Prince Wicked and the Grateful Animals

Once upon a time a king had a son called Prince Wicked. He was fierce and cruel, and he never spoke to anyone without insults or blows. To everyone, inside the palace and out, Prince Wicked was as welcome as grit in the eye.

His people said to one another, “If he behaves like this while he is a prince, what will he be like when he is king?”

One day, while the prince was swimming in the river, a great storm blew up suddenly and the sky grew very dark. In the darkness the servants who had gone into the water with him swam away from him, saying to themselves, “Let’s leave him alone in the river. Perhaps he will drown.”

When they reached the bank, the servants who had stayed on shore asked, “Where is Prince Wicked?”

“Isn’t he here?” said the others. “Perhaps he came out of the river in the dark and went home.” And they all went back to the palace.

The king asked where his son was, and the servants answered, “Isn’t he here, O King? A great storm came up soon after we went into the water, and it grew very dark. When we came out of the river, the prince was not with us.”

The king at once had the gates thrown open, and he and all his men hunted up and down the riverbanks for the missing prince. But they found no trace of him.

In the darkness the prince had been swept away downstream. He was crying with fear that he would drown when he came upon a log. He climbed onto it and floated on down the river.

When the storm broke, the floodwater had rushed into the homes of a rat and a snake who lived on the riverbank. The rat and the snake swam out into the river and found the very log the prince was clinging to. The snake climbed onto one end and the rat onto the other.

On the bank grew a cottonwood tree, and a young parrot lived in its branches. The storm tore the tree up by its roots, and it fell into the river. When the parrot tried to fly, the heavy rain beat it down, and it could not get far. Looking down, it saw the log and flew down to rest on it. So now there were four of them on the log, floating downstream together.

Just around the bend of the river, a poor man had built himself a hut. Late that night, as he walked up and down listening to the storm, he heard the prince’s loud cries. “I must get that man out of the water,” the poor man said to himself. “I must save his life.” So he shouted, “I’ll save you! I’ll save you!” and swam out into the river.

He soon reached the log, and by pushing it from one end, he quickly brought it in to the bank. The prince jumped up and down, he was so glad to be safe on dry land.

Then the poor man saw the snake, the rat and the parrot, and he carried them to his hut. He lit a fire and set the animals beside it to dry. He looked after them first, because they were the weakest, and only afterwards did he see to the prince’s comfort.

Then he brought food and set it in front of them, and once more he served the animals first and the prince after them. This made the young prince angry. “This poor man does not treat me like a prince,” he said to himself. “He looks after the animals before he looks after me.” And from then on the prince hated the poor man.

A few days passed. When the prince and the three creatures were rested and the storm had blown itself out, it was time to go. The snake was the first to take leave. “Father,” it said, “you have treated me with great kindness. Near my home lies a store of buried gold. Should you ever need gold, just come to my hole and call out ‘Snake!’, and I will lead you to it. Every coin will be yours.”

The rat spoke next. “Should you ever be short of money,” it said, “come to where I live and call ‘Rat!’ Close to my home a great heap of coins lies hidden underground, and I will show you the spot. You may have the lot.”

Then the parrot came forward. “Father, I own neither silver nor gold,” it said. “But if ever you need fine rice, stand under my tree and call ‘Parrot!’ I will bring every relation and friend I have, and together we will pick the choicest grain in all the fields for you.”

The prince was the last to leave. Deep down he loathed the man who had pulled him from the flood, but he put on a show of thanks as warm as the animals’. “When I am king, come and see me,” he said, “and you shall have great riches.” Then off he went.

Before long the old king died. Prince Wicked took the throne, and now he had wealth beyond counting.

In time the poor man thought, “Four lives I saved, and all four made me promises. Let me find out which of them will keep their word.”

He began with the snake. He stood beside its hole and called out, “Snake!” Out it shot at once and greeted him most respectfully. “Father, plenty of gold is buried right here,” it said. “Dig, and carry away every bit of it.”

“Thank you,” said the poor man. “I shall remember it when the need comes.” After a friendly chat he took his leave and walked on to the rat’s home, where he called, “Rat!”

The rat hurried out, just as eager as the snake, and pointed out the place where the coins lay hidden.

“I’ll be back for them when I need them,” the poor man told it.

At the parrot’s tree he called, “Parrot!”, and down flew the bird the moment it heard his voice.

“Father!” it cried. “Shall I summon my whole family and all my friends to pick the best rice for you?”

The poor man could see that the parrot meant every word. “I have no need of rice just now,” he said, “but if that day comes, I shall think of you.”

Finally the poor man made his way to the king’s city. As it happened, the new king was parading through the streets on his great white elephant, and he caught sight of him.

“There is that beggar, come to claim the riches I promised,” the king thought. “I must have him put to death before he tells everyone that he once saved my life.”

He summoned his servants. “See that poor fellow?” he said. “Seize him and tie him up. Beat him at every corner as you drag him out of the city, and then cut off his head.”

The servants dared not disobey. They bound the poor man and beat him at corner after corner. He did not cry out. All he said, over and over, was, “Saving poor, weak animals is better than saving a prince.”

At length some wise men among the onlookers asked him which prince he meant. So he told them everything, from the flood to the promises, and finished, “I saved your king’s life, and this pain is my reward.”

The wise men and all the people around them were outraged. “This man rescued our king from the river,” they cried, “and the king repays him with death! Which of us will he turn on next? Perhaps all of us!” In their fury the crowd rose up against the king as he sat on his elephant, and he was killed then and there.

Afterwards the people chose the poor man as their new king and asked him to rule them.

He proved a good and fair ruler. One day he thought he would put the snake, the rat and the parrot to the test a second time. So off he went, with a long line of servants behind him, to the snake’s hole.

He called, and out came the snake. “O King, here is your treasure,” it said. “It is yours to take.”

“I shall take it,” said the king, “and I would like you to come and live with me.” Then his servants dug up all the gold.

Next he called at the rat’s home, and the rat came out and bowed low. “All the coins buried here belong to you,” it said. “Let your servants carry them off.”

“So they shall,” said the king, and he invited the rat to join him and the snake.

Lastly he came to the parrot’s tree and called. The parrot fluttered down and landed at his feet. “O King,” it said, “shall my family and friends and I gather the best rice for you?”

“Not today. When rice is wanted, I’ll tell you,” the king answered. “But will you come along with us?” The parrot gladly agreed.

So the king went home to his city with the gold, the coins, the snake, the rat and the parrot. He had the treasure stored safely in the palace. For the snake he had a tube of gold made to live in, for the rat a little house of glass and for the parrot a golden cage. Every day each of them was given its favourite food, and so the four friends lived happily for the rest of their lives.

Where this tale comes from

Ellen C. Babbitt retold this Jataka tale in More Jataka Tales, a follow-up to her earlier Jataka Tales for children. In her preface she explains that both books were retold from the complete English Jataka produced between 1895 and 1907 by a group of translators led by Professor E. B. Cowell.

In Babbitt’s version the poor man is beaten through the streets and the angry crowd kills the king with arrows and stones. Here both events are told more briefly, without those details.

Read the original: Ellen C. Babbitt, More Jataka Tales (Project Gutenberg #7518, Prince Wicked and the Grateful Animals)

Reading guidance: Ages 9–12 with adult preview; includes servants hoping for a drowning, a public beating, a threatened execution and a king killed by a crowd.

A closer reading

The rescuer serves the animals first because they are weaker, while the prince expects rank to determine priority. The conflict is therefore about two ideas of care: attending to the greatest need or honouring the most powerful person. The prince’s anger reveals that he sees rescue itself as insufficient unless it includes deference.

The animals’ offers differ according to what they can provide. The parrot has no treasure but offers the work of a wider community. When the rescuer visits, he initially accepts none of the gifts; willingness to help is enough to show that the promises were sincere.

The king has not forgotten his rescue. He recognizes the man and deliberately tries to silence him before the story can become public. The onlookers’ question interrupts that concealment and reveals a danger to everyone under his rule. Their violent overthrow is the tale’s resolution, not a general model for settling grievances, just as the rescuer’s bitter comparison does not mean that some lives are unworthy of rescue.

Try this with the story

Make a table of the four promises, the reasons behind them and the later response to a visit. In the king’s row, distinguish forgetting a debt from deliberately suppressing evidence. Discuss how asking the prisoner a question changes what the crowd knows.

Think about it

• Why does the rescuer attend to the animals first?
• How does the parrot offer help without owning gold?
• Does the king forget the rescue, or choose to conceal it?
• What changes when onlookers ask the prisoner to explain his words?

You may also like

• The Hawks And Their Friends — another Jataka tale retold by Ellen C. Babbitt, about animals who help a friend
• The Brahmin and the Cobra — another Indian tale about kindness and gratitude