A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Two merchants each travel with five hundred wagons. After hardship, their oxen reach rich pasture and water; one leading ox urges its companions to stay, while another warns that human power will make resistance costly. The resisting group is brutally beaten and harnessed, whereas the others submit without injury. A deity closes the account with a verse praising the second leader’s advice. That is the moral voiced by this historical narrative; it does not establish that the abuse was justified or that suffering proves an animal deserved it. No transformation, superhuman strength or individual name is supplied.

Speaking draft animals whose leaders debate resistanceBuddhist narrative witness
01

Origins & earliest records

Indian Buddhist narrative preserved in Tibetan translation

02

Records & interpretation

Whole chapter and its footnotes directly read in the digitized1906 edition.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

    F. Anton von Schiefner, Tibetan-to-German translator; W. R. S. Ralston, English translator · 1906

    XXXI, The Stubborn and the Willing Oxen, pp. 321–322; note cites Kah-gyur iv. ff. 248*, 249

  2. 02

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources — XXXI The Stubborn and the Willing Oxen

    Anonymous Buddhist narrative tradition; F. Anton von Schiefner and W.R.S.Ralston, mediated translators · 1906

    Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selectedXXIX–XXXIX314–343, including bothXXXIII variants and all notes, independently read. ChapterXXXVIII read as adjacent corpus context without inventing a new profile; source-language originals not collated.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Schiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources (London, 1906)

XXXI, The Stubborn and the Willing Oxen. XXXI, The Stubborn and the Willing Oxen, pp. 321–322; note cites Kah-gyur iv. ff. 248*, 249

Complete chapter and all notes read. Translation’s canonical locator retained; original Tibetan not independently inspected. Actual endings, explicit identities and comparative material kept separate, with no death/kinship/anatomy inferred beyond the telling.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources

Tibetan Tales Derived from Indian Sources, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1906, title-page transcription independently checked. Tibetan Kah-gyur to German by F. Anton von Schiefner, then German to English by W.R.S.Ralston. Complete selectedXXIX–XXXIX314–343, including bothXXXIII variants and all notes, independently read. ChapterXXXVIII read as adjacent corpus context without inventing a new profile; source-language originals not collated.

  1. Two exhausted caravans find plentiful pasture and water. One lead ox urges resistance to further work; the other advises acceptance because humans can force them. The resisting team is beaten and yoked while bleeding; the compliant team escapes that immediate violence. The ending praises the cautious leader through a deity’s moral verse.

    XXXI The Stubborn and the Willing Oxen, complete321–322; note Kah-gyuriv.ff248*–249

Historical German-mediated English rendering, not independently collated Tibetan manuscript. Page labels from hosted transcription. Religious/moral assertions remain narrative framing. No verse, ritual, prayer, medical preparation or modern adaptation copied.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translation of Buddhist narrativeSchiefner/Ralston, Tibetan Tales (1906), XXXI, The Stubborn and the Willing Oxen, pp. 321–322; note cites Kah-gyur iv. ff. 248*, 249Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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