Most of the tales in Part B were ones I had not read before, so I enjoyed this reading more than the first. Because of this, there were multiple tales that stood out to me, but I think the one that stood out the most was "The King's White Elephant".
To me, I could glean no discernable message. The ending was sad! The White Elephant had to leave his friends and the life his father knew all because the king wanted him. Plus, how was is that the king paid the workers for the White Elephant, when the elephant did not belong to them? That made no sense. The elephants had done these men a favor for so many years, and at the first sign of money from the king they gave it up.
I think that if I were to rewrite this story, I would make the carpenters much better friends to the White Elephant than they were in this tale. They would refuse to accept money for the elephant, for they did not own him, and they would not want to sell him since he is friends with their children and he helps them out. Plus, they were close with his father too. I think I would want to write this from the White Elephant's point of view.
Bibliography: "The King's White Elephant" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, pg. 69-73. Link: Internet Archive
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