The best of children’s folktales, fables, animal lore, folklore, myths, fairy tales and legends from around the world! Discover our collected tales for kids from India, China, Burma and many other countries… Some of these tales will make you think, some will make you laugh, some will make you wonder, but almost all of them have hidden wisdom for you to discover!
99 items in this section. Displaying page 3 of 10
How Monkeys Got their Red Bottoms
Once upon a time there was a group of twelve boys and girls who lived in a village called Dancing. After dinner everyday they would light a fire and dance. One evening a monkey came and sat in a corner. He was wearing a smart safari suit with a stylish hat. He had a banjo in his hand, with which he played melodious music. He played so well that no one realised that he was a monkey....
The Elephants who Showed Off
A long long time ago, elephants had small, shiny and beautiful noses. Vain that they were, they would always turn their noses up in the air when they passed by any other animal. They were plain show-offs. Naturally, the other animals did not like this very much. Finally, one clever monkey decided to do something about it. He went up to the wise hermit who lived on the mountain and asked him if there was some way to make the elephants’ noses long and ugly....
The Elephant's Nose
There was a time, when the elephant’s nose was no bigger than a boot that he could wriggle from side to side. But an elephant’s child changed all that. He was a curious fellow who asked ever so many questions. He asked the ostrich why her tail feathers grew just so. He asked the giraffe what made his skin spotty. He asked the hippo why his eyes were red, and the baboon why melons tasted as they did....
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....
Silence is Golden
Once upon a time, a Chinese student once went to his teacher. He asked his teacher a question: “Sir, is there any good in talking a lot?” The teacher replied: “Toads and frogs croak night and day, but no one pays any attention to them. But the cock crows at a certain time of night and wakes up everyone.” Silence is Golden [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] The teacher smiled at his student and said, “This proves that no good is achieved by talking a lot....
The Foolish Thief
The moon was like a giant fluorescent light in the sky. It was a full moon night. And a foolish thief was getting ready to rob a villager’s house. He located the house he had decided upon and tip-toed inside. From the silvery world of moonlight outside, he had entered a dark room. He could not even see his own hand or foot. But on the wall near the roof, there was a ventilator. The moon’s rays came sliding through it to create a circle of light....
Dream Palace
Clown, jester, poet…Tenali Rama, minister in the court of the ruler of Vijaynagar, Krishnadeva Rai (reign: 1509-30), was a multi-faceted personality. 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 are in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka today. Tenali Rama was also a great scholar of several languages that included Marathi, Tamil and Kannada....
Tenali Rama the Messenger
Clown, jester, poet…Tenali Rama, minister in the court of the ruler of Vijaynagar, Krishnadeva Rai (reign: 1509-30), was a multi-faceted personality. 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....
The Honest Thief
There was once a cunning thief, Bhairav, who always planned his moves carefully. One day he decided to rob the holy men who came to the local temple from far off lands for the temple’s annual festival. He calculated that all these people came from distant towns, so they must be carrying lots of money. So Bhairav dressed up like a holy man and went to attend the festival. At the temple, he slowly made friends with one particular person who appeared to be wealthy....
Stripes Tiger and the Boy
“Once upon a time… Stories start like that don’t they? Our story, too, starts like that as my grandma didn’t know when it happened." Once upon a time, there lived a boy called Rahul in a village. One day, he was walking down a path when he came upon a large tiger trapped in a wooden cage. The villagers had caught him for stealing lambs. “Hey mister!” cried the tiger as soon as he saw Rahul, “I am so thirsty....