The King's Chariot Horse
Also known as Bhojajaniya Jataka
- 3 minute read
- Ages 8-12
- Jataka Tales
Seven kings surrounded the city of Benares and demanded that its king surrender or fight.
The king had one great warhorse, a Sindh horse of the finest kind, and one knight who rode him, and between them they were worth more than the rest of the army.
The plan was simple. They would break out through each of the seven camps in turn.
Six camps
They took the first camp before dawn and brought its king back a prisoner.
Then the second. Then the third. The horse and the rider went through six camps in one morning, one after another, and six kings were sitting in the palace by noon.
On the way out of the sixth, the horse took a spear in the side.
The knight brought him back into the city and got him down onto the ground at the gate, and began to loosen his armour, and called for another horse to be saddled for the seventh camp.
What the horse said
The horse turned his head and stopped him.
"Which horse are you taking?"
The knight named one.
"He will not do it," said the horse. "Not because he is not brave. Because he has not done the other six and does not know that it can be done. You will go in expecting him to behave the way I behaved, and he will not, and you will both be killed and the seventh king will take this city."
"You are wounded."
"I am wounded, and I can do it once more," said the horse. "Put the armour back on and tighten it hard, because I am going to bleed and I would rather it stayed inside for another hour."
The seventh camp
The knight put the armour back on.
They took the seventh camp and brought back the seventh king, and the siege of Benares ended before the afternoon.
And in the courtyard the knight got the armour off him properly and the horse lay down.
The king came out.
What he asked for
The horse asked for one thing, and it was not for himself.
"The seven kings in your prison," he said. "Do not kill them. Take an oath from each of them and send them home. You have beaten all seven in a single day and every one of them knows it, and there is nothing further to prove."
The king said he had intended to execute them.
"I know," said the horse. "That is why I am asking now."
Moral of the story
He finished the job wounded because he was the only one who knew it could be finished. Then he spent the last thing he had on seven men he had just defeated.
Questions and answers
- What was the plan to break the siege?
The knight and the warhorse would break out through each of the seven enemy camps in turn.
- How many camps did they take before the horse was wounded?
Six, all in one morning.
- Why did the horse object to a different horse being used?
Because the other horse had not done the first six and would not know it could be done, so he would not behave the same way.
- What did the horse ask the knight to do?
Put his armour back on and tighten it hard, to keep the bleeding inside for another hour.
- What did the horse ask the king for?
That the seven captured kings be made to swear an oath and sent home rather than executed.
Word meanings
- siege
- Surrounding a city to force it to surrender.
- knight
- A soldier who fights on horseback.
- armour
- Protective covering worn in battle.
- oath
- A serious formal promise.
Questions about The King's Chariot Horse
What is the moral of The King's Chariot Horse?
That doing your duty completely is not the same as doing it to the end and then asking for mercy for the other side. The story values the second more.
Is the battle described violently?
No. Six camps are covered in two sentences and the wound is a single clause. The story is about the conversation, not the fighting.
Why does the horse ask at that particular moment?
He says so himself: because he is dying, and the king will not refuse him now. It is a deliberate use of the only leverage he has left.
What is this tale called in the original?
The Bhojajaniya Jataka, named after the breed of horse.