Story: The Barney Bridge

In the monkey kingdom, community is everything. The monkeys look to each other for love and support and do their best to care for one another. In their kingdom, they all look up to and respect their leader. In this case, their leader is King Lorenz. King Lorenz is the largest, most powerful monkey that most in the kingdom have ever seen. Some of the older monkeys claim that greater leaders came before him, but younger generations find that hard to believe.

King Lorenz was strong. He was decisive. He was smart. He was always analyzing situations and making the best decisions for his people. The monkey economy was looking better than ever. Monkeys everywhere praised King Lorenz and constantly looked to him as a role model.

King Lorenz never let any of his success go to his head. Whenever someone would ask him about his accomplishments he would just tell them that he was doing his job, which was to serve his people.

Serve. Little did the monkeys know, this word was always on King Lorenz’s mind. He was always thinking of new ways to help his fellow monkeys and how he could best serve them.

Then one day, King Lorenz’s skills were put to the test when news reached his island that an army was in route to capsize his village. He was told that the people wanted the island for themselves, as it was filled with trees containing the most wonderful and delicious fruit in all the land. They had received strict orders from their king to slaughter any current inhabitants of the island and take it as their own.

This news startled King Lorenz. Thinking quickly, he used his might to jump to a nearby island.

“This island is perfectly fit for my people,” he thought to himself. “It will save them from harm. I must find a way to get them here!”

Then, he noticed a long reed and tied it to a tree. It appeared to be long enough to reach his home island. Eagerly, he tied the reed to his foot and leapt back to his island. However, the reed was a little too short.

How could he complete the bridge?! There must be some technical solution.

Just then, a small monkey approached him.

“Sir!” he exclaimed. “My name is Barney and I am here to serve you! I saw you flying back to the island with the reed and ran here as fast as I could. How may I help you save our people?”

King Lorenz explained that the reed was too short and that it wouldn’t be able to reach. He brainstormed technical solutions and realized that if someone were to tie the rope to their foot, they would be able to hold on to the tree on their island and complete the bridge.

“Will you complete the bridge, dear King? You are so large and strong that you will make the perfect, sturdy surface!” Barney looked at him with eager eyes.

“No,” King Lorenz chuckled. “I am big and strong but my people need me! Without my leadership, they might not survive. What would they do without me? We should find a monkey who has been accused of theft or some other disservice. Logically, it makes sense to risk the life of a lesser monkey.”

Before the King could finish his thought, Barney tied the reed to his foot and grabbed hold of the tree.

“Child!” exclaimed the King, “are you a theft or menace? For what reason did you assume this position?”

“There is no monkey on this island whose life matters less than another,” Barney explained. “You are correct, dear King. What our people need right now is a leader.”

And with that, all monkeys crossed the Barney bridge and made it safely to the island. After every monkey had passed, including King Lorenz, Barney fell to the ground. His small body was in very poor shape and it wasn’t likely that he would survive the night.

The human king, witnessing this selfless act had tears in his eyes. He decreed that he could never hurt creatures with such love in their hearts. He vowed to never touch the monkey kingdom and let them all live happily in peace.

King Lorenz watched the scene unfold with a heavy heart. In the chaos, he forgot the most important aspect of servant leadership: love.

Barney had saved the village and taught the king a lesson he would never forget. 

(The monkeys using the bridge to climb to safety.)

Author’s Note: This story was inspired by the tale “The Monkey Bridge” in Twenty Janaka Tales. In this story, the leader of the monkeys selflessly gives his life to save his people. This really made me reflect on the way that I lead others. Sometimes love and care are just as important as any other skill that we commonly use to define a “good leader”. For my story, I wanted to create a King who was the stereotypical definition of a leader: smart, technical, efficient, etc. I wanted to create a character who wasn’t necessarily seen as a “leader” in his group be the one that committed the act of selflessness for his people. This way, the character would teach the leader a lesson just as the original tale taught me a lesson. This story was very fun to write and I enjoyed putting a twist on the original.

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)
Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair
Year: 1939

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales, Part B

The Two Pigs
I had read someone else's story that was based off of this tale, so I was excited to read it. I really liked it! The sweet pigs taught the people a lesson of love and also touched on the fact that we should not fear departing the world, because of the love we will find after.

The Patient Buffalo

This story tells the tale of the patient buffalo who lets an annoying monkey climb all over him. His patience ends up benefiting him and all of those around him!

The Sarabha
This tale is about enemies putting their differences aside and helping each other. I really love this theme and would love to make a story out of it. It would be easy to create new characters, yet incorporate the same theme.

The Goblin Town
In this story, hundreds of men are lured in by beautiful women. One man discovers that the women are actually goblins and tries to warn the others. Some believe him and others don't. Those who believe are carried away to safety. This almost reminds me of Noah's Ark! It would be fun to write a story with this same type of theme!

The Great Elephant
This story was very sad! A sweet elephant tells hungry travelers that there will be an elephant for them to eat.....and then he kills himself so they can eat him. It was a very sad story but a powerful one about selfless love!

The Quarrelsome Quails
In this story, the King quail teaches the others how to escape capture, but they all must get along! When two quail get in a fight, they are captured and others escape. This teaches us that some things that anger you really aren't worth the fight.

The Forest Fire
This tale was also pretty sad. A little quail was left behind to be devoured by a fire when the rest of his family escaped. The quail vocalizes his vulnerability and the fire backs away. Many little ones are saved and everyone is happy!

The End of the World
As expected, this story kind of reminded me of Chicken Little. A little hare believes the world is ending and gets all of the animals worked up. Rumors and fright spread like wildfire. This is an important lesson to remember these days with everything that goes on in the media.

The Golden Goose
The theme of this story was not as obvious as the others. My main takeaway was to not fear time. I far time far too often. I think about the short time we have on this earth and spending it with those I love and making the most of the time I have here. This story reminded me that if I love those around me and bring happiness to them, what does it matter if time goes on?

The Noble Horse

This was a sweet story. The noble horse sacrifices his life so his rider can capture the kings. However, when he dies he expresses his wishes that none of the kings be killed. He brings peace to all!

(I love elephants, especially the one from the tale of The Great Elephant!)

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)
Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair
Year: 1939

Reading Notes: Twenty Jataka Tales (Part A)

The Monkey-Bridge

In this tale, the monkey king gives his life to save his people. He is truly selfless and never regrets his decision! This is a powerful lesson on love and leadership. It made me think a lot about the way that I want to lead others. I would love to make a story with this same theme!

The Guilty Dogs

Here, the palace dogs ruined the harnesses on the royal chariot. Unsure of which dogs did it, the King declares for all dogs in the city to be killed...except for the royal dogs. First of all, this is a crazy punishment. I think there are several different lessons you could learn from this tale. One could be that sometimes it is those closest to you (whom you would never suspect) who are capable of doing the most damage. Another would be not to punish a group for the wrongdoings of one individual.

Banyan

In this story, a deer is killed each day by the king and his servants. On a day that a doe with a young baby was supposed to be killed, she ran to her ruler and asked to wait until later so she could take care of him. He refused so she ran to the other deer ruler, Banyan, who selflessly took her place and ended up bringing love into the heart of the king.

More than anything, this story showed me that it is okay to step back and challenge the status quo. The first ruler, Branch, seemed harsh for denying the doe but he was only following the orders that they had set in place. Banyan did not hesitate to stray from the plan in order to do the right thing. He broke the "rules" but ended up being the hero. This is a powerful lesson to reflect upon.

The Tortoise and the Geese

This tale teaches a lesson in "holding your tongue". The tortoise is being carried through the sky by biting a stick that two geese are holding. When people make fun of him, he yells and falls from the sky.

This reminded me that others will always have something to say about your success, but keeping your mouth shut is the best way to keep succeeding.

The Fairy and the Hare

In this story, the hare and his friends decide to take whatever food they find and give it to other instead of eating it for a day. The other animal friends come by their food by rather dishonest means, whereas the hare offers himself up as food. A fairy comes to test his kindness, and the hare joyously jumps into the fire she prepares. However, the fire does not burn him, but teaches the animals the lesson of kindness, love, and selfless giving!

The Golden Feathers

I think I have heard a version of this tale before! The father leaves in search of wealth for his family and is turned into a gold goose. He gives the golden feathers to his family to sell, but one day the selfish wife captures him and steals all of the feathers...not knowing that it is her husband. After she steals the feathers, they become worthless.

This story made me think about the lesson that you never know who you are encountering! The woman thought this was an ordinary goose, but it was actually her beloved husband. It taught me the importance of treating everyone with equal respect. Everyone deserves it!

The Young Parrot

In this story, the young parrot eats and takes extra food for his parents. The owner of he field is angry that he takes extra at first, but after learning the reason why, he welcomes the parrots with open arms. This reminded me that 1) we should take care of our elders and 2) you never know someone's true motives for their actions unless you ask!

The Empty Lake

This story didn't have as clear of a lesson to me as the others did. In this tale, the king fish prayed for water to fill the lake for his people. His wishes come true and the elements restore the lake.

The Swan Kingdom

In this tale, a swan shows dedication to his king and amazes the human king and all of his people. The lesson here is the benefit of staying true to those whom you love and respect. Something that I have loved about these tales is that they all end with the group living happily ever after. This has been an uplifting series of tales to read!

The Master's Test

This story had an awesome lesson! The master told his pupils to steal when no one was looking, but one pupil said "my self is always watching" and that he could never live with the guilt of seeing himself steal. This lesson struck the other pupils and affected their every day life from then on. I think this is a great story to share with others! I will definitely think about it when making decisions.

(The monkeys from my favorite tale in today's reading!)

Title: Twenty Jataka Tales
Author: Noor Inayat (Khan)
Illustrator: H. Willebeek Le Mair
Year: 1939