The Single Lantern - Part Two

With the money, the woman bought a tiny lantern and placed it in the temple.

Her lantern seemed tiny compared to the light from the other larger lanterns in the temple.

But the woman was happy. She had done what she could and she had lit a lantern in the temple with her own money.

That night there was a function in the temple and all the lights in the temple were lit. 

The people who had come to the temple all appreciated the big lanterns and felt that the rich man who had gifted the lantern was generous and that was the reason that the temple looked so beautiful under the lights.

Even as the people looked around the temple, a strong wind picked up in the place. Suddenly a gust of wind burst through the place and all the lanterns of the temple including the lanterns of the rich man blew out.

The entire place was plunged in darkness.

But something strange happened.

In the darkness, there was a tiny light which glowed brightly through the entire temple.

It was the poor woman’s lantern which had not gone out despite the gust of wind blowing through it.

The priest of the temple smiled as he looked at the glowing lantern. “The poor gift from a good heart is more precious than the gifts showing the splendour of the rich.”

Adapted from Japanese folktales

The Single Lantern - Part One

In Yamato, there was once a poor woman. 

Though she was poor, she tried to help others daily. She also went to the temple and prayed devoutly there.

Once a grand temple was being built in Yamato. All the people gave a lot of money for the temple.

A grand and intricately designed lantern was set up in the temple. Looking at that, the other people also gave many lanterns to the people. 

A rich man from the place gave a thousand lanterns to the temple. He did this because he wanted everyone to know how generous he had been.

The poor woman saw the thousand lanterns of the temple and wondered what she could give. 

She was sad, because she realized that she had nothing to give. She went home and looked around but her house had only the barests of necessities and everything she had was old and worn out.

She studied herself in the mirror and saw long beautiful black hair.

She realized that she could sell her hair and with the money she could make offerings to the temple of Yamato.

So the poor woman went to cut her hair and she was even able to sell it and make some money.

Adapted from Japanese folktales

The Lucky Fortune Teller Part 2

Manduka was also appointed as a Royal astrologer of the King’s Court. 

It was during this time that a very learned man came to the court. The learned man had a jar in his hands. 

The jar was closed tightly and the learned man held it in his hands. The learned man looked at the king. “This is a test for the royal astrologer, your majesty. If he is able to pass it I shall admit that he is the best astrologer in the world.” 

The king was confident that Manduka would be able to meet the challenge and summoned Manduka to court. 

Manduka was fearful but put on a face of false bravado as he came to the court. 

The learned man held up the closed jar and showed it to Manduka. “I have been to various pilgrimage places and I found something in Rameshwaram which is in the south of the country. I have put that inside this jar. Can you tell me what is inside it?” 

Manduka kept staring at the jar for a long time and he was genuinely afraid. He knew that he could not find the answer to this question so he looked around for some help and found none. 

Finally feeling hopeless, Manduka cried out. “Your time is up Manduka! The game is over.” 

The learned man was shocked because when he opened the chair a frog jumped out of the jar and a frog is a Manduka in Sanskrit. 

The learned man admitted that Manduka was indeed a great astrologer and left the place. 

Manduka became even more famous in the entire kingdom.

Audio Story in Youtube

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Lucky Fortune Teller - Part 1

Once they lived a well read man in a village who was unfortunately ignored by all the people there. He was called as Manduka which means frog in Sanskrit. Manduka's 'jihva' or tongue got frozen when he was asked to speak. So everyone in the village believed that he was a dullard.

However Manduka wanted to change this perception.

There was a lavish wedding conducted by a rich merchant in the very village that Manduka lived. 

However Manduka was not invited to the marriage. 

As he looked at the wedding house, Manduka had a sudden idea. 

He led the horse on which the bride groom was supposed to ride inside, away from the place where the wedding was to take place. 

That day there was a great frenzy at the wedding. Everyone was looking for the horse to bring the groom to the place but it was missing. 

The merchant even appointed an astrologer to look into the stars and find out where the horse was. 

However they were not able to find it anywhere. 

Finally Manduka's wife went to the merchant and said that her husband was very well read and he may be able to help the merchant. 

Having no choice, the merchant went to Manduka. 

Manduka was able to guide the merchant's men to the horse because he was the one who had hidden the horse in the forest near a pond. Because no one knew that.

The merchant was thrilled at getting his horse back and he lavishly paid Manduka a lot of money. 

After this incident people in the village started respecting Manduka and his fame spread far and wide throughout the kingdom. 

It so happened that the king of the kingdom also heard of Manduka. 

Now the king had a problem.

The precious jewels of the queen were missing from the queen's quarters. No matter where they searched for it they could not find it. 

Having no other choice the king approached Manduka for help. 

The king asked Manduka to come to the palace and stay there to find the jewels or guide the kingsman in finding the jewels. 

When Manduka arrived at the palace the king was very particular that Manduka should not leave the palace without finding the jewels pointing out who had stolen the jewels.

The jewels had been stolen by Jeeva, a servant in the palace. She had been worried as soon as Manduka had come to the palace. She was worried that Manduka would be able to find out that she had hidden the jewels. She stood outside the quarters assigned to Manduka hoping to overhear Manduka and know whom he suspected.

Manduka was worriedly pacing his quarters because he was sure that now everyone would know that he was not a fortune teller but just a person who had been deceiving others.

He was berating himself for his silliness at taking the horse of the bride groom and hiding it in the forests. "Jivha, you are doomed. You have brought this upon yourself."

Naturally Jeeva, the servant who was at the door heard it and she was frightened. 

She was sure that Manduka had figured out that she was a thief. 

She ran and fell at the feet of the fortune teller. "I shall return all the jewels. Please save me."

Now that the king had got back the jewels, Manduka became even richer and more powerful in the kingdom.

Audio Story in Youtube

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara

The Eagle, the Hen and the Needle - Part Two

The hen had gone out and it was not available at home. 

It was at this time that all the other birds had finished using the needle and made beautiful wings for themselves.

The last of the birds using the needle had come to the house of the hen to return the needle. 

Unfortunately as the hen had gone out, the children of the hen took the needle. The children of the hen played with the needle and instead of keeping it carefully, they left the needle in the sand.

Now the eagle which had started flying well from the additional wings found that some of the wings had loosened because of the constant flying. To fix the feathers back the eagle needed the needle back. So the eagle came back to the hen's house and asked for the needle. 

The hen looked around the house and everywhere but the hen could not find the needle. 

She looked at the eagle shame-faced. “Please give me a day. I will find the needle so that you can fix your wings.” 

The Eagle was annoyed. “I can give you only one more day. If you can't find the needle, I will take away one of your chicks instead of the needle, as payment.”

The next day and soon as the eagle came, the hen started scratching the sand to find the needle. But the hen could not find the needle. The Eagle took away one of the chicks of the hens instead. Since then whenever the eagle appeared the hen started scratching the sand for the needle. Since then the young ones of the hen also run away on seeing the shadow of the eagle because they know that eagle would carry it away as payment.

Audio Story on Youtube

Adapted from African Folktales

The Eagle, the Hen and the Needle - Part One

In the land of birds, it so happened that none of the birds could fly. Unfortunately, during that time there was famine in the land. The Eagle had to go very far to find food and because it could not fly the eagle had to walk all the distance. 

The eagle came back very tired and the eagle lay on the ground and went to sleep and grumbled to itself that there had to be an easy way to travel. 

The hen heard this and it also went to bed. 

When the hen woke up it had a brilliant idea. It collected the feathers of the other birds and decided to sew the feathers on top of its own feathers. 

The hen was sure that the extra feathers would help it fly and make it easier to travel.

The Eagle was the only bird in the village that had a needle and so the hen went to the eagle and told it of its plan.

The Eagle heard the idea and realized that it was a very good idea. Soon the eagle set about to work for itself before giving the needle to the hen. 

The Eagle sewed the wings on both sides. Using the wings, the Eagle flew high up.

The hen was happy that its plan had succeeded and using the needle it started making wings for itself. 

However, making wings was not an easy job. The hen got tired and kept the needle aside and walked away from there. Soon the hen was preparing food for its young ones and forgot all about the needle. 

However, by this time the other birds had seen the eagle fly away. They all went to the hen's house and asked for the needle so that they could see feathers for themselves.

The hen’s idea worked for the other birds and they started flying too.

Audio Story on Youtube

Adapted from African Folktales

The Flower-Elves - Part Four

 

“How can I help you?” The scholar was dazed.

“You need to make a scarlet coloured flag every New Year’s day and you have to paint the sun, moon and five planets on it. You have to put the flag on the eastern part of your garden. Then we will be safe.”

“But the New Year has already passed this year!” The scholar fumbled and reminded the maidens.

“Set up the flag on the twenty-first day of this month. That way we will be safe from the East Wind.”

The scholar agreed to do what was asked of him and the maidens vanished from there.

On the right day, the scholar set up the flag and even before the scholar could finish the East wind started to blow. However, the scholar quickly finished the flag and planted it in the eastern side of the garden.

A wild storm swept through the place. Trees from the nearby forests were uprooted.

However nothing happened to the flowers in the scholar’s garden.

That was when the scholar realized that among the maidens who had come to see him Salix was the Willow, Prunophora was the plum, Punica was the Pomegranate and Perscia was the peach.

The scholar also realized the zephyr-aunts were the spirits of the winds.

After the storm had passed the scholar’s flag kept the flowers completely safe.

So as a token of gratitude, the Flower-Elves brought him beautiful flowers as gifts.

When the scholar ate the flowers that he had been given, he grew young like a man in his twenties.

The scholar had also got his hidden wisdom and became an Immortal.

Adapted from Chinese Folktales

The Flower-Elves - Part Three

The food was unlike anything that the scholar had tasted in his entire life. 

After food, the women danced and sang and their dance was as beautiful as the butterflies and the scholar no longer knew whether he was on heaven or earth.

However, after all this, one of the zephyr aunts accidentally spilled nectar on Punica’s dress.

Punica was angry and yelled at the zephyr-aunt.

One thing led to another and it became a full-fledged yelling fight between all the women.

By the end of it, the zephyr-aunts walked out of the party in a huff. On seeing this, the young maidens who had come to the scholar’s house and started all this walked towards the meadow and just disappeared amongst the flowers there.

The scholar was stuck in a dreamy stupor of what had happened in the evening and he was no longer sure of what had or was happening.

The next evening the young maidens came back to the scholar’s house.

This time they looked desperate. “We are the flowers that live in your gardens. Every year during the storm, the winds try to uproot us. The zephyr-aunts protected us from the winds. However, from today the zephyr-aunts will not protect us.”

The maidens nodded at the scholar. “You are the only one who can save us. Will you help us?”

Adapted from Chinese folktales

The Flower-Elves - Part Two

A beautiful girl dressed green smiled at the scholar’s question. “I am Salix.” She waved at a girl dressed in white. “That is Miss Prunophora and the one who is wearing the rose gown is Persica. The one in the dark red gown is Punica.” Salix smiled at the scholar and thanked him again. “We were on the way to see our eighteen aunts and were tired from our travels. We are grateful that you let us stay in your beautiful meadow.”

The scholar’s servant came in at that time and he announced that a group of eighteen women were near the meadow. The servant nodded at the scholar. “They call themselves the zephyr aunts. They find your meadow very beautiful and want to come here.”

The maidens in the scholar’s house were thrilled on hearing this. They turned to the scholar. “Those are our aunts. Can they also come here to your meadow?”

The scholar was still dazed and agreed to this.

So now eighteen more women came to the meadow house. 

The young maidens introduced their aunts to the scholar. As the scholar spoke with the zephyr aunts, he found them a little irresponsible in their talk and actions. Further, the scholar could not explain why he felt an unexplained chill when he was near the zephyr-aunts.

But the scholar kept his thoughts to himself. He had promised to let the people stay here for the night and he intended to do so. 

When the women sat at the table for dinner, the tables were suddenly filled with excellent food, fruits and fragrant nectar the likes of which were not known to humans.

Adapted from Chinese folktales

The Flower-Elves - Part One

There was once a scholar who was very wise. 

He wanted to stay away from the rest of the world and pursue hidden wisdom. 

So he built a house right in the middle of a meadow. The meadow was colourful and rich and had every single type of flower in it.

The scholar’s house was right in the middle of the meadow and it was not visible to the rest of the world.

The man lived in solitude in the house and the other person who visited the man’s house was his servant who came when he was summoned by the scholar.

After coming to the house, the man came to love the flowers in the meadow and he never stepped beyond the meadow around the house.

Once, the scholar was enjoying himself in his meadow on a lovely spring evening.

That was when a beautiful maiden in a dark gown came towards him. “Me and my friends are visiting our eighteen aunts. I came here to ask you whether you can allow us to rest here in your meadow before we continue on our journey.”

The scholar happily invited the girl and her friends to his house.

After that beautiful maidens with fragrance not known to humans to the scholar’s house.

They all thanked the scholar for his kindness.

“Who are you beautiful girls?” The scholar asked transfixed.

Adapted from Chinese folktales

The Story of Sundarasena - Part Eight

One night, all the prisoners were dragged above ground.

The people were bound and lined up for the sacrifice.

That was when Vindhyaketu properly saw the prisoners to be sacrificed.

The chief of the hill tribe was stunned when he saw Sundarasena and when he heard the prince speak, the chief realized that this was the prince of Alaka.

At once the prisoners were all released. 

Vindhyaketu had his people take care of the wounds of the prince. Then he spoke with the prince and realized how his men had captured the prince.

Vindhyaketu had his men row boats and go to the sea in search of the wicked merchant who had kidnapped Mandaravathi.

The men of the tribe easily found the ship. 

They subdued the merchant and his crew and found Mandaravathi in the ship and freed her.

They brought Mandaravathi back to the island and there the lovers met again.

Vindhyaketu had the lovers and their friends sent to the kingdom of Alaka with plenty of gifts.

Both the royal kings of Alaka and Hamsadwipa were thrilled to find their children safe and sound. 

The marriage of the Sundarasena and Mandaravathi was conducted with great pomp and show in the kingdoms and they lived happily ever after.

Adapted from the Katha Sarith Sagara