The Prince and the Ebony Horse - Part One

Once there was a king who had three beautiful daughters and a handsome son. The king was just and firm and he ruled his kingdom very well. 

Twice a year he opened the gates of his palace where the common people could come to the palace and show the king the unique items that they had managed to procure. 

During one of these events three magicians came to the king with unique items that they had made by themselves. 

The first magician had created a statue which had a clarion in its hand. The magician looked keenly at the king. "If any enemy passes through the gate where the statue is placed  the statue shall blow the clarion  and because of the terrific noise created by the statue the person who hears it will fall dead."

The king was thrilled on hearing this.

The second magician brought a huge disk with a golden peacock in the middle with twenty four smaller peacock chicks at the perimeter of the disk. Every hour the golden peacock moved towards one of the chicks and flapped its wings. 

At the end of a month a silver moon shall rise from the mouth of the peacock. 

The king was very thrilled with these unique items.

The third magician brought an ebony horse made of wood.

The ebony horse was beautiful and special because it could cross the distance taken by a normal horse in a year in a single day and the ebony horse could fly to any place taking its rider with it.

The king had the three items tested and he decided to reward the three magicians. He offered his three daughters in marriage to the three magicians who happily accepted it. 

However the third princess heard the king's order from outside the court and she was unhappy. 

She looked at the man whom her father had promised to get her married to and she saw that it was an old man who had created the ebony horse. 

She was very unhappy that she had to marry such an old and hideous looking man and she ran to her room weeping. 

The Prince, her brother, came outside her room. He was surprised to hear weeping noises from within. 

At that time the Prince came in and asked the princess the reason for her unhappiness. 

The princess told her brother everything. 

The brother then consoled his sister and promised her that he would talk to the king about getting his youngest daughter married to an old man. 

It so happened that the third magician who had created the ebony horse overheard the prince converse with the princess. 

The third magician was determined to avenge himself against the Prince.

Adapted from the Arabian Nights

The Frog King and the Snake

There once lived a king of frogs in a well. The frog ruled over all the other frogs who lived in the well. 

However there were many frogs in the well who plotted against the king frog. 

The king frog managed to pacify the other frogs but it was done at a great price. 

After the entire matter had been resolved the king frog decided to take revenge on the enemy frogs who wanted to overthrow him from his throne. 

The king frog went to a tree which was situated near the well. 

The tree had a huge hole where a big black snake lived. 

The king frog called the snake. “I want to be your friend.” 

The snake was surprised. “Nature has intended us to be enemies. Why do you want to be my friend?”

 

The frog told the snake everything that had happened in his well. “I want to avenge the frogs that have gone against me. That is why I want you to come to the well. There you can eat the frogs who are my enemies.” 

The snake thought that for sometime. “Is there water in your well?” 

The frog shook its head. “Not much. There is a hole in the well above the water. You can stay there and you can eat my evil relatives.” 

The snake agreed and the king frog let the snake into the hole of the well. 

The king frog however made the snake promise that it would eat only the evil relatives and not the near and dear ones of the king. 

After that the snake started eating the frogs whom the king frog pointed out. 

Finally all the evil relatives of the king frog had been eaten. 

Now the snake looked angrily at the king frog. “I am hungry and there is no one else left for me to eat. So I have no choice other than to eat you and your family.” 

The king frog was afraid and he realized his mistake. He realized that he had become friends with his enemy for selfish reasons and that had backfired on him. 

However the king frog managed to keep his calm and nodded at the snake. “Do not worry. Me and my relatives will go to other wells and ponds and pursue the other frogs there to come and live in this well with me. Then you can feed on them.” 

The snake like the idea He nodded at the frog. “Go out of the well with your friends and bring all the other frogs to come and live in this well.” 

That way the king frog and his relatives came out of the well and escaped the snake.

Adapted from the Panchatantra

The Little Boy and the Three Charms

Once in a temple there lived a priest and a little boy.

During the autumn the little boy saw the chestnut tree from far away. The chestnut tree was bearing fruits and looked very delicious to the little boy. 

"Master, can I please go and have a chestnut?"

The priest gravely shook his head. "I have heard that there are witches in the mountains, who will eat you."

"Please master!" The boy repeatedly asked the priest.

Finally the priest agreed.

The priest however gave three charms to the little boy which would help him in case he had any trouble.

There in the mountain the little boy found delicious chestnuts everywhere. He gathered as many chestnuts as he could and soon he forgot all about getting back to the temple on time.

"Who are you?"

The boy was frightened when he heard the voice because that was when he remembered the instructions of the priest of the temple. However the boy found a gentle looking woman studying him. The woman looked at the chestnut in the hands of the boy and smiled. “You like chestnuts! Why don't you come to my home? I will cook them for you.” 

The boy happily followed the old woman to her home. 

The old woman cooked and gave him even more delicious chestnuts and soon he felt very sleepy. He woke up in the middle of the night where it was raining. The rains seem to be warning him that something was not right with the woman.

The boy peered in the front of the house and he saw the woman sharpening a knife. 

The little boy was terrified and he screamed.

The witch looked at the boy. “I am a mountain witch and I am going to eat you!” Panicking, the boy shook his head. “I must wash myself first please!” 

The witch did not want to let him go but finally agreed. 

The witch tied one end of the rope to the boy so that the boy was not able to escape. Once in the room the boy placed one of the charms on the rope.

He snuck out of the place as the charm gave his voice to the witch. Every time when the witch asked whether the boy was done the charm replied, “Not yet.” 

This way the boy was able to run and put some distance between him and the witch's house. 

However the witch was suspicious because it was taking too long for the boy. 

She found out that the boy had escaped from the window of the room. 

She followed the boy and that was when the boy used the second charm that he had been given.

“Charm please create a huge river so that the witch drowns in it and she is not able to follow me.” 

This time a huge river came up before the witch and the boy ran faster. 

However the witch did not give up. She swallowed up all the water in the river so that she could easily walk through and the witch chased the little boy again. 

This time the boy used his third charm to create a sea of fire.

However, using the water that the witch had swallowed from the river, the witch put out the fire. She was still chasing the boy.

The boy finally was gasping for breath as he reached the temple.

Meanwhile in the temple the priest was baking rice cakes and was about to eat them when the boy barged in. “The mountain witch is coming. She will eat me! Please protect me, master.” 

The priest waved at the cupboard. “I will protect you from the witch.”

The witch suspiciously looked around the place. “A boy came running here. Where is he?”

The priest shook his head. “I do not know.” 

The witch looked very angry. “If you do not tell me I will eat you first.” 

Then the priest studied the witch. “Fine! Let us compare our powers. If you have better powers than me, I will tell you where the boy is.” 

The witch agreed to this.

“Can you become big?” The priest asked the witch. 

The witch snorted and soon she became huge.

The priest really nodded. “You are very powerful.” 

The witch proudly looked at the priest. 

The priest nodded. “Can you become small like the size of a pea?” 

The witch then became the size of a pea. 

The priest suddenly grabbed her tiny body and put her in a rice cake and he ate the witch with the rice cake. 

The boy watched how the priest had gotten rid of the witch and he was very happy and stayed obedient to the older man after that.

Adapted from folktales of Japan

The Mountain of Ban Pin Shan

In Taiwan there is a mountain called Ban Pin Shan. It means one half.

Long ago it was believed that Ban Pin Shan was a whole mountain and there was a village near it. 

A very old man with a wrinkled face, hair and beard white as snow and worn out clothes came with a pot to the village. His pot had fresh dumplings and its smell filled the air.

“Hot dumplings! One for one cent, two for two cents and three for free.” The old man announced. 

The villagers were very curious on hearing the offer of the man. “Are you going to give us three dumplings for free?” 

The old man nodded and gave a dumpling to the first person of the village standing near him. “They are very delicious dumplings.” 

The man took one and the others realized that he enjoyed the dumpling. 

Soon everybody in the village asked for three dumplings and did not pay anything to the old man.

One of the men in the village however was shocked because he thought that the mountain near the village had suddenly gone missing. 

However no one paid any attention to the man.

The old man came the next day with the same offer. 

All the villagers stuffed themselves with three dumplings and did not pay anything to the old man.

On the third day when the old man came all the villagers were waiting for him and at this time a young voice said. “Can I have one dumpling please?”

All the villagers were shocked when they heard it. They could not understand why a man was paying for one dumpling when he could have three for free. 

The old man looked at the young man. “Do you not know about my offer? It is one for one cent. Two for two cents and three for free.” 

The young man nodded. “I know. But I have seen you carry this huge pot every day and you are giving away free dumplings. You have not made any money. I feel sorry. So I want to help you. But I have money only to buy one dumpling.” 

The villagers heard the young man and they were filled with shame.

The old man was however very happy he came forward and embraced him. “I have found you! I am the Mountain God and I had to choose my pupil. Come! I will take you and teach you all the magic that I know.”

The villagers realized that the Mountain God had wanted to test them to find a kind hearted person who could become his student.

Then the Mountain God revealed that the dumplings were not real and they had been made from the mud that he had got from his mountain. 

The villagers heard this and they ran to the old man’s pot and found it filled with mud.

They turned to look at the mountain and saw only half of it standing. 

The Mountain God took his student to teach him magic. 

The villagers were sad and cursed themselves for being greedy. 

Since that day the mountain Ban Pin Shan has been half and the villagers promised themselves not to be very greedy.

Adapted from folktales of Taiwan

The Fish's Laughter Part 2

“There is a fool of a man who accompanied me on this journey.” The farmer told his daughter looking thoroughly vexed. “I do not know what to make of him. Now he wants to know whether the beam in our house will support him. He has been asking such foolish questions from the very morning.”

The daughter came forward and was shocked. “All he wants to know is whether you can afford to entertain him in your home, father. He is a very wise man.” 

The farmer looked shocked. “He also said many other things. Do you know what it means? What did he mean when he said whether we can both give each other a lift as soon as the journey started?” 

“He just wanted you to tell stories to each other to pass the time.” The daughter replied.

The farmer nodded slowly. “When we were passing through a corn field, he asked me whether it was eaten or not.” 

His daughter shook her head. “He just wanted to know whether the owner of the farm was in debt or not. Because if the owner was in debt, then all the things that were produced in the farm were already eaten and it was no good to the farmer himself.” 

The farmer looked steadily shocked as he continued, “When we were about to enter a village. He gave me his knife and asked me to get two horses with it and to be careful with the knife.”

The daughter shrugged. “Aren't sticks good enough as horses to help walking through the road? Je wanted you to cut two sticks and use them as horses to navigate through the village.” 

“I see,” the farmer looked stunned. “When we were walking over the city, nobody there gave us any food. He called the city a cemetery but when we were walking through a cemetery and people gave us food there he called the cemetery a charming city.” 

The daughter nodded. “In a place where everybody is cold and uncaring about each other, that city is worse than dead. It was the other way round in this military where you met people who cared about you and gave you food. This man whom you have met is a very wise man. Please bring him inside. Tell him that our beams are strong enough and he can come in.”

The farmer's daughter packed enough food and gave it to a servant to be given to the minister's son with these words. “The moon is full. Twelve months make a year and the sea is overflowing with water.” 

The servant gave the food to the minister's son and repeated what he had been told.

However the minister's son replied to the servant “Tell your mistress that the moon is new and I can find only eleven months in a year and the sea is not full.” 

The servant did not understand what those words meant and he repeated the same to the farmer's daughter.

That was how the servant’s theft was brought to light. The servant had stolen some of the food that had to be given to the minister's son. 

The minister’s son realised that the farmer's daughter was very intelligent and told her everything.

The daughter knew the meaning of the laughing fish. “It just means that there is a man disguised as a woman, plotting to kill the king.” 

The minister's son rushed back to his kingdom to tell the king the real reason for the laughter of the fish. 

After the minister's son told the king everything he had learnt, the king gathered all the maids in his palace and asked them to jump over a pit which he had dug. 

All of them tried but only one of them succeeded. This was found to be a man. This man had actually joined the services in the palace pretending to be a woman to kill the king. 

The queen was very happy and the minister was grateful that his son had found the truth. 

The minister's son married the old farmer's daughter and they were very happy.

Adapted from Indian folk tales

The Fish's Laughter - Part 1

A fisherwoman was passing by a palace. The queen of the palace saw a fish that the woman was selling and called the fisherwoman because one fish caught the queen's eye.

"Is that a he or a she?" The queen asked the fisherwoman pointing at one of the fish.

On hearing this the fish laughed out aloud.

"It is a male fish," the fisherwoman replied.

However the Queen was now very angry and she did not buy any fish but she went back to her own room.

The king realized that the Queen was very hungry and he came to talk to her.

"The fish laughed at me." The Queen finished angrily as she studied the king. 

At first the king thought that it was impossible to see a laughing fish. 

But the queen was adamant. 

So the king promised the queen to find out the meaning of the laughing fish. 

The next day the king asked his minister to find the meaning of the entire thing.

The minister had a son who liked traveling a lot. The son promised to find the meaning of the entire episode and he packed his clothes and went on a trip to find out the meaning of the strange behaviour of the fish.

The minister's son and an old farmer were walking together. 

As they were walking the minister's son suddenly turned to the old farmer. "Will it not be pleasant if we gave each other a lift?"

The farmer did not understand the question and he did not reply. 

They walked ahead and they saw a field of ripe corn. The minister's son looked at the field and wondered, "Is this already eaten?"

"I don't know," the farmer replied, beginning to get angry.

They passed a big village when the Minister's son handed over a knife to the farmer. "Take this my friend and please get two horses with it. But please bring back the knife safely because it is very precious."

The farmer did not reply but this time he was sure that the man with him was mad.

They passed through this city and saw another one and there they saw that nobody even paid any attention to them nor could they find any place to rest or eat in the city.

There the minister's son sadly shook his head, "What a cemetery!"

The farmer looked around the city which was rich and vibrant and wondered what the man with him was talking about.

Outside the city there was a cemetery and some people were giving food to all the passersby in the name of the dead man, whose relatives the people were.

A farmer and the minister's son ate a lot of the food available there and they thanked the people there and went their way. 

"This is a nice charming city," the minister's son observed as they walked away from the place.

The farmer and the minister's son walked a little more and came upon a deep stream near the cemetery. The farmer saw that the stream was very deep and he removed his footwear as he was waiting through the waters of the stream. However the minister's son walked with his footwear on, as he walked through the deep stream.

The farmer felt that the man with him was a fool and chose to ignore him completely.

Finally the minister's son and the farmer reached the village of the farmer. Out of courtesy the farmer invited the minister's son to his home. 

The minister's son looked at the rich house and nodded at the farmer. "Is the beam of your house strong enough to support me?"

The farmer had a very sharp and smart daughter. 

He realized that his daughter would be the best person to get rid of the fool in his house and went and told her what the man who had been walking with him had asked her.

Adapted from folk stories of India

The Zodiac Signs and the Great Race

A long ago humans had difficulty in knowing which year it was. They decided to approach the Jade Emperor for help. The Jade Emperor decided to name every year after the animals that the humans knew.

The Jade Emperor decided to host a race in which the twelve animals to cross the river first would become the name of the year. 

The cat and the mouse were both very eager to win the race. Unfortunately neither could swim so they asked the ox for help. The  ox was very kind and he agreed.

The ox carried the cat and the mouse on its back and tried to swim across the river. However the cat fell into the river as it was sitting on the back of the ox. 

So the ox and the mouse arrived at the other side first.

Even as the two animals had reached the bank the mouse jumped up ahead of the ox and reached the Jade Emperor first. That was why the first zodiac sign was named after the rat. Naturally the ox came second.

The powerful tiger found it difficult to swim across the river with the strong currents. However the tiger did not give up and came after the ox. 

That was why it was the third animal after the ox. 

The rabbit jumped across the tiny stones on the river and nimbly reached halfway through the river. The rabbit did not know how to proceed from there because there were no stones available. At that time there was a huge log in the water. The rabbit jumped on it and the log carried it to the other side as it came as the fourth animal after the tiger.

The dragon flew in to take the fifth place. 

However the Jade Emperor was very confused about how a flying creature could come so late. The dragon explained that it had to do some good deeds before coming here. The dragon had to make rain to help the people and creatures on earth and that was when it saw the helpless rabbit on the log of the river. The dragon decided to do another good deed and huffed, sending a strong wind pushing the log towards the other side of the bank. 

The Jade Emperor was very happy and because of this the fifth month was named after the dragon.

The horse came galloping and the Jade Emperor heard the galloping noises. 

However a snake was hidden in the hoof of the horse.

When the horse saw this it was frightened and jumped away. 

So it was the snake who crossed the other side and reached the Jade Emperor before the horse. So the snake got a sixth position and the horse caught the seventh.

The goat, the monkey and the rooster all crossed the river using a raft. 

The rooster had found the raft while the goat and the monkey had fixed it so that it could sail. They worked together to cross the river and the Jade Emperor gave the goat the eighth place, the monkey the ninth place and the rooster the tenth.

The dog was the best swimmer. However he explained that he was dirty and needed a good bath before meeting the Jade Emperor. Listening to the reasons for the dog being late he decided to name the eleventh month after the dog. Just before the emperor was about to look around for the last animal he heard an oink. 

The pig entered the place. The pig explained that it had got hungry and stayed for a feast and fell asleep. After the nap the pig continued with the race and reached the Jade Emperor. 

So the pig became the twelfth animal of the zodiac cycle. 

The cat finally decided to come out of the river and came to the Jade Emperor. 

However all the twelve Zodiac Cycles had been named and the cat did not have any year of its own.

The cat was very angry with the rat for this. Since then cats and rats have always been enemies and the cats chase the rats.

Adapted from Chinese Folktales