Best of Animals’ Tales

Once upon a time, there lived a brave warrior in Japan, named Fujiwara Hidesato. One day, he set off in search of adventure, carrying two swords and his huge bow and a quiver full of arrows.He came to what looked like a bridge on Lake Biwa and found it was actually a huge serpent-dragon spanning […]

When an old man and his wife lay dying, he called his son, Hanina. The old man told him that after they had died, he must perform the customary rites. Then he must go to the market on the eve of the festival of Passover and buy the first thing he saw at whatever price

Once, a coyote was crossing the meadow. He had kept going in a straight line without taking any turning at all. He was stubborn and now he was tired too.Suddenly, he heard a voice cry out, “Stop!” He looked around but nothing and nobody was visible. So, whose voice was that, he wondered.He took a

There lived an old couple in a cottage on mountainside. The old man was kind and honest but his wife was very greedy and ill-tempered.One day, as the old man sat outside his cottage, a sparrow, chased by a large raven, fell into his lap. He chased away the raven and bringing the frightened little

Gon was a magnificent cat with silken fur and green eyes belonging to a music teacher who was very proud of him. Koma was a dainty little cat with a pink nose. She belonged to a lady who lived near by.One day, they saw each other when they were out walking with their owners and

Once upon a time, there was a happy king. One night, he dreamt that a fox hung by its tail from the palace ceiling. None of his courtiers could explain it.So, he called all the people of the kingdom to interpret his dream. They came, and among them was a poor peasant. Walking over a

A clever turtle and a foolish iguana were best friends. One day, they went fishing at a pond but the owner of the pond came there. The iguana escaped, but the man caught the turtle. The turtle was rather angry at the iguana for deserting him.That night, the iguana came there and asked him why

There were three friends, a monkey, a dog and a carabos, who got fed up of living in a town and went off to live in the country to hunt. They took some rice, meat and a few utensils and went off.When they reached their new home, the monkey and the dog went out to

Once a hunter caught a family of parrots in his net. The parrot had just taught her little fledglings to start flying and was worried about them. Then an idea occurred to her.“Pretend to be dead when the hunter comes to the net. When he lifts the net, fly away quickly,” she told the little ones.“What

One summer, it had been so hot that the rivers and the streams became dry. The animals were thirsty and miserable. They finally came upon a tiny spring. But it was not enough.All the animals willingly worked to dig it deeper. Only the lazy jackal refused to work. So, the animals decided that they would

Yamato was a great king. One day, many of his subjects came to him with a complaint that a huge boar was raging in the forest of Hakone and was ridden by a demon with a great spear, who spread calamity and pestilence in the land. Yamato went to the high priestess of Ise to

One day, a fox told his children that he was going out to get some eggs for them. He walked around till he saw the nest of an eagle high up on a tree. There was no way to reach the nest. So, he plucked some grass and stuck it into his ears. It gave

The hen had been scratching happily looking for seeds when she heard the coyote coming. She fluttered quickly on to a branch well out of his reach.The coyote came and looked up at her, smiling. “I have good news for you, hen!” he said, “Don’t you want me to share the good news with you?”The

Poas Volcano lay in a beautiful countryside that was also famed for its beautiful birds and for one young girl whose beauty was spoken of across the land. But more beautiful still was the friendship of the maiden with the Rualdo bird.She had saved him once from a hunter’s snare and since then he had

In the lake near the village lived the terrible white monster, Nabulela. Every day someone from the village left porridge and bread on the banks for him and then ran away. Otherwise, Nabulela would eat him too!Meanwhile, a daughter was born to the village chief’s wife and there was great rejoicing, for the chief had