Panchatantra Stories
The Panchatantra, or Five Books, is a Sanskrit collection framed around instruction in practical judgment and the art of ruling. Traditionally associated with the teacher Vishnu Sharma, it uses animals and people to explore friendship, manipulation, conflict and decisions made too quickly. Its stories travelled widely through translation.
Sources here include Arthur W. Ryder’s 1925 English translation. The individual notes explain the selected telling; a character’s successful trick is not always a model of fair behaviour.
52 stories are in this collection right now.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
King Joy and Secretary Splendor
A secretary shaves his head and a king neighs like a horse to win back their angry wives, and the secretary's rhyme gives the game away.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Camel, the Jackal and the Crow
A lost camel finds safety at a lion's court, but when the lion grows hungry, his crow, jackal and panther hatch a sly plan to make the camel offer himself.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Cobra and the Crows
A black snake keeps eating the crows' chicks, so the father crow thinks up a plan that uses a prince's golden anklet to bring the snake's hiding place to light.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Crane and the Crab
An old heron pretends fishermen are coming, eats the fish he claims to rescue, then dies when a crab sees bones on the rock.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Elephant and the Sparrow
A careless elephant smashes a sparrow’s nest, and the grieving mother joins with a woodpecker, a gnat and a frog to bring the giant down.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Jackal at the Ram-Fight
A greedy jackal licks blood between two fighting rams and is crushed, while the monk who laughs at him is being robbed by his own disciple.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 3-5
The Jackal and the Drum
A hungry jackal hears a great booming noise on an old battlefield, and instead of running away, he creeps closer to find out what is making it.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The King and the Foolish Monkey
A king makes his pet monkey his sword-bearer, and when a bee lands on the sleeping king, the monkey’s foolish swing ends in disaster.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Story of the Blue Jackal
A hungry jackal falls into a dyer’s indigo vat, rules the forest as a blue king, then howls with his own kind and is torn to pieces.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Tale of Three Fishes
Three fish overhear fishermen planning to net their lake, and each one meets the danger differently: one swims off, one keeps calm, and one does nothing.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 6-8
Meeting a New Friend
A crow flies his friend the mouse to meet an old tortoise, and while the mouse tells how he lost his treasure, a frightened deer comes running out of the trees.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Brahmin’s Wife and the Sesame Seeds
A poor Brahmin warns his wife against hoarding with the tale of a greedy jackal, but when she sets out her sesame seeds to dry, a stray dog spoils the lot.