Bibliography: Babbitt Jataka Tales. Story: A Measure of Rice
Notes: I really like the concept behind this story for a couple of different reasons. First, I great up listening to and reading lots of Aesop's Fables, so I have a soft spot for moralistic tales. What is interesting about this story is that there are actually a couple of different morals that it is possible to identify. There is that of the foolish king who did not appreciate the good work of his subjects and was greedy. There is also something of a moral behind the story of the valuer himself. He is thrust into a position that he is completely unprepared and untrained for, and after he tries to do his best with the situation that he has been put in he is ridiculed and banished from court!
I also think another interesting thing that would be possible to explore in a story is that of "what are things worth?" While in our current society and our current positions, we may knw what has value to us and to society (dollar bills have value), it is interesting to think about how what has value can change across cultures, with age, and even simple designation (dollar bills only have value because we have all agreed that they do). I think it could be interesting to do a story in which the greedy king is represented by the government, and then to talk about the arbitrary designation of "value." This would be easy to do in the context of inflation (what is "one dollar" actually worth and the fact that it cost more than a penny to make a penny). The similarities do not stop there, unfortunately, as the process of inflation in the United States has made the US dollar much lass powerful globally. This could be a parallel to the other members of the court laughing at the king (other countries and the US).
(Masked Ben Franklin. Source: Pixabay)
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