Evergreen Stories of Panchatantra

Once upon a time, there was a jackal who lived in a forest. He usually ate small animals and birds, but for some time now he had got nothing to eat. So, he was very hungry. Hunting around for food, he found he had strayed into a city.Suddenly, a pack of dogs saw him and […]

There lived a crow in a forest. He was very observant. He watched everything that went on in the forest. He saw a hunter come to the forest and scatter seeds and grains all over the ground. Then the hunter set up his nets to trap unwary birds. The crow told all the birds around

Long time ago, a poor Brahmin lived in a village. He begged for a living. Normally, he received some food, either cooked or raw, and brought it home. He ate some and kept some to eat later.Very often, people gave him wheat flour. He brought it home to make rotis. Then, if any was left

A fat donkey worked for a washerman. He was a good and loyal creature, so the washerman let him wander freely in the night to graze. The donkey would return on time in the morning.During his wanderings at night, the donkey made friends with a jackal who used to creep into the village to steal

It was a beautiful pond, surrounded by the trees of the forest. It had lilies growing in it. Many creatures lived in it. Among them were three friends, two fishes and a frog. The fish were very beautiful and intelligent. The frog was an ugly but wise fellow. They met every day to share stories

The sons of four Brahmins were sent to a gurukul to get educated. They became good friends, studied hard and were soon ready to go out into the world to earn their living. Three of them had become very knowledgeable about the shastras and scriptures. But the fourth one was different. He had a lot

Long time ago, there lived two poor friends in a village: Dharmabuddhi and Papabuddhi. Dharmabuddhi was honest and hard-working. Papabuddhi was lazy and cunning. Dharmabuddhi decided to go to the neighbouring kingdom to earn his living.Papabuddhi knew that he could not do anything on his own, so he thought, “He will certainly do well. Then

Long ago, in a village there lived a man named Dev Sharma. He was a holy man who begged for alms every day and with what he received he looked after his family. He had a wife.A son was born to them. On the same day, they found a baby mongoose that had been orphaned.

There was a very cunning jackal who lived in a forest long ago. He was very clever and used flattery when he felt it could help him.One day, he came upon a dead elephant lying in the forest while hunting for food. The jackal was thrilled because he would have food for quite a few

A king had a grand and luxurious palace, full of all the comforts he wanted. His bedroom was really the most comfortable place in the royal house. It was also beautifully decorated with silk curtains and bedsheets, and soft pillows and cushions.Among the folds of the bedsheets lived a white flea. She waited till the

There was a huge banyan tree in a jungle. It had a river flowing near it. The jungle and the lake gave home to many creatures. They lived there and brought up their young ones. They also attacked one another, if they were natural enemies.A large number of herons had built their nests in the

A forest was high on a mountainside. It was very cold. The rains had come suddenly and it had become even more miserably chilly.In the forest lived a troop of monkeys. All the animals were miserable with the cold, the wind and the rain, but the monkeys suffered the most perhaps. They had neither nest

A poor cart-maker lived in a village. But there was very little work for him, so he decided that he would have to think of doing some other work if he was to earn some money. He thought he would go to a neighbouring village. On the way, he saw a female camel that gave

Once there was a farmer’s wife who was very greedy. She was not content with what she had and always looked around for ways to get more and more things.One day, a thief came to their house. The farmer’s wife woke up. She took all the valuable things in her husband’s house and ran away

A washerman lived in a small town long ago. He was not very rich, so he could keep only one donkey for his work. The donkey was thin and starved because the washerman himself had not enough food.One day while going around with his work, the washerman came upon a dead tiger. At first, he