Mythology and Folklore KT

Once upon a time there were two birds.  They were best friends and did everything together.  One morning they were really hungry, and decided to go get breakfast together.  They flew to a riverbed to look for worms in the mud by the water.  After a while they each saw a worm sticking out of the mud.  They grabbed the end of the worms and pulled.  They pulled the worms out of the mud, only to discover that they each had a side of the same worm.  They set down the worm and decided to talk it out.  The first bird suggested that they split the worm down the middle.  They split the worm, but one side was slightly bigger than the other.  The second bird said that he should have a slightly bigger side, because he suggested that they go get breakfast.  The first said that he should have the larger side, because he suggested that they go by the river.  They continued arguing like this until a fish poked her head out of the water. ...

Story source: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C The Golden Goose the golden goose was being generous, but the mother was greedy.  Her greed caused the goose to fly away and they were were poor again.  The Stupid Monkeys The gardener gave his job for the day to the monkeys, but they did not know how to do it, so all of the trees died. The Woodpecker and the Lion The woodpecker was kind to the lion, but the lion did not return the kindness.  The Lion thought that he was doing the woodpecker a favor by not harming him.  This is a good representation of how some groups in power think.  Instead of being grateful to the woodpecker and treating him as an equal, he though his restraint for not harming him was enough. The otters and the wolf I really like this story.  The two otters could not agree on how to divide up the fish, so they asked a wolf to do it.  The wolf divided up the fish and took the best part for himself.  I think that it is a ...

Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912) the monkey and the crocodile In this story, the monkey outsmarts the crocodile on several occasions How the turtle saved his own life The turtle used cunning and the fact that noone knew what he was to save his life. The turtle who couldn't stop talking The turtle died because he had to answer the people instead of holding onto the stick The ox who won the forfeit The ox would not respond positively when the man was mean to him The quarrel of the quials the quails wouldn't worked together, so they got caught The foolish, timid rabbit The rabbit cried wolf the banyan deer one of the king deer was willing to give up himself for a mother, and the king was touched and agreed to not eat deer anymore the princes and the water-sprite the oldest prince was wise The King's white elephant the king bought an elephant for himself the ox who envied the pig the pig was being well fed be...