Week 14 Reading Notes

Here are my reading notes for week 14 part A. 

This reading is Twenty Jātaka tales, retold by Noor Inayat. Link

The Monkey Bridge

There was a mighty king monkey that ruled over 80 thousand other monkeys. They live up in the Himalayan mountains and lived near the Ganges river.

This river led all the way down to a town where humans lived. This river also had a branch that hung over it which produced mangos. 

The king monkey had told his followers to "never let a mango fall into the river for it will flow down to the humans and they will come find these trees and we will have to leave."

One day, a mango that was hidden ended up falling into the river and going all the way down to the town. 

The king of the town, Brahmadatta, was swimming in the water while a fisherman caught the mango. He immediately brought it to the king and they were all amazed. The tasted it and said that it was unlike any fruit they had ever tasted. 

Soon after, the king led a boat up the river to find this tree. When they eventually did, they saw that the monkeys were in the tree so they surrounded the tree, not letting the monkeys leave.

The kings plan was to kill the monkeys in the morning and feast on them and the mangos. 

The leader monkey could not let this happen so he planned to tie a long reed to his leg and jump 100 bows length in order to make a bridge for them all to escape on.

He never doubted that he could make the jump but did not think about wether the reed would be long enough.

The reed was just long enough for the king monkey to grab onto the closest branch. He then told all the other monkeys to climb over him as part of the bridge. As the last monkey climbed over him, he jumped heavily on him which broke his back. 

King Brahmadatta watched all of this happen and felt bad for the leader. He ordered that the chief monkey be brought down from the tree.

The king went on to ask, "Did you not know that your life would come to an end by doing so?" The chief responded by saying, "I do not suffer in leaving this world for I have gained my subjects' freedom." 

The King was so touched by this that he built a temple pure and white so that his words may never be forgotten.

Brahmadatta then ruled with love and they were all happy after all.

The Monkey Bridge

 

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