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ately toward a traditional enemy (a hunter), the major focus of the story is not on forbearance but on devotion and the need to develop good friendships and virtue (see especially 22.150 [93]-156 [99]). While one might argue that the protagonists’ preservation of virtue in a testing situation represents a type of forbearance, or that the geese show for-bearance by offering friendship to those who have tried to wrong them, there seems no particular reason why the story should primarily reflect forbearance rather than virtue. It is also noteworthy that the term ksanti (“forbearance”) is never mentioned in the narrative itself, including the epilogue’s discussion of topics covered by the tale. While forbearance is therefore an important theme in stories 21–30, it is not central to all the narratives and the perfection structure appears weaker here than in the first twenty tales.

Friends, Enemies and Virtuous Company

Connected to the notion of forbearance is the theme of friendship and its related motifs of gratitude, treachery and proper companionship. In numerous stories, friendship and gratitude are extolled while treachery is criticized. ‘The Birth-Story of the Great Monkey’ (24) offers a typical example, in which a man, inflicted with the karmic punishment of leprosy for betraying the Bodhi·sattva (a monkey), explains to a king the reason for his grotesque appearance: __________________________

What you see before you is only

the flower of my betrayal of friendship.

The fruit will surely be different,

something far worse than this.