Folk- and fairy tales hand down a morality and principles for living together in a society. Since greed is such a wide-spread human trait, it became one of the most famous motives in folk and fairy tales. The uncontrolled longing or desire to gain and accumulate more food, wealth, prestige by few can easily spoil…
Category: Asia
THE PUNISHMENT OF GREED (The Chinese Fairy Book, 1921) by Richard Wilhelm
ONCE upon a time there lived a man south of the Yangtze-kiang. He had taken a position as a teacher in Sutschoufu, on the border of Shantung. But when he got there he found that the schoolhouse had not yet been completed. Yet a two-story building in the neighborhood had been rented, in which the…
Folk and fairy tales of a pandemic
… and how to face our fears and grief The year 2020 will go down in history books as a year that was dominated by the pandemic. As of now, there is no end in sight. One thing that becomes obvious is that societies around the world are deeply divided. Divided in those who fear…
THE STORY OF FOOLISH SACHÚLÍ (Indian Fairy Tales, 1880) collected and translated by Maive Stokes
THERE once lived a poor old widow woman named Hungní, who had a little idiot son called Sachúlí. She used to beg every day. One day when the son had grown up, he said to his mother. “What makes women laugh?” “If you throw a tiny stone at them,” answered she, “they will laugh.” So…
Best folk- and fairy tales for Chinese Valentine’s Day and lovers in long distance relationsships
On the 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar Chinese celebrate a festival called the Double Seventh Festival, the Qixi Day or nowadays mostly refered to as the Chinese Valentine’s Day. In order to celebrate Chinese Valentine’s Day and furthermore to console lovers from all around the world that are separated…
A Ghostly Wife (Folk-Tales of Bengal, 1912) by Rev. Lal Behari Day
Once on a time there lived a Brahman who had married a wife, and who lived in the same house with his mother. Near his house was a tank, on the embankment of which stood a tree, on the boughs of which lived a ghost of the kind called Sankchinni. One night the Brahman’s wife had…