An Indian Folk tale - How the wicked sons were duped

   This Indian folk tale story is collected from the book named “Indian Fairy Tales”, which was selected and edited by Joseph Jacobs.

    How the wicked sons were duped

   Once upon a time, there was a very wealthy old man in India. He was imagining that he was on the point of death, sent for his sons and divided his property among them. However, he did not die for several years afterwards; and miserable years many of them were. Besides the weariness of old age, the old man had to bear with much abuse and cruelty from his sons.Wretched, selfish ingrates! Previously they vied with one another in trying to please their father, hoping thus to receive more money, but now they had received their patrimony, they cared not how soon he left them—nay, the sooner the better, because he was only a needless trouble and expense. And they let the poor old man know what they felt.

   One day the old man met one of his friends and related to him all his troubles. The friend sympathized very much with him, and promised to think over the matter, and call in a little while and tell him what to do. The old man did so; in a few days he visited the old man and put down four bags full of stones and gravel before him.

Aesop's Fables - The Ass and the Lap-dog

The Ass and the Lap-dog

   This fable is from Aesop's fables... This is a very interesting story from Aesop's fables. In every Aesop's fables, there must a lesson for us. we consider that as the moral of the story at the end.

   The Ass and the Lap-dog

   Once there was a farmer owned an ass and a lap-dog. The ass worked hard all day, pulling heavy loads. But he was well looked after, and had a warm, comfortable stable, with plenty of fresh hay to eat and water to drink.

   The lap-dog stayed with his master all day, and lived in the house with him. He did no work, but was made much of, and even allowed to sit on the master's lap. 

   The ass saw the lap-dog leading a life of leisure, being petted by the master, and being given choice tidbits of food from the master's own plate, and the ass grew jealous of the lap-dog. 

   “I wish the master would love me as much, and give me as much attention as he does the lap-dog,” sighed the ass.

Fairy Tale - The Wonderful Musician

   This Fairy tale story is from Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm (The Brothers Grimm), Household Tales, translated by - Margaret Hunt (London: George Bell, 1884)

   The Wonderful Musician
Fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm

   Once there was a wonderful musician, who went quite alone through a forest. He thought of all manner of things, and when nothing was left for him to think about, he said to himself, "Time is beginning to pass heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch here good companion for myself." 

   Then he took his violin from his back and played so that it echoed through the trees. It was not long before a wolf came running through the bush towards him. "Ah, here is a wolf coming! I have no desire for him!" said the musician.

   But the wolf came nearer and said to him, "Ah, dear musician, how beautifully you played the music! I should like to learn that, too."

   "It is soon learnt," the musician replied, "you have only to do all that I bid you." 

   "Oh, musician," said the wolf, "I will obey you as a scholar obeys his master." 

   The musician bade him follow, and when they had gone part of the way together, they came to an old oak-tree which was hollow inside, and cleft in the middle. 

   "Look," said the musician, "if you want learn to violin, put your fore paws into this crevice." The wolf obeyed, but the musician quickly picked up a stone and with one blow wedged his two paws so fast that he was forced to stay there like a prisoner. 

   "Stay there until I come back again," said the musician, and went his way. 

   After a while he again said to himself, "Time is beginning to pass heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch here another companion," and took his violin and again played in the forest.

   It was not long before a fox came creeping through the trees towards him. "Ah, there is a fox coming! I have no desire for him.” said the musician.

   The fox came up to the musician and said, "Oh, dear musician, how beautifully you did play! I should like to learn that too." 

   "That is soon learnt," said the musician. "You have only to do everything that I bid you." 

   "Oh, musician," then said the fox, "I will obey you as a scholar obeys his master."

The Brothers Grimm

The Grimm Brothers

   The Grimm Brothers, famous Fairy Tales and Folk story writers 

   Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm known as The Grimm Brothers. They were born in Ganau, Germany. Jacob Grimm was the second son of their parents, was born on 4th January, 1785 and Wilhelm Grimm was the third son, was born on 24th of February, 1786. From their early youth, the brothers were very close friends until their death. They were always complementing each other.

   The Brothers Grimm were a large family of nine children, eight boys and one girl. Their father, Philipp Wilhelm Grimm was a lawyer. After his death, the Grimms were able to finish their education only thanks to the kindness of their aunt and they set out to Kassel to attend law school and to follow in their father’s footsteps. 

   The Brothers Grimm showed their luminous abilities while they were still young. After a graduation at the Kassel School, the Grimms were continued their education at Marburg University with the firm intention to become lawyers. They listened to lectures at the Law School and studied legal science, but their natural tendencies led them in a fully different direction to the study of German and foreign literature.

   The Brothers Grimm had been collecting fairy tales from the people of Kassel since the early 1800’s. Generally, they had collected this from a favorite local storyteller named Marie Muller. After their graduation, the Grimms  decided to inspect the manuscripts with ancient German literature and continued their research in this area until the end of their life.

   Between (1805–1809), Jacob Grimm was a librarian to Jerome Bonaparte in Vilhelmsheg. After the war with France, Jacob Grimm received a task from the Elector of Kassel - to go to Paris and return to Kassel Library manuscripts which were stolen from the French.

   The Grimm Brothers published their first volume of eighty-six stories and tales in 1812. In 1814 the second volume contained seventy stories. The stories got a huge success and the brothers were recognized for their work in 1819 with honorary doctorates from Marburg University. 

Russian Folk Tale - The Hunter and his Wife (Part-2)

   This is an interesting Russian Folk tale. The first part already published before, here is the last part of this story.

The Hunter

   The Hunter and his Wife - Part 2

   Early in the morning the hunter was awakened by the noise of the dog pushing through the twigs on its way back. He heard how the dogs addressed each other.

   "Well and how are you, brother?" said the first dog.

   "Finely," said the second dog; "and what about you?"

   "Fine too. Did the night pass well?” , asked the first dog.

   The second dog said, "Well enough, thanks to the God. But with you, brother? How was it at home?"

   "Oh brother, it was so badly. I ran home, and the mistress, when she sees me, soughed out, 'What the devil are you doing here without your master? Well, there is your supper;' and she threw me a crust of bread, burnt like a black coal. I snuffed it and snuffed it, but I could not eat that. No dog alive could have made a meal of it, and with that she started to beat me with a stick. But at night, later on—just as I thought—thieves came into the yard, and were going to clear out the barn and the storeroom. But I let loose such a howl, and leapt upon them so cruel and angry, that they had little thought to leave off from other people's goods, and had all they could do to get away whole themselves. This way, I spent the night."

   The hunter heard all that the dogs said, and kept it in his mind. "Wait a bit, my good lady," he said to himself, "and see what I have to say to you when I get home."

Tales from the Panchatantra - The Brahmin's Dream

     The Panchatantra is the ancient story collection in India and it is very well-known collection of children stories. There will be a good lesson and a moral of the story at the end in every story. Here we will read an interesting story that is collected from the Panchatantra.

 

The Brahmin's Dream

    The Brahmin's Dream

   Once upon a time, there lived a Brahmin in a village. He was all alone and had no friends or relatives. He was very poor and used to beg for his living. Whatever food he got as begging, he kept in a pot which was made by clay and hung it beside his bed. Whenever he felt hungry, he took out some food from that pot and ate it.

   One day, the Brahmin got a quantity of rice mush, so much that even after eating to his full, a full of his pot was left. The Brahmin was very happy to get such quantity of food. At the middle of the night, the Brahmin lay on his bed but he could not take his eyes from the pot. Soon, he was fast asleep. He began to dream that the pot is overflowing with rice mush.

   The Brahmin dreamed that if a famine came to the land, then he could sell it for a hundred silver coins. With these silver coins, he would buy a pair of goats. They would have kids in every six months and soon he would achieve a group of goats. Then he would trade the goats for buffaloes and cows. Then they would have their young ones. They would grow up and give lots of milk. He would sell the milk in the market and make lots of butter and curd from it. Then he would sell that butter and curd in the market. Like this, he would become a rich man in the country.

Russian Folk Tale - The Hunter and his Wife (Part-1)

   This is an interesting Russian Folk Tale. The biggest country in the world. The variety of Russian people and their cultures are very familiar all over the world.

The Hunter

The Hunter and his wife - part 1

   Once upon a time there was a hunter who went out into the forest to hunt the birds and small animals. He had a wife and two dogs. His wife was for ever asking questions, so that he was glad to get away from her into the forest. And she did not like dogs, and said they were always bringing dirt into the house with their muddy feet. So that the dogs were glad and got chance to get away into the forest with the hunter.

   One day the hunter and the two dogs walked all day through the deep forest, and never got a sight of a bird, they never even saw a rabbit. All day long they walked on and saw nothing. The hunter had not fired a single cartridge. He did not want to go home and have to answer his wife's questions about why he had come home with an empty bag. So he went deeper and deeper into the deep forest. At the evening, he started to walk towards his home and suddenly he got a sharp smell of burning wood floated through the trees. The hunter was looking to that, saw the sparkling of a fire. He made his way towards it, and found a clearing in the forest; a wood pile in the middle of it and it was burning so fiercely that he could just come near it.

   And there was a miracle, he found in the middle of the burning timbers there was sitting a great snake, curled round and round upon itself and waving its head above the flames. 

   As soon as it saw the hunter it called out, in a loud hissing voice, to come near. He went as near as he could, shading his face from the heat.

   "My good man," said the snake, "pull me out of the fire, and you shall understand the talk of the beasts and the songs of the birds."

   "I will be happy to help you, but how?" said the hunter, “The flames are so hot and I cannot reach you."

   "Put the barrel of your gun into the fire, and I will crawl out along it.", said the snake.