151 Jataka Tales

A man had three daughters. They were very beautiful and noble. They all were of marriageable age. The man was confused. He did not know what kind of groom to choose for each of them. One day, an ascetic came to his house. The man asked him, “Sir, what kind of groom do I choose […]

A king had two sons. The elder one became an expert in archery. The king wanted him to become the king but he refused and made the younger one the king. But one day, one of the servants poisoned the younger brother’s ears by saying, “Your elder brother wants to be the king.” He believed

One day, seven kings decided to attack the younger brother’s kingdom. The younger brother got frightened. He called for his brother as he was incapable of protecting the kingdom himself. The elder brother immediately came back. He reassured his brother that he would not let anything happen to the kingdom. Then, he took an arrow

Once, in a forest, there lived two friends-a tiger and a lion. A jackal used to feed on whatever food was left by the two. One day, he thought, “I have never eaten the flesh of a tiger or a lion before. What if I get them to fight each other? In the process, they

Once, a prince of a mighty kingdom was walking down a road. While walking, he overlooked a poor Brahmin sitting on the pavement and knocked him over. In the process, the Brahmin’s bowl also broke and his alms lay scattered everywhere. The prince was very ashamed of his act and said to the Brahmin, “Sir!

A crow was sitting on a tree with some meat in its beak. A hungry fox saw the crow and felt very jealous. He thought of a plan to steal the meat. He said, ‘Dear Crow, how beautiful you look today! With your shining feathers and melodious voice, you should be crowned the king of

Once, the god of birds fell in love with a queen. He disguised himself as a handsome young man and started playing dice with the queen’s husband. One day, the young man decided to marry the queen. So, using his powers, he carried her away to his kingdom. The king was very distressed when he

There were two brothers. Their parents wanted them to settle down but they refused. They wanted to become ascetics. When their parents heard this, they suggested that they would all become ascetics. Once decided, they renounced the world and started living in the mountains. One day, the elder brother told the younger brother to bring

Once, a royal priest’s son and the prince were good friends. But when the prince grew up, he became wicked. He planned to kill his father and become the king. He shared his plan with his friend. The priest’s son tried to persuade the prince from giving up his plan but the prince did not

A barber used to serve the royal families. One day, the barber came to the palace with his son. His son saw a beautiful girl in the garden and fell in love with her immediately. When they went home, the son told his father about the girl. The son said, “Father, I want to marry

Once, a cunning king possessed a wild horse. One day, a horse seller came to sell his horses. The cunning king did not want to pay a high price for the horses, so he asked his courtier to set the wild horse free among them. The wild horse bit the horses and wounded them. After

Long ago, there lived a monk. He used to give sermons to people. One day, pleased with his selfless acts, the queen gave him many gifts. After this, the king also gifted him many gifts. The monk gave away all the gifts to a young monk. This young monk, in turn, gave away the gifts

An ascetic, who was the guest of a king, thought of returning to his hermitage. But, he needed an umbrella and a pair of single-soled shoes. He decided to ask the king for those but thought, ‘What if the king refuses to give me those? I will not be able to bear that and our

Once, a fox was searching around for food. He came across a hen and wanted to eat her. So, he hid himself in a bush and as he was going to pounce on her, he heard a strange tapping sound. Now, unknown to him, there was a drum in the tree. When the wind blew,

A goat and an ass were bitter enemies. They always wanted to fight each other. The goat thought, ‘My horns are stronger than the ass’s soft head. I can win a fight easily.’ So one day, the goat and the ass faced each other. The goat at once rushed forward, with his horns pointing straight