• The Gnat and the Lion
    • on Aesop A GNAT came and said to a Lion, "I do not in the least fear you, nor are you stronger than I am. For in what does your strength consist? You can scratch with your claws and bite with your teeth a woman in h...
    • The Leopard and the Rabbit
    • bit (TraditionalSukuma,Tanzania Folktale told by Sukuma Research Committee) Once upon a time the Leopard lived in a small house far way in the bush. After thinking for a long time he decided to look for a better place...
    • A Wolf Story
    • ory Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions ofIreland by: Lady Francesca Speranza Wilde Transformation into wolves is a favourite subject of Irish legend, and, many a wild tale is told by the peasants round...
    • As Allah would divide
    • ide Nasreddin Hodja was often called upon to settle disputes. One day, three men quarreled over the division of a bag of walnuts, and came to ask Hodja to make the division. "Divide with absolute justice," ...
    • THE JAGUAR AND THE DEER
    • EER Maya Tales Told by don Pedro Miguel Say, Q'anjob'al Maya. Translated and edited by Fernando Peñalosa and Janet Sawyer A deer went to look for a place to build a house. There was also a jaguar that was ...
    • The Sacrifice of the White Hen
    • e White Hen (Yoruba,Nigeria Story told by Denis O'Sullivan) There was a young Nigerian boy named Olu who had a pet white chicken. They became great friends and inseparable companions. One day the hen disappeared and O...
    • How the Monkeys Saved the Fish
    • Fish (Traditional Tanzanian Folktale) The rainy season that year had been the strongest ever and the river had broken its banks. There were floods everywhere and the animals were all running up into the hills. The flood...
    • GOD SEES THE TRUTH, BUT WAITS
    • ITS Tolstoy  IN the town ofVladímir lived a young merchant named Iván Dmítritch Aksyónof. He had two shops and a house of his own. Aksyónof was a handsome, fair-haired, curly-headed ...
    • A Rose from Homer
    • mer’s Grave Hans Christian Andersen All the songs of the east speak of the love of the nightingale for the rose in the silent starlight night. The winged songster serenades the fragrant flowers. Not far fromSmyrna, where t...
    • The Story of the Mosquito
    • ito Chuyê.n Con Muô~i Once upon a time in a faraway region of Vietnam, there was a young, brave and generous farmer of the name Ngọc Tâm. He had a wife of the name Nhan Diệp. She was gracious and c...
    • The Four Dragons
    • ons A Chinese Tale Once upon a time, there were no rivers and lakes on earth, but only the Eastern Sea, in which lived four dragons: the Long Dragon, the Yellow Dragon, the Black Dragon and the Pearl Dragon. One day...
    • We Are All One
    • One A Chinese Tale Long ago, there was a rich man with a disease in his eyes. For many years, the pain was so great that he could not sleep at night. He saw every doctor he could, but none of them could help him. &quo...
    • Pan Gu Makes the World
    • rld A Chinese creation story In the beginning, the heavens and earth were still one and all was chaos. The universe was like a big black egg, carrying Pan Gu inside itself. After 18 thousand years Pan Gu woke fr...
    • The Hypocritical Cat
    • Cat Source: Tibetan Tales, Derived from Indian Sources In long-past times there was a chieftain of a company of mice who had a retinue of five hundred mice. And there was also a cat named Agnija. In his youth he had bee...
    • The Cat and the Mice
    • Mice Aesop There was once a house that was overrun with mice. A cat heard of this, and said to herself, "That's the place for me," and off she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the mice one ...
    • Apache Creation Legend
    • e="font-family: tahoma"> Apache Creation Legend Native American Indian Myth and Folklore In the beginning nothing existed: no earth, no sky, no sun, and no moon. Only darkness was everywhere. Suddenly from the darkne...
    • LITTLE GIRLS WISER THAN MEN
    • p;     LITTLE GIRLS WISER THAN MEN    IT was an early Easter. Sledging was only just over; snow still lay in the yards; and water ran in streams down the village street. Two little...
    • Visu the Woodsman and the Old Priest
    • iest Folktales from Japan; Selected and edited by D. L. Ashliman Many years ago there lived on the then barren plain of Suruga a woodsman by the name of Visu. He was a giant in stature, and lived in a hut with his...
    • On the Qualities of Derwishes
    • shes They asked Luqman, "Of whom didst thou learn manners? He replied, "From the unmannerly. Whatever I saw them do which I disapproved of, that I abstained from doing." Not e'en in jest a playful word is said...
    • A story of Moses
    • es, on consorting with the saints GOD spake unto Moses reproachfully, saying, ‘O thou who hast seen the moon rise out of they bosom, whom I have illuminated with the Light Divine, I who am God fell sick; why camest...
    • The grammarian and the boatman
    • man A GRAMMARIAN once embarked in a boat. Turning to the boatman with a self-satisfied air he asked him: ‘Have you ever studied grammar?’ ‘No,’ replied the boatman. ‘Then half your life has gone to waste,’ the gra...
    • The jackal that pretended to be a peacock
    • ock A JACKAL, once got into a dyeing-vat and there tarried for a space. Then he got out again, and his skin was stained with the dye. 'See, I have become the Peacock of Heaven's Heights!' he cried. Indeed, his d...
    • The man who said:" It is I"
    • It is I" A CERTAIN man once came and knocked on the door of a friend. "Who are you, faithful one?" his friend asked. "I," he answered. "'Go away", the friend said. "It i...
    • The Elephant in the dark
    • dark, on the reconciliation of contrarieties SOME Hindus had brought an elephant for exhibition and placed it in a dark house. Crowds of people were going into that dark place to see the beat. Finding that ocular...
    • The man who stole a snake
    • nake  and the answer to prayer A THIEF once stole a snake from a snake-catcher, and in his folly accounted it a rich prize. The snake-catcher escaped from the bite of the snake; the man who had stolen his ...
    • How an Ox Became Mayor
    • yor Netherlands Once upon a time there was a peasant who had a great deal of money but very little understanding. He was just plain stupid. He had no children, but he did have a wife, an ox, and a donkey. This peasant...
    • The Tiger in the Trap
    • ap Korean Folktales Notes: In the following story, a trapped tiger is saved by a man but ungratefully tries to kill him, because, the tiger reasons, though it was saved by him, the entrapment was made by human beings in ...
    • Words of wisdom from the Hodja
    • dja Once long ago, the Hodja stood in his pulpit and looked out at his congregation. They were filing slowly into the mosque, ready for prayer and wisdom. The Hodja shook his head in wonder as he watched them. He...
    • The Pen and the Inkstand
    • nd By: Hans Christian Andersen (1860) In a poet’s room, where his inkstand stood on the table, the remark was once made, “It is wonderful what can be brought out of an inkstand. What will come next? It is indeed w...
    • THE THEFT OF FIRE
    • IRE At one time the people had found fire, and were going to use it; but Thunder wanted to take it away from them, as he desired to be the only one who should have fire. He thought that if he could do this, he woul...
    • Why the turtle has no tail
    • IL (Australian legends) The Australian aborigines believed that the Milky Way was a "pukkan" or track, along which many spirits of departed blacks traveled to heaven, and that the dark place that we call Magellan's...
    • Prayer for a tyrant
    • ant A dervish, whose prayers had a ready acceptance with God, made his appearance at Baghdad. Hajjaj Yusuf (a great tyrant) sent for him and said: "Put up a good prayer for me." He prayed, "O God! ...
    • The origin of Death
    • EATH THE Moon, it is said, sent once an Insect to Men, saying, "Go thou to Men, and tell them, 'As I die, and dying live, so ye shall also die, and dying live.'" The Insect started with the message, but...
    • THE MAN BORN BLIND
    • IND THERE was a man born blind, and he said: "I do not believe in the world of light and appearance. There are no colors, bright or somber. There is no sun, no moon, and no stars. No one has witnessed these ...
    • The blind beggar,
    • >The blind beggar, on the power of compassion THERE was once a blind man who all the time cried, ‘Have pity! I am doubly blind, people of this passing time. Attend therefore, and show me double compassion, for I h...
    • The Old man and the doctor, on inveterate wickedness
    • ess AN old man said to a doctor, 'My brain I giving me hell.' The doctor said, 'That infirmity of brain comes from old age.' The old man said, 'I see dark spot in front of my eyes.' The doctor said, 'That comes of old age, a...
    • Patience and Practice
    • ctice There was a rope dancer who would walk on the rope with eyes blindfolded, with wooden clogs on his feet, a water jug on his head and holding four things in his hands. He would walk forward on the rope making creaking ...