The first story that really stood out to me in this section was The Crow that Thought It Knew. First I thought it was interesting that the main characters were crows. Buddhists believe in reincarnation so I wonder if this was written as a message to show the consequences of one's actions. I 'll explain. The crow seeks the king,Viraka, crows help for getting food. After a while though, the little crow thinks he no longer needs Viraka's help anymore for hunting in the water. So, he died from his pride by trying to go into the water and drowned. Biddhism is all bout reaching Nirvana. I think possibly that this story was written to show that even after a person is reincarnated, their actions still effect them. The road to nirvana is a long and hard one. Also here's a side note. You are reincarnated into a certain animal based on how you have lived your life.
The second story that caught my attention was The Poisonous Trees. A group of men decide to journey through the wilderness, but their greatest threat is not the wild. Their greatest threat is the trees. Much of the fruit on the trees are poisonous and only the men's leader can discern what is and isn't good to eat. Again I am fascinated at the creativity of these writers! I took world religions class at my first college and we talked about Buddha and his awakening experience underneath a tree. Shiva, known as the destroyer, showed up to Buddha when he was under the tree for his awakening experience. Shiva tried to stop him from reaching nirvana. So, I think that's what the writer reflected in this story. They showed trees as being the destroyers of men as a symbol/message I believe. I think the writer tried to show that all men must watch how they conduct themselves because they never know where something may be hiding seeking to "destroy" them if you will. This could be a person being destroyed emotionally, mentally, physically, etc.
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