Once, a Brahmin had two parrots – a male and a female. The Brahmin took great care of them. But the Brahmin’s wife was very wicked and immoral. One day, the Brahmin had to go out of town. He told the parrots to keep an eye on his wife. Now, as soon as the Brahmin […]
Once upon a time, a King and a Queen lived happily at Bamborough Castle with their son, Childe Wynd, and daughter, Margaret. Childe Wynd went to seek his fortune in the world. Sometime later, the Queen died. The King was sad but he met a beautiful lady while out hunting and married her. When he
A King had a daughter, Anne, who was pretty, and his Queen had another daughter, Kate, who was clever. The girls loved each other very much though the Queen felt rather envious of Anne’s beauty. She wished to make Anne look plain and wondered what to do about it. Then, she consulted the hen-wife who
A king loved his wife very much. He loved her to the extent of being jealous and possessive about her. After a few years, the queen bore a son. The son had a god-like beauty about him. The queen loved her son and spent most of her time with him. The king realised this. He
A poor man and his wife had a lot of children and couldn’t feed them. So, they abandoned three of their girls in a forest, hoping they would look after themselves. As night fell, the girls were tired and hungry. They found a house and knocked at the door. The woman who opened it said,
The Bodhisattva was once born as an ascetic. A monster used to come to listen to the Bodhisattva’s teachings but never followed them.One day, a beautiful lady was going to her parents’ house through the forest. The monster liked her and locked her in a box, fearing she might run away. He would swallow the
A rich nobleman had three daughters. One day, he asked each of them to show how much they loved him. “I love you as much as I love my life,” said the eldest. “I love you more than the whole world!” said the second. Both the answers pleased their father. Then the youngest said, “I
There was a rich wise merchant. Once, he set off with his servants and carts of goods to sell them. After travelling a great distance, they reached a forest. The merchant had heard a lot about this forest. He called his servants and warned them, “Do not eat anything of this jungle as a demon
Long ago, in a jungle, there lived a stag. The stag was very wise and the leader of his herd. In that herd, was the wise stag’s nephew as well. The wise stag taught the nephew all that was needed to survive in the jungle. The nephew was a good learner and followed his uncle’s
Jack Hannaford was an old soldier who had just been discharged from the army. He did not know how he was going to find any work, nor did he have much money. He reached a farmhouse, not knowing that a foolish couple lived there. The farmer had gone to the market, giving ten pounds to
Lady Mary was beautiful and had two brothers. She lived in her father’s mansion in the countryside. There were many suitors for her hand, but she was in love with Mr Fox who came often to meet her at her father’s house. Although he seemed brave and rich, and spoke about his castle, he did
Once, there were two brothers. They were monks. Now, while the elder brother was very intelligent, the younger one was dim-witted. The elder brother could memorise everything their master taught but the younger one could not. One day, the elder brother, noting his brother’s inability to learn, told him, “It is better for you to
One morning, a boy named Jack set off to seek his fortune in the world. Along the way, he met a cat who offered to join him. He took the cat along. As he walked along, several other creatures offered to join him and Jack, being a friendly fellow, said, “The more, the merrier!” He
A king had five advisors. But these advisors gave wrong advice to the king for their personal gains. One day, a learned Brahmin came to the king’s court. At that time, the advisors were discussing a case. The Brahmin quickly solved the case. The king was very impressed by him and kept him as his
A gentleman was courting a farmer’s daughter and often came for dinner with her family. One evening, the farmer sent his daughter to the cellar to draw some beer and bring it. She saw a mallet stuck on the roof of the cellar and wondered what would happen if she had a son and the