Indian Epics by Reid

Once upon a time, a man and his son were travelling across the United States. Stopping when needed at hotels, they slowly made their way stat by state. When they reached Oklahoma, they hadn't taken into account graduation season! All the hotels were booked and they were beginning to lose hope. One of the hotel managers mentioned that he knew where they could stay, but that there are rumors that it's haunted. Having no fear of ghosts, the two decide it would be fine to spend the night there. Shortly after settling in, they here a knock on the door. A strange man in a long, black cape stood outside. He said he too was a weary traveler and this is the only place he could find to stay. This man and his son did not want visitors, so they told him to go away. The man, starting to look desperate said if he could just step in for a minute he would be alright. The man at the door asks why he's so persistent to get an invitation into the house, and that's when he remembered tho...

Out of all the Jataka tales, this one came across, to me, as the most sad. In this story, a Lion and Jackal have a baby that looks like a lion, but sounds like a jackal. The hybrid would pretend to be a lion, by never speaking up. One time, during a game with real lions, he thought he would be able to scare the lions with his roar, but all he let out was a jackal's yelp! He was quickly shunned and forced away from the lions who were much stronger. He learned from that day forward to stay silent and not try to talk back to those who were stronger than him. This is one of the stories that felt like it missed the mark to me. I know it's supposed talk about not talking back to those you shouldn't talk back to, but it comes across as being born different and not being able to be yourself. From: Silence is Golden by W. H. D. Rouse Jackal

This was a very odd story, but one that stuck out to me while reading the Rouse stories. In this story, a goblin haunts a house and lies in wait to eat people, but there's a catch. The goblin can't eat people unless they sneeze, and on top of that, he can't eat them if they get blessed. If the person who sneezed doesn't bless the person back, the goblin can then eat the person who said the original "bless you." So 2 people enter the house he haunts, but neither are sneezing. The goblin puts a fine dust in the air to force one to sneeze, but just before eating him, the other blesses him. Then just before he eats the other, the man blesses him back. They talk to the goblin saying that he should not prey on humans and end up convincing it to become a vegetarian! What a weird twist! On top of that he becomes loyal to the guys, much like a cat! This strange story caught my eye and shows the importance of not taking advantage of people. it also touches on how go...