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Thai Pamphlets Pink 25-36

#0660025: The Fox and the Monkey

See the comment before Series 1 on the original (?) version of this story, apparently done out-of-series. The monkey in this presentation has great facial expressions! "The simple are easily deceived"--has this saying lost something in the English translation?

#0660026: missing: The Donkey and the Merchant

#0660027: The Troublesome Boar

This fable is new and strange to me. This boar makes a nuisance of himself, but no other animals will join the mouse in standing up against him. Then the boar happens to run into a loaded cross-bow and to discharge it into his chest! "An ill life, an ill end." The story lacks the causal nexus that fable loves between cause and result.

#0660028: The Monkey and the Turtle

Again, new to me. The monkey jumps off the turtle's back before the latter reaches the farther shore with all its fruit. The current carries the monkey away. "Haste makes waste."

#0660029: The Cunning Toad

This version sets the situation in unusual fashion. Apparently, this old toad is a long-time dweller in this forest. Challenged by a rabbit to explain how they are to know that he is a good doctor, he answers "You just believe what I say, that is all." A fox challenges him to make his own warts disappear first. The moral is slightly off, I think: "If you would convince others, then begin by convincing yourself." This frog is the only one who is convinced!

#0660030: The Fox and the Goat

This "well" looks like a pond to me. The "bright idea" spread declares clearly that the fox conceives his plan to escape as soon as the goat asks about the quality of the water. The fox does not present a plan to the goat; he merely uses the goat as a springboard to escape in an unexplained fashion.

#0660031: The Dog and his Shadow

Another nice typo-blooper fragment: "As he is walking pass a butcher's shop." This version specifies the motivation at a key moment: "He wants to show that he is the master." It also demonstrates, both visually and in the text, that the dog makes repeated efforts to reach down into the water to recover his bone. I have not seen such repetition of the effort described or pictured before.

#0660032: The Hare and the Tortoise

When the tortoise suggests a race, the hare leaps about excitedly, asks "Can we start now?" and starts down the road without waiting for an answer. With this sort of start, it is hard for me to understand how both a sign-post and a "wining post" (sic) were erected for the race. The story is consistent with its provocation when it has no one else around at the finish-line, for no one else would have known of the race.

#0660033: The Tailess (sic) Fox

This version presents itself differently. The other foxes note that he has no tail as soon as he returns to their company, and they ask him about it. He responds that he cut it off. Another fox comments that he has just seen a tail in a trap. This fox never recommends wholesale trimming of tails to the others. I think this moral is terrible: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but calling never hurt me."

#0660034: The Ass, the Fox and the Lion

The art style does a nice job of presenting the ass in the background as the fox approaches the lion.

#0660035: The Travellers and the Bear

The non-tree-climber is left here in the visual illustration to deal with the bear face to face--four pages before "the bear approaches him." "Misfortune tests the sincerity of friends." Amen to that!

#0660036: The Frog and the Ox

There is here a very dramatic presentation of the ox's footstep, which crushed most of the frogs to death. I will need some work to get used to pink frogs! "People may be ruined by attempting to change the work of the nature."

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