Aesop's Fables  >  Books of Fables >...> Foreign Jatakas  >  French Jatakas

French Jatakas

2001 Les Pièces d'Or: Un Conte de Jataka. Traduit de l'anglais par Gisèle Cervisi et al. Illustrations de Michael Harman. Paperbound. Berkeley: Les Contes de Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh 22F.

This is the French version of Pieces of Gold from the same year. As I mention there, it presents yet another style for Dharma's Jataka Tales Series. The emphasis here lies on elements like dimensionality, fluidity, and contour. Two rich brothers are traveling. The younger substitutes a bag of gravel for his brother's sack of gold coins. The younger brother thinks then that he is throwing the bag of gravel overboard when he appears to stumble and drop it. It is really the bag of coins that goes overboard; the river goddess watches over it and has a big fish swallow it. When the younger brother at home discovers his mistake, he is disconsolate. The big fish is caught and up for sale; it goes to the older brother. His wife cuts it open and finds the sack, and he recognizes it as his. The river goddess hovers in his home and lets him know that this is a reward for the generosity he showed in feeding the fish of the Ganges. Against her advice, the older brother gives his younger brother half of the money; the latter, filled with shame for his selfish and dishonest action, resolves to change his ways and to practice generosity from that time on. See also the German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish versions.

2002 La Sagesse de l'Oie aux Plumes d'Or: Un Conte de Jataka. Traduit de l'anglais par Gisèle Cervisi. Illustrations de Sherri Nestorowich. Paperbound. Berkeley: Les Contes de Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh25F.

This is the French version of Wisdom of the Golden Goose: A Jataka Tale from the same year. A magnificent golden royal goose rules over 90,000 geese. Queen Khema dreams of a visit from a magnificent golden goose and cannot live without that goose. Learning that there is such a goose in his kingdom, the king orders a careful strategic approach to capturing this golden goose. Once he is captured, the goose gives a loud call that alerts the geese to flee. Only one remains, his friend Sumukha. Sumukha protects him from the hunter, who soon arrives, and is ready to give up life to save him. The hunter is deeply moved by Sumukha's self-sacrifice. The hunter frees them both, but the golden goose soon learns why he was sought and offers to go voluntarily to the queen who says that she needs him. The king and queen gladly listen all night to the wisdom the golden goose has to offer them. The style here is one of overlaying text onto a portion of the pictured page; the overlaid segment has a weaker pigment than other segments of the illustrations. See also the Spanish version.

2002 Le Joyau de l'Amitié: Un Conte de Jataka. Traduit de l'anglais par Gisèle Cervisi. Illustrations de Magdalena Duran. Paperbound. Berkeley: Les Contes de Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh27F.

This is the French version of The Jewel of Friendship. I wrote there that the art is characterized here, as in Duran's other illustrated work in this series, "The King Who Understood Animals: A Jataka Tale," by the almond-shaped eyes of human beings. Two sons of a Benares professor are suddenly left orphans. They travel to the Ganges and build two huts, the older son's at a greater distance from the riverbank, the younger's right on the bank. A naja, king of serpents, happens to have a palace deep in the river at this point. One day he passes near the younger son's hut and conceives the idea of becoming his friend. He transforms himself into a young man of his age. He asks the younger son "Why do you choose to live so isolated?" They converse for some time. In the course of days, they become good friends. Hoping that familiarity will have taken away any fear, the naja decides at last to reveal himself in his true form. The boy tries to hide his fear, but it still keeps him from either sleeping or eating. He goes to his older brother and tells him everything. The older brother learns that his brother wants to be rid of the frightening friend, and he advises him to ask for the jewel on his forehead and to keep asking for three days. The jewel after all is the source of his beauty, power, and magic. When the request is repeated for three days, the naja says to himself that the boy is interested not in him but in his jewel, and so he returns to his palace. He no longer visits the boy. The boy becomes lonely and emaciated, and his brother now counsels him to learn to love the naja for himself and not for his jewel. Only then will he part with the jewel. The boy calls the naja and sees pure love in his eyes. The naja drops the jewel at the boy's feet. At the end of the day, the boy gives it back to him. Their love has its own magical power. See also the Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish versions.

2002 Le Perroquet et Le Figuier: Un Conte de Jataka. Traduit de l'anglais par Yveline Leroux; revu et corrigé par Gisèle Cervisi. Illustrations de Michael Harman. Paperbound. Berkeley: Les Contes de Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh15F.

This is the French version of The Parrot and the Fig Tree from 1990. Where other volumes used gold lines to outline the figures, Harman here uses black. A parrot who dwells happily in a fruitful fig tree is tested for his loyalty to the tree by Shakra, king of the gods, who causes the tree to dry up. The parrot proves himself, and the tree is restored at his request. The art is simple and rich. Again, the Jataka tales are outspokenly altruistic. There is a double-page at the end for children to color. See also the versions in German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

2002 Le Sage à la Bêche: Un Conte de Jataka. Traduit de l'anglais par Gisèle Cervisi. Illustrations de Sherri Nestorowich. Paperbound. Berkeley: Les Contes de Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh2F.

This is the French version of The Spade Sage published by Dharma in 1976. In this story the Buddha has been born as a gardener called the Spade Sage. He has only his one spade, and he sells vegetables for a living. Unhappy, he goes into the forest to become a hermit. Once there, he thinks only about his dear old garden. He returns, but is still not happy. The rhythm goes on as he leaves his garden and returns to it seven times. Finally, to make a clean break, he throws his spade into the river. This is the freeing gesture, and he can rejoice, because he has overcome his desire. "I have conquered," he shouts. A great king who has just conquered in battle comes riding by on an elephant and hears this statement. Asked by the foreign king, the gardener explains that he exults to have conquered his desire. He rises into the air and calls people to follow him and learn, especially how to conquer their desires. The Buddha then explains that he was the sage. See also the German, Portuguese, and Spanish versions.

To top