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The Boy and the Wolf
A boy was standing on the roof of his house, looking down at the valley below. His house was the last of a row of houses. Beyond it stretched a dark and menacing jungle. Although he had been living in the valley all his life, the boy had never stepped inside the jungle. He had heard that it was full of wild animals that ate up any human they came across. He could see the forest from his window....
The Favour
There lived a wolf called Lalu in the Himalayan forests. Lalu was very mean and selfish. He thought only about himself and none of the other animals liked him. The rest of the wolf pack also avoided meeting him. At most, they would say a polite ‘Hello’ and then go their own way. After all, when they were hungry, Lalu never offered to share his meal. So the wolves avoided him, as they did not want to be impolite....
Why Monkeys Mean Trouble
In the village of Sholingur in Tamil Nadu, is a temple dedicated to the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. The temple is on top of a small hill. In and around the hill in the thick forest live a group of monkeys. All they do is scare people and create trouble — even when people worship them as symbols of Hanuman. And there’s a story behind why they create trouble.… The story goes back a long time....
How Humans Got Eyes
Retold from ‘When the World was Young’ by Verrier Elwin When God created humans, he forgot to add eyes so that they could see. Most people had a very tough time as a result. They couldn’t walk without tumbling and tripping over each other. Life was so difficult. People couldn’t see where they were going, what they were eating, who they were meeting. The Earth used to be beautiful then. There were fragrant flowers, colourful birds and butterflies, dense, green forests, and clear, gurgling streams....
The Sweet-Mad Hero
A North Indian folktale retold Shyam was a worried man. He had to go to Rampur on work. It happened to be his in-laws village. Shyam intended to stay with them. But being newly married he hardly knew his in-laws. His wife, too, was not accompanying him. Shy Shyam was really worried! He thought hard for a while. Then he smiled. He would force his friend, Karan, to accompany him! “Of course I’ll come with you!...
How The Coconut Came To Myanmar
Myanmar (then called Burma) is known as the golden land of gold dome pagodas and swaying coconut trees. Coconut trees were originally called ‘gon-bin’ in Myanmar language, which translated in English means the mischief-maker’s tree. Why it is known by this most unusual name, is because once centuries ago, a raft carrying three people landed on the Burmese coast. The people on board this raft were taken to the king. On questioning them the king learnt that they had been banished from their own kingdom because of the crimes they had committed....
A Crocodile Named Rain Cloud
A folktale from Myanmar Once upon a time there was an old fisherman Ye Myint and his wife Aye Aye Se who lived by the river Irrawady. Every day they cast their net and caught fish, which they sold at the local market. The old man and his wife did not have any children. One day while fishing as usual, Ye Myint cast his net and waited for the catch. He was surprised to get only an egg....
The Travellers
In a temple city in south India, lived a group of young merchants who wanted to become rich. They had often heard about traders who had amassed a great deal of wealth in the course of their travels across the world. So, one fine day, the merchants set out on a long journey in quest of riches and engaged in trade. Unfortunately though, they did not become as rich as they had thought they would. Worse, they had spent more money on their travels than they had earned in the course of their trade – and that was galling....
The Jester and the Stranger's Language
Maharaja Krishna Chandra was the king of Bengal during the middle ages. It was customary for kings in those days to patronise talented people. So every king had his own court poets, artists, singers, town planners, architects and what have you. And plenty of ministers to advise him on different matters. And every king had a court jester. The jester was a very important person for his ability to make people laugh and feel happy. The king had a lot of serious work to do, lots of difficult problems to solve and deal carefully with rival kings!...
Tenali Rama and the Brinjal
Clown, jester, poet…Tenali Rama, minister in the court of the ruler of Vijaynagar, Krishnadeva Rai (reign: 1509-30), was a lot of things. Stories, about Tenali Rama and his practical jokes on everyone around him including distinguished fellow poets and the emperor himself, abound in south India. His fame spread beyond Vijaynagar (present-day Andhra Pradesh), to areas that come in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka today. Tenali Rama was also a great scholar of several languages that included Marathi, Tamil and Kannada....