Reading Notes B Week 15

The Mallard that Asked for Too Much

Buddha was reborn as a Brahmin, and married a woman with whom he had three daughters.  After his death, he was reborn as a Golden Mallard and he was determined to give his golden feathers one at a time to his wife and daughters so they could live comfortably.  He tells them who he is and what he is doing, and they soon become quite wealthy.

However, one day, the mother is like: “You can’t trust animals, girls.  Let’s pluck him so we can make sure we get all those gold feathers.”

His daughters aren’t sure about that because they don’t want to hurt him.  So the mother is left to do it on her own.  She plucks the mallard all by herself, like the personification of green, but she is plucking the feathers against the duck’s wishes.

The feathers cease to be golden and become like crane’s feathers.  His wings do grow back but they are plain white.  The father-Mallard leaves and never comes back to his greedy wife or three kind daughters.

Image from Golden Mallard Twitter