. Before he knows it, his vision for his future is shattered as he breaks the bottle on accident while imaging a scenario of the future. Although this was a short story, it did teach a good lesson about not being too greedy and being patient to take things as they come. He as already thinking so much ahead and got too ahead of himself, resulting in the loss of his precious bottle of oil.

Another story that was interesting was called The Youth, the Hawk, and the Raven. This told of a boy who had seen a hawk feed a lazy looking raven. The boy decides that if he becomes lazy like the raven, he won't have to do any work and people would bring him food. After a couple days of no food, the boy realizes how foolish he was. He laments that he should have imitated the active Hawk instead of the lazy raven. I liked this story because it sort of teaches a lesson about who you look up to. If you admire someone with positive qualities, it will help you more in life if you plan to follow in their footsteps.

I think my favorite story of this bunch is the one titled The Tyrant who became a Just Ruler. After ruling over a people he treated terribly, he decided one day to gather them all to tell them he had changed and would, from then on, rule them justly and well. When a townsman comes to ask him why he had changed, the King retells the story of how he had seen a domino effect of events that caused the one who had done something bad, to have something negative happen to them. Karma. He therefore says that "he who doeth evil will sooner or later be overtaken by evil." Great lesson to always be kind and treat people with respect! 

The Just Ruler (Image Source).