STORY

Once, there lived a jackal named Chandarava. One day he was very hungry, and could not find any food. Story Of The Blue Jackal - Panchatantra Story Picture So, he wandered into a nearby village in search of food. The dogs in the village saw the jackal, and a group of dogs surrounded him, barking and attacking with their sharp teeth. The jackal started running to save itself, but the dogs chased. In an attempt to flee from the dogs, he ran into a house, which belonged to a washerman. There was a big vat of blue dye inside. Story Of The Blue Jackal - Panchatantra Story Picture As he jumped without knowing, his entire body was dyed in blue colour. He no longer looked like a jackal. Frustrated, he came out. When the dogs saw him again, they were unable to recognize him anymore. Fearing that it was an unknown animal, they became terrified and ran off in all directions. The disappointed jackal went back to the jungle, but the blue dye would not come off. When the othe...

Deep in the jungle, there lived a big group of elephants. The elephants lived in a certain place beside a pond, and did not require venturing out. There was a beautiful hermitage on the bank of river Ganges, where a group of hermits lived in peace. The Wedding of the Mouse - Panchatantra Story Picture The hermits were disciples of a Guru Yadnyavalkya, who was always absorbed in meditation, and followed rigorous self-discipline. One day, while he was bathing in the river, a hawk flew over with a mouse in its claws. Suddenly, the mouse fell from the hawk's grip right into the hands of the Guru. When the Guru noticed that the hawk was flying above, he knew he cannot leave the mouse alone, or he is to be caught again. He put the mouse on a leaf of a nearby Banyan tree, and took a second bath to purify himself. The Wedding of the Mouse - Panchatantra Story Picture He used his powers to transform the female mouse into a little girl, and took her to the hermitage. He said...

There lived an old but rich merchant named Kamatura, who was a widower. Ever since his wife had died, he was love-sick and wanted to re-marry. He somehow convinced another merchant, and gave him a lot of money, to marry his young daughter. The young wife was very unhappy with the marriage, and hated her husband because he was an old man. She did not even look at her husband. The old merchant understood her reason for being unhappy, but would do everything to impress her. One night, as they were sleeping on opposite sides of the bed, a thief crept into their house. The new wife awoke by a sound, and realized that there was a thief inside the house. The young wife was terrified, and turned to her husband who was sleeping. Out of fear, she clasped her husband tightly. She did all this without making any sound, so that the thief's attention is not drawn. The old merchant awoke, to find his young wife hugging him. He thought, "I am very delighted at this, bu...

There came a time, when the pond started drying up due to lack of rain for a few years. Some of the elephants met the king of the elephants, and said, "Your Majesty! We do not have any more water. Some of our little ones are on the verge of death. We must find some other place which has abundant water." After thinking a while, the elephant king said, "I remember knowing a place where there is a very big lake. It must still be full of water. Let us go there." Next morning they started to march. After travelling for five days and five nights, the elephants finally reached the place. There was indeed a big lake, full of water. There were innumerable holes in the soft earth around the lake, in which a group of hares lived. When the elephants saw so much water in the lake, they rejoiced, and started jumping into the water without a care in the world. All this sudden commotion caused the holes to be destroyed. Many hares were trampled under the elephants. W...

T here was a Brahmin in a certain town, who was a thief. It was believed that he had become a thief due to ill actions in his previous life. One day, four Brahmins arrived in this town from a far-off place, to sell some wares. They had a successful business and earned a handful of money. The thief watched them making money, and thought of stealing the money from them. He approached them as a friend, and soon won their confidence by quoting eloquently from the Holy Scriptures. He requested them to appoint him as their helping hand, to which they agreed. One day, the Brahmins had sold all their wares. They decided that it would not be proper for them to travel with all the money. So, they purchased jewels with all the money that they had earned. Then, they cut open their thighs and hid the jewels inside. With the help of a special ointment, they healed their cuts. In this manner, they concealed all their jewels. But, all this happened during the time that the thief was in service. So, ...

"MOTHER dear,” said a little mouse one day, “I think the people in our house must be very kind; don’t you? They leave such nice things for us in the larder.” There was a twinkle in the mother’s eye as she replied,— “Well, my child, no doubt they are very well in their way, but I don’t think they are quite as fond of us as you seem to think. Now remember, Greywhiskers, I have absolutely forbidden you to put your nose above the ground unless I am with you, for kind as the people are, I shouldn’t be at all surprised if they tried to catch you.” Greywhiskers twitched his tail with scorn; he was quite sure he knew how to take care of himself, and he didn’t mean to trot meekly after his mother’s tail all his life. So as soon as she had curled herself up for an afternoon nap he stole away, and scampered across the pantry shelves. Ah! here was something particularly good to-day. A large iced cake stood far back upon the shelf, and Greywhiskers licked his lips as he sniffed i...