All Stories
Browse our complete collection of folk tales, Panchatantra stories, and moral stories from around the world.
Jataka Tales
Ages 6-8
The King’s White Elephant
An elephant helped by carpenters repays them with work, and his playful white son is loved by their children until the king buys him for himself.
Jataka Tales
Ages 6-8
The Hawks and Their Friends
When hunters camp beneath their nest and plan to eat their chicks, two hawks call on a Kingfisher, a Turtle and a Lion, and each friend comes to help.
Jataka Tales
Ages 6-8
How the Monkey Saved His Troop
When a king’s archers surround a mango tree full of monkeys, their Chief stretches across the river and lets the whole troop run to safety over his back.
Jataka Tales
Ages 6-8
The Golden Goose: A Jataka Tale
A golden goose gives a poor family one feather at a time, until the greedy mother plucks him bare and finds that stolen feathers turn plain white.
The Holy Quail
Left behind in the nest by his frightened parents as a forest fire roars closer, a young quail who cannot yet fly turns the flames back with an Act of Truth.
Jataka Tales
The Wise Hare
Four animal friends keep a fast day; when Sakka tests them, the hare offers himself to the fire and his image is painted on the moon.
Bengal Folk Tales
The Boy with the Moon on His Forehead
Twins stolen at birth by jealous queens grow up in a potter’s home, and the boy with a moon on his brow crosses an ocean for a magic flower.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Life’s Secret
Prince Dalim Kumar’s life is hidden in a necklace inside a fish, and when his jealous stepmother wears it he dies by day and wakes only at night.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Indigent Brahman
The goddess Durga gives a poor Brahman a pot that pours out endless sweets; when a cheat steals it, her second gift is a pot full of demons.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Match-Making Jackal
A jackal invents a rich kingdom to arrange a weaver’s marriage. The deceived princess later builds the wealth for which the jackal claims credit.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Ghost-Brahman
A ghost takes the shape of a poor Brahman and moves into his house, and only a cowherd boy playing at being king can work out how to catch him.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Field of Bones
Four friends learn spells that can restore life. After recklessly reviving a tiger, they meet a princess whose lost community gives those skills a different purpose.