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Overview

Jacobs’s “The Cruel Crane Outwitted” begins with the Bodhisatta born as the spirit of a tree beside a lotus pond. A crane pretends to rescue fish from a drying pool, but carries them to the Varana tree and eats them. The last passenger, a crab, grips the crane’s neck, discovers the bones and forces it to return to the water before killing it. The tree’s spirit witnesses the outcome and makes the wood resound with praise, voicing a verse against clever wickedness. It neither rescues the fish nor directs the crab’s actions, and no bodily form is described.

The editor’s source note identifies the Baka-Jātaka, Fausböll no. 38, in Rhys Davids’s translation. The spirit is a particular birth-story role of the Bodhisatta; the passage is not evidence that every Varana tree contains the same being. Jacobs’s notes compare different endings in other literary versions, which are not silently substituted for the complete sequence presented here.

Tree dwellingBodhisatta birth-story roleWitness to deceptionAudible moral verse
01

Origins & earliest records

South Asian Buddhist narrative in Jacobs’s English selection from Rhys Davids

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected English narrative and its specific source/comparative notes directly read.

Selected bibliography

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  1. 01

    Indian Fairy Tales

    Joseph Jacobs (selector and editor) · 1892

    VII, “The Cruel Crane Outwitted,” pp. 46–50; notes pp. 241–242. David Nutt, London. Jacobs credits Baka-Jātaka, Fausböll no. 38, through Rhys Davids, pp. 315–321.

Family & connections

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Primary records and illustrations

Complete English primary narrative and editorial notes read

Indian Fairy Tales

Joseph Jacobs, London: David Nutt, 1892. VII, “The Cruel Crane Outwitted,” pp. 46–50; notes pp. 241–242

Master jacobs-indian.html; complete individual chapter and notes cached in data/cache/asia-continuation/. Attribution follows Jacobs’s explicit source note: Baka-Jātaka, Fausböll no. 38, through Rhys Davids, pp. 315–321. Page locators from transcription; original printed scans and source-language texts not collated. No image verification or reuse claimed.

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References

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  1. Historical English literary adaptationJacobs, Indian Fairy Tales (1892) — VII, “The Cruel Crane Outwitted,” pp. 46–50; notes pp. 241–242Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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