“I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”, The ox muttered to himself as he pulled the wagons down the road for his master. This ox was the strongest ox in all the land. He was so strong that his master would brag to anyone he saw that he had the strongest ox of all the world. In fact, his master would see other men and their oxen and laugh at them saying, “That’s nothing compared to what my ox can pull!”. Nobody believed this man though, they knew him as the poor, crazy man from the farm out north. But every night the man would go to sleep boasting still about his mighty ox.
One day the man came up with a brilliant idea. He would go prove his ox to the world. “Come on my beautiful ox! We are going to show the world of your strength!”. As they made it into the town the man boasted proudly of his ox. “My ox is the strongest in the world! If he can pull one hundred wagons, pay me one thousand silver pieces!”, the man shouted to the people in the village.
“There is no way you ox can do that! I will take you up on your bet!”, the villager laughed and laid down one thousand silver coins. They hitched up one hundred wagons to the yoke of the ox and sat back to watch the show.
“Come on, you rascal! Move! Get off your butt and go!” The master began to yell at his ox and whipping him to make him move.
“What the heck?! My master has never said such cruel words, I will not move for him”, the ox thought to himself. After many minutes of this, the master conceded defeat and paid the one thousand coins. The two of them went home and went to bed without a word to each other. The next morning the master went to the ox, “Hey buddy. So, uh, you wanna tell me what happened yesterday? You have always been able to pull more than what was yoked up yesterday.”.
“You were being a jerk. Why on earth would I move for someone calling me foul names and whipping me? I am a strong ox, I don't need to be treated like a dumb ox.” The ox replied.
“You are right,” the master said, “I will never treat you like that again. I am sorry.”.
“If you yoke me back up and take me to the village I will win you your prize, just don't be a jerk this time, okay?”, the ox said to his master and they began to make their way to the village.
As they approached the village they saw the man they bet against yesterday. “Come to lose more money? I am willing to lay down double today!”, he said to them.
“Deal!”, said the master, “Yoke him up!”. And they yoked up the ox and began to watch as the wagons began to move.
“I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.”, The ox was muttering to himself over and over. And the wagons were moving forcefully one after the other, until the last stood where the first was originally. All of the villager’s jaws had dropped and the master of the ox took his winnings. They went home happily and celebrated their winnings together.
"Get along, you Rascal"
Author’s note:
So in my story today, I decided to tell about The Ox Who Won the Forfeit. I wanted to tell this story because I found it very interesting when I originally read it. I didn't want to change much of the story, but I did want to tell it with more dialogue than was originally given. I thought that one major change I would add was a simple “I think I can.”, to what the ox was saying to himself as he was pulling his yoke. The first thing I thought of when I read that an ox was pulling so much as Thomas the Train when he would go up the hills. I thought that it would give it a comic relief, but also bring back memories to a lot of people who might have at least seen the show back when they were kids. I think that being able to add this simple change in made the story a little more fun. Also I decided on having more dialogue about how I would think that the situation would play out between the ox and his master. I think that as well gave it more comic relief than just the seriousness of the original story.
The Jataka Tales of India
Ellen C. Babbitt
