Indian Fairy Tales

These tales come from a civilization that has been telling stories for thousands of years. The collection gathers folk narratives passed down through generations of oral tradition before being compiled in the late 19th century, and they pulse with that ancient energy: clever animals who outwit stronger foes, princes who win princesses through wit rather than force, magical transformations, spirits both kind and cruel, and ordinary people who discover unexpected powers. The stories range from the comic to the mysterious, from "The Talkative Tortoise" (a cautionary tale about loose lips) to "The Demon with the Matted Hair" (a spine-tingling encounter with the supernatural). Throughout runs a distinctively Indian logic: karma in action, cleverness rewarded, arrogance punished, the small outwitting the great. Here is a mongoose who saves a brahman from a serpent king, a farmer who tricks a greedy moneylender, a boy born with the moon on his forehead. These are stories that Indian mothers told children by lantern light. They have been telling them for centuries.