151 Folk Tales

Once, a farmer had an old apple-tree in his farm. The tree had stopped bearing fruits but it was home to many creatures. The man decided to cut the tree and use its wood for furniture. So, he brought an axe and was about to cut the tree when the birds cried, “Please do not […]

Once, a palmist was very famous. People queued up to have their palms examined. But they did not realise that the palmist was not an expert. He just made guesses that turned out right. Sometimes, he knew about his clients by making enquiries about them. One day, in the middle of one such session, a

Once, a man owned a donkey and a dog. One day, the man was returning from the town with his animals. The donkey was carrying many sacks on his back. All three were tired and hungry. After some time, they stopped at a meadow to rest. The man lay down under a tree and fell

A shepherd saw a tiger and picked his staff up. The tiger mistook the staff for a gun and got frightened. A fox saw this. The fox ran to the shepherd and said, “What will you give me if I save you from the tiger?” The shepherd said, “Anything you ask for.” The fox told

One day, a mother crab saw a crane and her baby were walking together. The mother saw a crane and thought, ‘How gracefully the crane walks!’ After a while, the mother crab said to her baby, “Why do you bend towards one side when you walk? You look much better when you walk straight and

A man found a magic book in his attic. The man read the book keenly. Then he came across a certain piece of information that got him excited. It said that there was a pebble on the shores of the Black Sea which could turn everything to gold. It further said that the pebble could

Once, during the rainy season people were talking only about the hilsa fish. A king was fed up of hearing about the fish. He told his jester, “Stop people from mentioning the word hilsa for a single morning and I will give you a reward.” The jester agreed. Next day, a hefty woman with long

Once, a man was not satisfied with his house. He wished for a larger house. He went to a wise old woman and told her about this. She said to him, “I can help you. Just do as I say. Bring your chicken, sheep, horse and cow into your house.” The man agreed. But his

Once, there was a student. He was very intelligent. But one day, he was troubled by a question. So, he, at once, went to his teacher. He asked his teacher the question, “Sir, is there any good in talking a lot? Some people talk a lot. My mother says only foolish people talk a lot.”

Once, an old man lived in a village. His only son had gone far away to study. People used to wonder if his son would ever return. But the old man would always say, “Whatever happens, happens for good.” One day, the old man’s son returned to the village. He fell off a horse’s back

Once, a thief went to rob a house. He spread out a piece of cloth and went inside the storeroom to get the goods. Unknown to him, the owner saw him. He picked up the piece of cloth which the thief had spread out. He waited for the thief. The thief came back and threw

Once, a rich man owned many vessels. The people of his village used to borrow vessels from him. One day, a man borrowed some vessels from the rich man. After a few days, the man returned the vessels along with two new vessels. Upon being asked by the rich man as to why he was

Once, a man had a beautiful horse. He was very proud of his horse. He hired a groom for the horse. The groom took good care of the horse. Despite his taking good care of the horse, the horse did not seem happy. The man noticed this and got worried. He decided to keep an

Once, a student had the craving to learn more. He went to a famous teacher and asked him to teach him everything he knew. The teacher smiled and told him to bring two cups and a pot of tea. The student brought the cups and the tea. The teacher smiled and poured tea into the

Once, a mother told her son that she was going out. She told him to guard the door. The boy agreed. But she had gone for a very long time. So, the worried boy decided to look for her. But he had promised to guard the door, so he took the door off of its