Long ago, when stories traveled from mouth to mouth rather than page to page, an old couple lived near a river that decided their fate more often than they did. They owned little besides a small hut and a fish trap worn smooth by years of use. Each night, the old man carried that trap Read more…

Long, long ago, there lived three brothers in a small town. Everyone called the youngest brother “Hucchayya”, or “fool”. However, he didn’t care about it and went about his routine. Now, Hucchayya wasn’t particularly skilled when it came to keeping things secret. If anyone in town wanted to spread news like wildfire, they would share Read more…

Once upon a time, deep inside a forest lived a hunter with his family. Every day, he would go hunting to feed his family. Even though he cultivated crops, he depended on hunting for food nonetheless. The hunter had a pet crow. The crow flew away every morning and came back home in the evening. Read more…

Once upon a time, a brother and a sister lived in a remote village of Tamil Nadu. Every day, the siblings went out to graze their goats. For a while, the sister would play with the other kids. She would then climb up a big tree and pick its fruits. One day, a goblin showed Read more…

In a small village, there lived a man named Kachak Roy with his wife, Sampari. The couple had no children. Sampari would work all day, tending their jhum fields and doing all the household chores. Meanwhile, Kachak spent his time drinking the local brew. Short-tempered and irritable, he never let go of an opportunity to Read more…

Once upon a time, two brothers lived in a remote village in Uttar Pradesh. The elder brother was tall and handsome, though mean by personality. On the other hand, the younger brother, Kana Bhai, was a plain, one-eyed but smart guy. One day, Kana’s elder brother kicked him out of the house. The younger brother Read more…

A long time ago, there was an Arabian caliph by the name of Haroon Rashid. Rashid had a brother, Bahlol, who lived on alms. One day, Bahlol went to a king’s palace to get some food. Looking at the shabbily dressed Bahlol, the king asked his guards to chase him away. Unceremoniously thrown out of Read more…

A long time ago, a sparrow carried the grain of a gram to a grinding stone to break it into two. While the grinding stone would break the grain into two, a part of the grain remained inside the wooden pricket, the pivot of the grinding stone. The sparrow diligently worked to get the trapped Read more…

Once upon a time, a merchant’s daughter-in-law went to fetch water from a well outside their village. When she began drawing water from the well, four weary, thirsty travelers arrived there. One of the travelers requested her to give them some water. She hesitated to share some water with them as she didn’t have a Read more…

There lived an old woman with her seven sons in a village named Kurmachal. Six of her sons slaved away in the fields, plowing, sowing and irrigating the land. They needed to get water from a lake far away from their village. To protect their crops from the wild animals, they built a wall around Read more…