Week 10 Reading notes- Jataka Tales (Elephant)

These are my reading notes for The Elephant Girly-Face.


Plot:
-There was a king that had an elephant named Girly-Face. This was her name because she was a good and gentle creature. She was known for being so kind.
-One night, some robbers came into the courtyard and sat on the ground outside of Girly-Face's stall. The conversation between the robbers awoke Girly Face.
- The robbers sat there and discussed how to break into the house, and talked about many cruel things.
- Girly Face heard the many cruel things that the men were talking about and thought that they were teaching him how to live. He thought that he should begin acting cruel just like the men.
- The next morning, the keeper came to feed Girly-Face. The elephant picked him up with his trunk and threw him onto the ground.
-Another keeper came in to see what the commotion was, and Girly-Face killed him as well.
-Girly-Face was acting ugly for days, nobody dared to go near him. Food was left out for him, but nobody would get close enough to interact with him.
-The king heard of the elephant's new attitude and sent one of his wise men to see what ailed the creature.
- The wise man had known Girly-Face for a long time, when he looked the elephant over, he couldn't find anything to be the matter.
-Finally, the wise man decided that the elephant must have hear the men talking, and asked if there had been any bad men talking around where the elephant slept.
-One of the keepers informed the wise men that the robbers had been talking about bad things near where the elephant slept.
- The wise man returned to the king, informing him about what had happened.
- That night, the king sent a company of men to sit near the stall and talk. They sat near where the elephant slept and discussed how it is wrong to hurt or kill people.
-Girly-Face heard the men talking and decided that they were teaching the right things to her. From that time on, she was a good elephant like before.





Writing Ideas:
- Once again, I would like to write this story with more personal perspective from the elephant's POV. I think it would be a good thing to humanize this character and have more insight to his personal thoughts.




This image titled "Elephant," comes from Laurent de Walick on Flickr


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