Why money can’t buy happiness is often explained through long speeches and weighty arguments. The people of Goa have a rather more unusual answer. It involves a miser, a jar of gold, a magnificent cake and a baker who found fortune knocking at his door not once, but twice.
Deep in the forests of Himachal lived a dacoit who trusted his tongue as much as his weapons. He could walk into a house with nothing and leave with a full purse, simply because people believed whatever he told them. The old saying that you reap what you sow had never troubled him. Such warnings, Read more…
Long ago, Uzhavarkarai was a small village in Pondicherry. Most families there earned their living from farming or raising cattle. People judged a man’s wealth by the land and animals he owned, and they usually chose the richest among them as their headman. The headman at that time owned more land than anyone could walk Read more…
Sometimes, all it takes is one misunderstood sentence for everything to go hilariously wrong. Someone says one thing, another person hears something else, and before anyone realizes it, the situation has spiraled out of control. That is exactly what happens in this delightful tale of Sheikh Chilli, whose habit of thinking literally lands him in Read more…
Long ago, in Rajpur, a town in Maharashtra, lived a man named Hazar-Marya. People rarely called him by any other name. The nickname had stuck years ago because of one strange habit he had developed. Every day, he would leave home and kill one thousand flies. That was all he did. He had no job, Read more…
Some folk tales are remembered for magical creatures. Others survive because of a clever twist that listeners enjoy retelling long after the story is over. This old tale from Andhra Pradesh belongs to the second category. At the heart of it is a trader’s daughter whose quick thinking repeatedly helps her succeed against people far Read more…
Long ago, there lived a man named Kora and his brothers. They shared a home, worked the same land, and depended on the same harvest. Yet there was one important difference between Kora and the others. His brothers worked. Kora did not. While the others spent long hours in the fields, Kora preferred to sleep Read more…
Long ago, in the town of Barah, lived a young man named Sawant. People respected him for his honesty and devotion. He prayed regularly, kept his promises, and rarely cheated anyone. However, everyone in the town also knew one troubling thing about him. Sawant had a terrible temper. A careless remark could easily provoke him. Read more…
Long ago, there lived a prince in a kingdom shaped by forests, flowing water, and wide hunting grounds. From early youth, he loved riding more than ceremony or courtly life. Because of this, every morning, before the palace fully stirred, he mounted his black mare and rode out with bow and arrows. The mare responded Read more…
Long ago, near a pool so clear it looked almost unreal, there lived a young tortoise named Ka Panshandi. The water lay quiet most days, hardly disturbed except by fallen leaves or the slow ripple of wind. People noticed the pool long before they noticed her. Some said the water reflected the sky better than Read more…
