Jataka Tales (The Valiant Dwarf) by H.T. Francis and E. J. Thomas (1916).
The Valiant Dwarf was by far my favorite story from the
first half of this weeks reading. I always hear that first impressions are very
important and apparently the dwarf knew it too. Even being the most skilled
bowman in the land, he did not think a king would accept his services because
of his appearance. He was also very smart and devised a plan to have a more
acceptable looking young man serve as the appearance he needed while he focused on the tasks he was good at. This reminds me of the movie Ratatouille where a mouse has
a great talent for cooking, but would never be accepted as a great chef because
of who he is. So he makes an unlikely bond with the newest chef at a top tier restaurant
who has no talent for cooking. This worked out well for the young man and the
dwarf until the young man decided he didn’t need the dwarf anymore. At this
point the young man is asked to defend the castle from an army that is
attempting to take it. The dwarf doesn’t help the young man wiggle his way out
of this situation. He is so scared he leaves the battle while the dwarf wins
it. Everyone’s true colors are shown and the king takes the dwarf into his
guard. This story could be put into so many different settings with a different
skill set that is fitting for each one. For instance, I could make it about a
professional athlete in modern day America. Or I could use animals as the
characters and have a rat show a lion how to be a great hunter.
Dwarf form wikimedia commons
No comments:
Post a Comment