Reading Notes, Jataka Tales, Part A: The Sandy Road

Rub' al Khali, the largest sand desert on earth.

(Source: Wikipedia Commons) 

There once was a merchant that was traveling through a desert to get to a port where he would sell his goods. The sun was burning down in the desert during the day, making the sand feel as hot as the top of a stove. Because men and their oxen could not bear the pain of walking on the sand, the merchant and his men would walk all night once the sun went down and when the sun would come out, they would stop somewhere and rest in the shade. Every day, the merchant and his men would walk through the desert when the sun came out, led by the pilot of the drivers. After the sun came out, they yoked their oxen, put up awnings, built fires,  cooked food and then relaxed until they would continue their journey at sun down. One day when they were relaxing during the day, the merchant told his men that the next day, they would reach the port so they could pour out their water and throw away their firewood since they wouldn't need it and it would relieve some of the weight on the oxen. They did exactly what the merchant suggested and started to walk toward the port at sundown.

As they were on their last walk through the desert to get to the port, the pilot felt asleep while he was drive the cart of oxen since "sleeping" during the daytime when the sun was out wasn't working for him and he wasn't getting enough sleep. When they sun began to rise, the pilot woke up and saw that they had traveled all night in the same direction that they came from. He told all the drivers to stop and they unyoked the oxen, but there was no water for them to drink so they laid down, thirsty and tired, along with the traveling men. The merchant knew that the men would not survive if they didn't find water and that they would die right there in the forest so he walked and walked until he saw a blade of grass growing from the ground. He knew that the grass wouldn't be able to grow without water so he ran back to the men and got them to return to the grass with him with shovels. They dug and they dug until they hi a rock. One of the men put their ear to the rock and they could hear running water under it.They hit at the rock over and over again until it broke and water spewed out. Then men drank the water and gave some to their oxen and they set up a flag on the well that they created for the next travelers to come across it and continued on their journey.

Source: The Sandy Road - Jataka Tales by Ellen Babbitt