TO MY RADIO FAMILY
Who, unseen but appreciative,
always request more
Animal Tales
Table of Contents
[The White Elephant] 11 [The Grain of Corn] 17 [The Timid Little Rabbit] 22 [Singh Rajah and the Cunning Little Jackals] 29 [The Kingdom of Mouseland] 35 [The Alligator and the Jackal] 42 [The Bold Blackbird] 50 [The Kid and the Tiger] 59 [The Brahmin and the Tiger] 67 [The Bear’s Bad Bargain] 75 [The Man Who Rode a Tiger] 84
My Dear Children:
These old, old tales from India have been favorites for many, many years; some have come down to us from the early days of Buddha, and were taken from a book, called the “Jataka Tales,” telling of the Buddha’s previous existences. Some of these old tales have been translated from the Pali by Eugene Watson Burlinghame, and they have also been retold for us in attractive form by Ellen C. Babbitt.
These stories are somewhat similar to stories which we have all known in another form; for instance, our first story of “The White Elephant” is somewhat like the story of Androcles and the lion. While the story of “The Timid Little Rabbit” is like the old English tale of “Chicken Little.”
“The Story of the Grain of Corn” (which is repeated from “Tales of the Punjab” by Flora Annie Steel) compares with our well-known version of “The Old Woman and the Pig.” In this same book, we find the story of “The Bear’s Bad Bargain,” and we learn how a stupid and clumsy bear is outwitted by a grasping old woman and her greedy husband. Even if they have the best of the bargain, our sympathies are all with the poor old bear.