The Monkey King: A Jataka Tale

Title

en_US The Monkey King: A Jataka Tale

en_US Jataka Tales Series

en_US Dh20

Description

en_US Inspired by Nazli Gellek. Adapted by Grania Davis

Creator

en_US Davis, Grania

Contributor

en_US Johnson, Sheila

Date

2016-01-25T19:37:49Z

en_US 2004-12

en_US 1998

Date Available

2016-01-25T19:37:49Z

Date Issued

en_US 1998

Abstract

en_US By this point, Dharma had set up in Berkeley. The style of the art in this booklet is slightly eclectic. Elements in the mix include the colorful flat Indian backgrounds that we know from other Jataka booklets from Dharma. New here is a cross-hatched method for indicating monkey fur. This method contrasts sharply with the earlier Dharma penchant for solid colors. A monkey king in the Himalayas is kind to his eighty thousand monkey subjects. He and the other monkeys enjoy the fruit from a spectacular mango tree that spreads out over the river. The monkey king fears that some day the fruit and flowers of the tree will move downstream in the Ganges to Benares. He instructs his subjects to pick all the fruit and flowers over the river. But they miss one clump of fruit hidden by a nest. As it happens a bathing prince in Benares discovers a particularly good mango. Soon--in a quick and rather abrupt move in the story--the prince is under the great tree at a fire. When he hears that there are many monkeys in the tree, he plans on a feast of monkey meat on the morrow. Alarmed on behalf of his people, the monkey king spreads himself from the mango to a nearby bamboo as a bridge over which the eighty thousand monkeys can escape. And escape they do! The last of the monkeys, however, is an enemy of the king and jumps on his back. The king's heart breaks. The prince notices and has compassion on the prince who has given himself for his people. The prince interviews the monkey king, who dies the next morning of his broken heart. The prince becomes king and remembers the wise monkey king's teaching about serving his people. This is one of many booklets in the Jataka Tales Series that I purchased directly from the publisher.

Identifier

en_US 0898002931

en_US 5335 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/80880

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Dharma Press

en_US Berkeley, CA

Subject

en_US BQ1462.E5 D386 1998

en_US Title Page Scanned

Type

en_US Book, Whole