Reading Notes: More Jatakas

 More Jatakas

Bibliography: More Jatakas: The Lion in Bad Company

Lion

This story is about a young lion who meets a wolf. The wolf asks to live with the lion in his den for the time being. The young lion's parents had told him to not make friends with wolves, but the young lion disregarded their advice because he thought the wolf was a good wolf. The young lion's father did not like having the wolf live with them in their den but the young lion did not care and let the wolf stay. Then one day the wolf said to the young lion that he wanted to eat horse. The wolf then. persuaded the young lion to go with him to the river bank where many ponies lived. They caught a small pony and returned back to the den. The young lion's father told his son to not do that anymore because the ponies belonged to kings who have many skillful archers. He warned his son that lions who eat ponies belonging to kings do not live very long. Despite his father's efforts, the young lion kept eating ponies because he liked it. The king tried to solve this issue by moving the ponies to bathing tanks and stables. The young lion persistent and ultimately got himself killed. The king eventually put an archer in a tower and waited for the lion. The wolf let the lion cross the wall that allowed him to be shot and then returned to his old home back in the woods.