Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales, Part A

The Golden Feathers

• There was a man with a wife and 3 daughters. The family was really poor and barely had any money, so the father left to go find stuff that go bring their family some money.
• As he was walking through the woods, a fairy came upon him, and asked him where he was going. He said to look for fortune. She then turned him into a goose with golden feathers.
• The father goes back to his family and gives them a golden feather, so they can sell it to get money. He only gives them one feather at a time until they run out of money from the last one.
• He never told his family that it was him.
• The mother decided to grab the goose and take all his feathers. She did this because she thought that one day the goose might never return. 
• Daughters did not like this idea.
• When mother plucked all the feathers off, the golden feathers turned to white because the fairy charmed them to where if they were taken from goose forcefully they would turn back to normal.
• The mother trapped the goose in a barrel. Once his feathers grew back which were white, he escaped and lived with other goose in the forest. He lived happily with them.
• I thought the ending was sad because how the mother treated the goose and how her greed took over.
• I could change the ending to a happy one. Also, I could change it to where the goose tells the family who he actually his.

A golden feather
(Source: Pixabay)

The Master's Test

• There was a master teaching a lesson to his many pupils.
• He told them to go steal from people in a area where no one was watching because they were poor and they deserve it more. 
• Almost all students were up for the task and agreed to do it except one.
• He told the master he couldn't do it because it was impossible. He said there's always someone watching and that person is themselves.
• Master was proud that one of his students actually past his test while the others were ashamed that they did not.

Bibliography: Twenty Jataka Tales- "The Golden Feathers" by Noor Inayat Khan. 

                         Twenty Jataka Tales- "The Master's Test" by Noor Inayat Khan.