… 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…
Category: India
BARBER HÍM AND THE TIGERS (Indian Fairy Tales, 1880) collected and translated by Maive Stokes
ONCE there lived a barber called Hím, who was very poor indeed. He had a wife and twelve children, five boys and seven girls: now and then he got a few pice. One day he went away from his home feeling very cross, and left his wife and children to get on as best they…
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…
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…
The Man who wished to be Perfect (Folk-Tales of Bengal, 1912) by Rev. Lal Behari Day
Once on a time a religious mendicant came to a king who had no issue, and said to him, “As you are anxious to have a son, I can give to the queen a drug, by swallowing which she will give birth to twin sons; but I will give the medicine on this condition, that…
Kisa Gotami
Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi. Her story is one of the more famous ones in Buddhism. After losing her only child, Kisa Gotami became desperate and asked if anyone could help her. Her sorrow was so great that many thought she had lost her mind. An old man told…