"The Bull That Demanded Fair Treatment" made me laugh because it reminded me of the movie Herbie Fully Loaded, where Herbie the car refuses to do well in a race because his driver doesn't appreciate him. Reading this story, it seems like the bull is being a bit silly in not working just because he doesn't like what the Brahmin called him, but the deeper intent of the tale -- to show how people should be treated and communicate with each other -- makes the scene make more sense.
Many of the stories in this section of the book had similar themes to this: appreciate what others do for you and try to return the feeling. A counterexample to this is given in "The Mallard That Asked for Too Much," where the mother tries to take advantage of her late husband's generosity and so loses it. I liked these tales more than the ones in the first section, because the generosity shown by the characters seems more human than the overblown self-sacrifice often exhibited by the incarnated Buddha of the stories of Part A.
I also found it interesting that when people make mistakes in these stories, the incarnated Buddha often comes along to save the day. The woman in "Mallard" is the exception in that she loses the opportunity for further wealth, but she is otherwise not negatively affected by her actions. In "The Merchant Who Overcame All Obstacles," the caravan is able to survive after the pilot makes the fatal mistake of throwing away provisions after assuming they'll make it across the desert that night. The focus of the story becomes not the pilot's error, but the Buddha's skill and perseverance in fixing the problem. In several of the other stories as well, the problems are solved by people seeking guidance for what went wrong and being willing to make the necessary steps for fixing it.
painted thangka of Jataka Tales, Bhutan
18th/19th century (Wikimedia Commons)
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