151 Folk Tales

Long ago, a poor man found a bag full of gold coins. The poor man was very happy. Suddenly, he heard a rich man announce, “If anyone finds a bag of coins, I will reward him with a hundred gold coins.” The poor man heard this and decided to return the bag to the rich […]

A deer had to cross a river. Now, he had no idea how to cross it. He thought hard and hit upon a plan. He decided to use the crocodiles. He called out to the king of the crocodiles, “Sir! The king has asked me to count the number of crocodiles in this river. Please

A man used to lie a lot. One day, he and his friend were chatting. While chatting, the man lied, “I have travelled the whole world.” The friend asked him, “Have you seen the Great Pyramids?” The man replied, “Of course! I have seen them. I have also climbed Mount Everest and had dinner with

Once, a priest was taking a lamb home. The priest was very happy. As the priest was taking the lamb home, three thieves saw him. They wanted the lamb for themselves and decided to fool the priest. The first thief approached the priest and asked him, “O Priest! Where are you taking the dog?” The

A farmer was ploughing his land when he saw a goblin. The farmer was happy as the goblin was always associated with treasure. The farmer asked the goblin, “Have you buried some treasure in my field?” The cunning goblin replied, “Yes! Lots of it!” The farmer said, “Since you have buried the treasure in my

A farmer and his wife had a beautiful baby-girl. They loved and pampered her a lot. She grew up into a beautiful girl. But she became very proud of her looks. She would often go to the stream to admire her own beauty. One day, the king of the crabs saw her. He came up

Once upon a time, there was a hunter. One day, he saw a deer and aimed his arrow at him. But the deer transformed into a man and asked the hunter, “If you get a lot of money will you give up hunting?” The hunter replied, “But from where will I get so much money?”

One day, some villagers were harvesting the crops when they heard some strange cries. They searched here and there and finally found two children. The children talked in a strange language and their skin was green! The children, a boy and his slightly older sister, were dressed in strange clothes of an unknown material. The

A frog and a mouse were very good friends. The frog lived in a pond while the mouse lived in a cave near the pond. Every day, the frog used to come on the land and sit with his friend. One day, the frog decided to play a prank on the mouse. While the mouse

Once, a cock lived in a small hut. He had a fox and his mother as his neighbours. The fox was very lazy and did not hunt much. One day, the fox told his mother, “Boil some water. I am going to kill the cock. We will have him for dinner.” So, the fox went

Once, Chicken Little was in the woods when an acorn fell on her head. She cried, “The sky is falling! I must go and tell the king!” So, she ran in great fright to tell the king. Along the way, she met Henny Penny and told him everything. “Oh my god! This is terrible!” Henny

Two frogs were chatting away happily unaware of a deep pit ahead of them. And lo! Both fell into the pit. The other frogs heard their cries. They came there and saw the frogs in the pit. They decided to bring the frogs out of the pit. They tied some sticks together to bring the

Once, a man was cutting a tree branch on which he was sitting. His friend told him, “Do not cut the branch or you will also fall.” The man continued cutting the branch and fell. He thought, ‘My friend can tell the future.’ He asked his friend, “How many years will I live?” His friend

Once, a man decided to sell his donkey. He took him to the market place and handed him over to the broker. The broker started praising the donkey loudly, “No one has set eyes on such a donkey before. You cannot find its kind anywhere else. You can pile as much load as you want.

Once, a miner fell sick. He had seven children and a wife to look after. Since the miner could not go to work, his wife went out to collect some fir cones and earn money. As she was collecting the fir cones, a dwarf came and stood near her. He shouted, “Why are you stealing