Week 2 Story: THE CROCODILE IN THE RIVER

Story adapted from THE CROCODILE IN THE RIVER, Vanarinda Jataka, in The Jataka translated by Robert Chalmers. 
Bodhisatta, in this time on the Earth, came back to life as a monkey and while living on Earth lived on a river bank in a small village about 100 meters away from a large island. Bodhisatta day and night would watch this island and would dream of traveling to the island and eating its precious fruit. Until one day this dream came true, Bodhisatta obtained a small boat large enough for himself and a few items and traveled across the river to the island. Once on the island Bodhisatta filled his boat with as much fruit as the weight would allow and traveled back across to his village. He was welcomed back at the shore by the whole village and he shared his fruit with them. The next day the whole village asked Bodhisatta if he would make the journey again and bring back more fruit, he happy did. And day after day Bodhisatta made the journey and brought many fruits back to his village. Then one day while picking the fruit Bodhisatta was approached by a middle-aged man who seemed a little to skinny for his age.
“Who are you?” asked Bodhisatta to the skinny man.
“My name is Crock and I live on this island alone with my pregnant wife.” Said Crock
“I did not know any man lived on this island.” Said Bodhisatta and he asked “why are you so skinny if you live on this island with all this precious fruit?”
Crock replied “Because you have stolen all of the fruit from this island and what has remained, I have given to my wife.”
 “I do not understand, if there is no food left then why did you not move somewhere else?” asked Bodhisatta.
“We cannot move; my wife is to weak from her pregnancy to survive the move. You must stop stealing our food and leave at once.” Claimed Crock.
“I am sorry for taking your food but if I do not take this fruit back my village will be very angry with me and will not accept me back.” Said Bodhisatta.
“If you do not leave now and never return you and your town will not have fortune.” Explained Crock and he left to return to his wife.
Bodhisatta did not believe him and continued to pick the fruit. The next day around the same time Bodhisatta returned on his boat and began to pick the fruit.
“I told you yesterday you must not pick this fruit anymore, my family needs it to survive.” Explained Crock.
“I am sorry but I cannot stop or the town people will be very angry. They have grown accustomed to the fruit and demand to have it.” Said Bodhisatta.
Crock explained that if Bodhisatta left with his boat that bad luck would come to him and the village people. However, Bodhisatta left with his boat like he always did. The next day while Bodhisatta was preparing to leave for the island he noticed a leak in his boat that prevented him from traveling that day. Only a few hours later the water of the river began to rise and did not stop. After only two hours the water began to rise so high that the town became flooded and everyone was forced to leave with there belongings to a far away land.     

Authors Note: This story is adapted from The Crocodile in the river. The Bodhisatta has been changed from a monkey to a human and the crocodile and his wife have also been changed to humans. In the original story the monkey takes fruit from the island and eats it himself. In the original story the crocodile wife wants to eat the monkey for her pleasure but the monkey escapes the crocodile using his wits.

                                                  (Tropical Fruit: Image from Flickr)