Page 3 - Apr-Jun 2018

VOL. 15 No. 1
taILS teLL taLeS!

In Indian literary history, we frequently see the use of animal and bird characters to teach
important values and practices. To convey these messages easily, animals or birds were
associated with certain distinctive personalities, behaviours and characteristics. We can
see this in the Panchatantra tales, which are ancient animal fables written in Sanskrit way
back in 300 BCE. Jataka Tales are another set of texts which are moral tales of Buddha’s
previous births, often as animals or birds, exhibiting virtues.

ThE TALkATIVE TorToISE

Once, there lived a tortoise and kApoTA JATAkA
two swans near a lake. The water
from the lake started drying up and Once there lived a pigeon, who was housed
they decided to travel to another in a basket which people hung for the
lake where they could survive. The comfort and shelter of birds. A greedy
tortoise held a stick with his mouth and the swans held its crow wanted to enter and rob the
Illustration by: Shamna
two ends to fly to the new lake. The swans asked him not kitchen of the house where the S.S. , IX A, K.T.C.T.E.M.H.S.S.
to open his mouth as he would fall. pigeon rested. He pretended to be Kaduvayil Thottakkadu,
While crossing, the people from the city under them an admirer of the pigeon and thus Kallambalam
looked and started laughing. The anxious tortoise opened followed him around. Soon, he too
his mouth to speak and fell to his death. got a basket of his own in the house.
The moral of the story is that one should only speak at One day, he saw the cook preparing fish in the kitchen.
the right moment. (Adapted from the Panchatantra) He pretended to be sick and stayed in his basket till the
pigeon left him alone. Despite being warned by the
ACTIVITY: WrITE A STorY pigeon not to be greedy, the crow broke into the kitchen
Looking at the pictures, identify the stories and write when it was empty. On hearing the commotion, the cook
them in your own words bringing out the moral. ran back and killed the crow.
The moral of the story is that one should not be greedy.
(Adapted from Kapota Jataka of the Jataka Tales)

ACTIVITY: ThE foUr frIENDS

Bhutan is a country which has its own national story.
This story is called
AIrAVAT - ThE WhITE ELEphANT the ‘Four Harmonious
Friends’ and it is said to
Airavat, a mythical white elephant was born during have been told by the
the Samudramanthan. According Buddha. It talks about
to legends, when Indra defeated cooperating with
Vritrasura, Airavat reached down one another despite
to the watery underworld and having differences.
sprayed the water into the
clouds, which Indra then converted Name the four animals.
to rain on the drought-stricken land. Find out more about
the story and write
gauri singh, Vii l, DPs, sec-45 gurgaon,
aparna gopakumar, V, birla Vidya Niketan, how it is important to
Delhi follow such ideals in
Illustration by: Shamna S.S., IX A, today’s world.
K.T.C.T.E.M.H.S.S. Kaduvayil Thottakkadu,
Kallambalam

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