While many of the Jataka tales in this reading seemed familiar to me from the original Jataka tales reading at the beginning of the semester, there were some that seemed new.
One such "new" tale was "The Merchant of Seri". I really enjoyed this tale, not only for it being the first time I'd read it, but also just the tale in general. I enjoy tales about good and honest people getting the riches that bad and dishonest people try to steal. My favorite part was that the good merchant gave the grandmother and granddaughter countless items, so that now they have things.
I did not fully like how the granddaughter kept bugging her grandmother to buy her something and use the only thing they had left to do so. I do not know if the fact it was listed as "the only thing...left of all of their riches" (page 13) meant that they still had food and clothing and other such necessities, but it seemed to me that the girl was a bit selfish.
However, it seems the grandmother did not mind much, and they ended up with many different things that they can hopefully sell to have a better life. And, I also enjoyed how the good merchant was able to escape to a new city and have a better life for himself, too! The only character who did not have a happy ending was the bad merchant.
If I were to tell someone this story as a learning method, I would think the message it imparts is that "honesty will give you more riches than dishonesty", or something along those lines.
I think I'd want to rewrite this story in a more modern setting! It would be interesting to apply the same lesson to modern times.
Bibliography: "The Merchant of Seri" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, pg. 13-17. Link: Internet Archive
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