# X: The Soothsayer’s Son explained — Indian Fairy Tales

> Chapter companion for Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs.

## What happens

A story of ingratitude, contrasting the gratitude of beasts with the ingratitude of man, traced from ancient Indian sources through the Jatakas to medieval European collections like the Gesta Romanorum, and even cited by Richard Cœur de Lion to rebuke ungrateful English nobles.

## Themes in this chapter

### Gratitude and Ingratitude

Central theme contrasting the gratitude of beasts (lion, serpent) with the ingratitude of man (Vitalis), used by Richard Cœur de Lion to rebuke ungrateful nobles.

### Cultural Transmission and Borrowing

The story's journey from ancient Indian Jatakas to medieval European chronicles illustrates the cross-cultural transmission of folktales.

## Character check-ins

### The Lion

Appears in the parallel story told by Richard Cœur de Lion, where a lion is saved from a pit and shows gratitude by bringing a leveret.

### Buddha

Referenced as the ultimate source of the tale through the 'Karma Jātaka' and 'Saccankira Jātaka', indicating the story's ancient Buddhist origins.

## Key lines

> Haec referebat Rex Richardus munificus, ingratos redarguendo.

This story was told by the generous King Richard, rebuking the ungrateful.

_Latin phrase from Matthew Paris, highlighting the moral use of the tale by Richard Cœur de Lion._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se/chapters/x-the-soothsayer-s-son
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/indian_fairy_tales_se/chapters