This is an ongoing series with Jataka stories told by Margo McLoughlin. Jatakas are native to India and belong to the first Buddhist literature concerning the previous births of the Buddha in both human and animal form. The first story in our series, The Crow Birth (Kāka-Jātaka) is Jataka no. 140 in the seven-volume series of translations, edited by E. B. Cowell. Margo translated and adapted this story. Her version is published in The Giving Heart: Folktales for Exploring Generosity, available through margostoryteller.net.

Margo McLoughlin is a storyteller, writer and teacher, based in Victoria, on the west coast of Canada. While on staff at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, Margo began studying Pali, the language of the earliest Buddhist teachings. For the past twenty years she has been translating, adapting and performing the Jataka tales and other stories from the Buddhist tradition. For more about Margo, please visit: margostoryteller.net.