_Source._--The Baka-Jataka, Fausböll, No. 38, tr. Rhys-Davids, pp.
315-21. The Buddha this time is the Genius of the Tree.
[Illustration:]
_Parallels._--This Jataka got into the Bidpai literature, and
occurs in all its multitudinous offshoots (_see_ Benfey, _Einleitung_,
§ 60) among others in the earliest English translation by North (my
edition, pp. 118-22), where the crane becomes "a great Paragone of
India (of those that liue a hundredth yeares and neuer mue their
feathers)." The crab, on hearing the ill news "called to Parliament
all the Fishes of the Lake," and before all are devoured destroys the
Paragon, as in the Jataka, and returned to the remaining fishes, who
"all with one consent gave hir many a thanke."
_Remarks._--An interesting point, to which I have drawn attention in
my Introduction to North's Bidpai, is the probability that the
illustrations of the tales as well as the tales themselves, were
translated, so to speak, from one country to another. We can trace
them in Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic MSS., and a few are extant on
Buddhist Stupas. Under these circumstances, it may be of interest to
compare with Mr. Batten's conception of the Crane and the Crab
(_supra_, p. 50) that of the German artist who illustrated the first
edition of the Latin Bidpai, probably following the traditional
representations of the MS., which itself could probably trace back to
India.