The Guilty Dogs by Noor Inayat (Khan)
There seems to be a very common couple of themes in all of
the Jataka stories. The first being that human and other animals are always
included, nature in some aspect is usually included as well. The next theme is
that there is always a king of the humans and always a leader of the animals.
The next theme is that the animals are always avoiding death from the humans
for either sport, resources, or false accusations. The last theme I have
noticed in the couple of stories I have read is that the animal king always confronts
the human king and amazes him. The human king always stops harming the animals
and gives them good treatment after that.
This is exactly what happened in this story. The palace dogs
destroyed something valuable to the king. This king finds outs and orders that
all dogs in the city, except the palace dogs be killed. The dog chief then
encounters the human king before the killing starts and asks him to reconsider.
The dog chief explains that the city dogs were not involved in destroying his
chariot and should not be killed. The king unsurprisingly does not believe him
and asks for proof. The dog chief also unsurprisingly proves the king to be wrong
and himself correct. The human king then feels so bad that he not only tells
the dog chief that him and his followers will not be killed but will be treated
like royalty. The story does not mention if the palace dogs will be punished.
This story is better then some of the others in teaching kids,
the targeted audience, life lessons. It shows them good leadership on the dogs’
behalf and it shows courage. However, it also shows that leaders may respond
with violence even before they know the whole story. It also shows that someone
can act poorly and get away with it.
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