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Portuguese Jatakas

1991 O Coelho que Venceu o Medo. Traduzido por Paula Rozin. Ilustrado por Eric Meller. Paperbound. Berkeley: Série Contos Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh17P. 

Here is the Portuguese version of the English The Rabbit Who Overcame Fear from the same year. As I comment there, this is the standard tale of the timid rabbit who hears the thud of a ripe mango dropping near him and thinks it is the end of the world. The accent here is on the altruism of the lion who stops the animals from running off a cliff into the sea. I do not like Meller's simple art style.

2001 Moedas de Ouro: Un Conto Jataka. Traduzido por Jennifer Gollop. Ilustrado por Emily Jan. Paperbound. Berkeley: Série Contos Jataka: Dharma Publishing. $6.36 from the publisher, Dec., '04. Dh22P. 

Here is the Portuguese version of the English Pieces of Gold from the same year. As I comment there, it presents one of many styles found in 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 French, German, Italian, and Spanish versions.

2002 A Jóia da Amizade: Um Conto Jataka. Traduzido por Sylvia Lyra. Ilustrado por Magdalena Duran. Paperbound. Berkeley, CA: Série de Contos Jataka: Editora Dharma. $6.36 from the publisher, March, '05. 

This is the English version of The Jewel of Friendship. 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 naga, 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 naga 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 naga 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 naga for himself and not for his jewel. Only then will he part with the jewel. The boy calls the naga and sees pure love in his eyes. The naga 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. The art is characterized here, as in another of Duran's Jataka contributions, The King Who Understood Animals: A Jataka Tale, by the almond-shaped eyes of human beings.

2002 O Papagaio e A Figueira. Traduzido por Paula Rozin. Ilustrado por Michael Harman. Paperbound. Berkeley: Série Contos Jataka: Dharma Publishing. From the publisher, Dec., '04. 

Here is the later Portuguese paperbound version of the hardbound English The Parrot and the Fig Tree from 1990. As I comment there, where other volumes used gold lines to outline the figures, Harman 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 French, German, Italian, and Spanish versions. 

2002 O Sábio e a Pá: Um Conto Jataka. Traduzido por Paula Rozin. Ilustrado por Sherri Nestorowich. Paperbound. Berkeley, CA: Série de Contos Jataka: Editora Dharma. $6.36 from the publisher, March, '05. DH2P.

This is the Portuguese version of The Spade Sage. 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 French, German, and Spanish versions.

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