The Elephant and the Tailor There lived an elephant in a village. While going to river to take a bath regularly he passed a tailor's shop. Tailor always gave him something to eat. The two became friends. As usual one day he put his trunk inside the shop. The tailor was not in a good mood as he had a quarrel with a customer. The tailor instead of giving him something to eat pricked a needle into his trunk. The elephant silently went away. The elephant reached the river and took his bath. After that he filled muddy water in his trunk. On his way back he stopped at the tailor's shop ... read more

Nasreddin Hodja is the name of the wise fool in so many Turkish tales, and tales beyond Turkey through the Middle East and North Africa and far into the Balkans, into Russia, as far as India and China… Hodja Nasreddin had a lamb that was now fully grown. His neighbours came. ‘Nasreddin Hodja, your sheep is fat. Let us go and slaughter it by the river. The sun is shining. We will have a feast!’ ‘I don’t think so,’ said Nasreddin. ‘But, Nasreddin, haven’t you heard? The world is going to end tomorrow!’ ‘The world is going to end…? Very well.’ And they led the sheep down to the ... read more

The Lazy Farmer Sinha, the farmer was a very lazy man. He had fertile lands, but because of his laziness, he cultivated crops only in a part of his land. One night, it rained heavily and the roads turned muddy. Sinha was very happy that it had rained. He was to water the crops the next day. However, because of the heavy rain, he did not have to water them as the crops got sufficient water. However, he wanted to assess the status of his fields after the rain. He also had two loads of hay to be sold at the market. Since the roads were muddy, he stayed at home. He decided to take a visit ... read more

Long, long ago and far, far away this story was told, and it has been told ever since, and I tell it to you now… There was, in the city of Basra, when the evening was falling, a rosy glow upon the buildings around the central bazaar. And there was a Little Beggar, famous throughout the city for his japes and jokes and songs. The Tailor and his wife were returning from carousing. They invited the Little Beggar to come home with them to entertain them. And there he was in their house regaling them with a story. And they fed him a piece of white meat from a fish. The Little Beggar choked ... read more

THE CLEVER WOLF One day, a shepherd went to the pastures for grazing his sheep. He was looking after them, when suddenly he saw a wolf approaching him and his herd of animals. He got scared. But the wolf didn't do anything. He kept moving around the sheep as if to guard them. The shepherd thought that the wolf had changed with the time. Now he had become a vegetarian. So, the shepherd gave him the responsibility of guarding his sheep and went to take a nap. When he woke up, he was shocked to see that the wolf had eaten all his sheep and had fled the scene.