Tales of the Sun (South India)
Tales of the Sun; or, Folklore of Southern India was published in 1890 and credits Mrs. Howard Kingscote and Pandit Natesa Sastri as its collectors. Its stories include Brahmins, kings, tricksters and tests of fortune, filtered through the collection’s nineteenth-century publication.
The retellings retain the narrative while examining assumptions about status, gender and punishment where they arise. Use the individual audience guidance, since the collection is not uniformly suited to family reading.
29 stories are in this collection right now.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Why Brahmans Cannot Eat in the Dark
On his wedding night a young bridegroom is caught by a crocodile and begs to be let go until midnight, but his clever bride follows him with a hidden lamp.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Keep It for the Beggar
Every night a farmer asks his wife to save some dhal soup for his breakfast, until one night an invisible someone laughs out loud at his words.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Beggar and the Five Muffins
A poor beggar and his wife make five muffins and cannot agree who gets the extra one, so they agree that whoever speaks first will get only two.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Brahman Priest Who Became an Amildar
A king makes his household priest a district governor and gives him three pieces of advice, which the priest follows word for word, with ridiculous results.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Brahmarakshas and the Hair
A greedy landlord calls up a giant demon servant who must always have work, and when the work runs out, only his wife knows how to keep it busy.
Indian Folk Tales
The Brahmin Girl Who Married a Tiger
A tiger disguises himself as a learned young man and deceives a family into marriage. Threatened and isolated in the forest, the young wife sends a crow to summon her brothers.
Indian Folk Tales
Charity Alone Conquers
A kind prince keeps forgiving the cruel friend who blinded him and left him for dead, until that friend’s own wicked schemes catch up with him in the end.
Indian Folk Tales
The Wonderful Mango Fruit
A pet parrot fetches youth-giving mangoes from beyond seven oceans; a rash king’s cruelty costs the bird, though age and sight are restored.
Indian Folk Tales
The Story of Appayya
A timid Brahman is hailed as a mighty hero after a string of lucky accidents, from a hundred robbers to a lioness and a runaway horse.
Indian Folk Tales
The Three Calamities
Minister Bodhaditya hears Kali weep over three threats to the king; he averts arrows, poisoned rice, and a serpent, then proves loyalty.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Three Deaf Men
A deaf husband, his deaf wife and a deaf shepherd talk at cross purposes over cabbage and a lost cow, until a sharp stranger walks off with the calf.
Indian Folk Tales
The Soothsayer’s Son
Left nothing but a gloomy horoscope by his father, young Gangazara sets out to meet his fate, helped by a tiger, a snake and a rat he saved from a well.