All Stories
Browse our complete collection of folk tales, Panchatantra stories, and moral stories from around the world.
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
Vikram and the Vampire: The King’s Ultimate Test
During one night in a cremation ground, a king repeatedly carries a talking corpse whose riddles delay a dangerous ceremony.
Southeast Asian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Si Tanggang: The Ungrateful Son and the Curse of Stone
A poor couple’s son sails away and comes home rich, but when he is too proud to welcome his parents aboard, his mother’s words turn his ship to stone.
Southeast Asian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Mouse-Deer and the Crocodiles
Mouse-deer needs to cross a flooded river, so he tells the crocodiles that the king wants them counted, and they line up across the water for him.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Savitri and the Lord of Death
When a wise man warns that her chosen husband will die within a year, Princess Savitri marries him anyway, and when Death comes for him, she follows.
Southeast Asian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
Sang Nila Utama and the Lion of Singapura
A prince from Bintan sails toward the white sands of Temasek, throws his crown into a storm to save his ship, and meets a strange beast said to be a lion.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
King Shibi and the Dove
A frightened dove flies into King Shibi's robe, and when the eagle chasing it demands its prey, the king offers his own flesh instead.
Indian Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Blind Men and the Elephant
A king gathers all the blind men of his city to feel an elephant, and each of them is certain that he alone knows what an elephant is really like.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Bird with Two Heads
A two-necked lake bird will not share nectar; the second neck swallows poison in anger, and their one shared belly kills them both.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Brahmani and the Mongoose
A mother leaves her baby in her husband’s care, and when her pet mongoose runs to her with a bloody mouth, she acts before she knows what really happened.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Brahmin and the Cobra
A poor farmer leaves milk for the cobra in his field and finds a gold coin every morning, until his greedy son decides to take all the gold at once.
Panchatantra Stories
Ages 9-12
The Brahmin’s Dream
A miserly Brahmin lies under his pot of rice and dreams it into goats, cows, horses and gold, until one kick in his daydream brings it crashing down.