This is my third Jataka tale to read as extra credit. I just love these stories.
A king, in a chariot pulled by six white horses, enters a city.
He returned the horses to the stables.
He left the chariot and harnesses in the courtyard of the city.
It was a rainy night and everyone was asleep.
Some dogs saw the leather harnesses in the middle of the courtyard and got excited.
They were going to play with them.
They sneaked quietly into the courtyard, chewed up the harnesses, and left before anyone even noticed they were there.
The stable keepers where furious when they found these shreds of leather that were once harnesses.
They were scared to tell the king what had happened.
They told the king and accused the dogs of tearing up the straps.
The king told the stable keepers to kill all of the dogs in the city.
There were 700 dogs in the city.
The leader of the dogs said that the guilty dogs should be killed but the innocent ones should keep their lives.
Nobody could kill the leader dog as he approached the king's gates because of the love that was in his eyes.
The guards even let him through the palace gates.
The leader dog spoke on behalf of the dogs of the city.
He asked the king why so many innocent dogs should pay for the crimes of a few.
You see, the only dogs that the king was going to let live was the royal dogs.
The leader dog argued that the dogs of the city could not have entered the palace gates.
Therefore, it must have been the palace dogs that chewed up the harnesses.
The palace dogs were then brought before the king at the court of justice.
When they were given food, they ate.
When they ate, pieces of leather fell out of their mouths.
The palace dogs were proved guilty.
The city dogs were given rich food and were cared for for the rest of their lives.
Bibliography
The Guilty Dogs from Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat
Image Information: A Guilty Dog: Flickr
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