India
Folk tales from the diverse traditions of India.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Magic Grove of Wishes
The Magic Grove of Wishes: There existed, in the regions beyond the mapped world, a place that legends spoke of but few had ever found - a grove of trees so
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Blind Men and the Elephant
The Blind Men and the Elephant: In a city famous for its universities and temples, there lived six blind men who were considered among the most learned in the
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
King Shibi and the Dove
King Shibi and the Dove: In a kingdom known throughout the ancient world for the justice and compassion of its ruler, there reigned a King named Shibi. joins a
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Clever Monkey and the Crocodile
The dual-rooted Indian fable of Raktamukha — "Red-Faced," the rhesus macaque of the jambū tree — and his crocodile friend Karālamukha, "Hideous-Mouthed," who carries him out into the river to be eaten on his wife's orders. The tale comes to us through two ancient traditions at once: the Buddhist Pali Canon as Suṃsumāra-Jātaka 208 (with two further variants, Vānarinda 57 and Vānara 342), and the Hindu Panchatantra as the FRAME story of Book IV, Labdhapraṇāśam. It is not, as is often claimed, a tale of Aesop. The Sanskrit names are restored, the Buddhist Devadatta frame is explained, the jambū rose-apple tree replaces the modern misattributed mango, and the story's two-thousand-year journey through Pahlavi, Arabic (where the crocodile becomes a tortoise), Persian, Hebrew, Latin, and finally into European folklore is traced. ATU 91.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Wedge-Pulling Monkey
The Wedge-Pulling Monkey: In a great forest of central India, where enormous trees grew close together and the undergrowth formed an intricate maze of paths
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Lion and the Clever Jackal
The Lion and the Clever Jackal: In a great forest of India, where the sal trees grew tall and ancient and the undergrowth was dense with life, there dwelt a
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Washerman’s Donkey
The Washerman's Donkey: In a village that existed on the boundary between civilization and wilderness, there lived a washerman named Hari who owned a donkey
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Four Brahmins and the Lion
The Four Brahmins and the Lion: In the city of Vikramapura, not far from the banks of the Godavari River, there lived four Brahmin scholars who had been
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Golden Deer of the Forest
The Golden Deer of the Forest: In the ancient kingdom of Ayodhya, there ruled a king named Devendra, whose palace stood white and gleaming against the backdrop
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Savitri and the Lord of Death
Savitri and the Lord of Death: In the kingdom of Madra, along the banks of the great Sutlej River, there lived a princess of unparalleled virtue and wisdom.
Hitopadesha
Ages 3-5
The Tiger, the Brahmin, and the Jackal
The Tiger, the Brahmin, and the Jackal: In a time when the sacred teachings of the Vedas still echoed through the forests, there lived a learned Brahmin named
Hitopadesha
Ages 3-5
The Merchant’s Foolish Friend: A Hitopadesha Story of Honesty and Accountability
The Merchant's Foolish Friend: A Hitopadesha Story of Honesty and Ac: In a bustling city along the ancient trade routes, where merchants gathered to exchange