April blogging #A-Z 2018- P

This post is written for the April blogging #A-Z 2018. 

I have chosen the theme Books and Authors for this year.

P –Panchatantra Stories

The Panchatantra is a collection of fables written in Sanskrit. It is one of the most popular collections of stories from the ancient Indian Civilization.

The tales – most of them are based on animals giving a moral message. As a child I loved listening to my grandmother and sometimes my father also used to tell these stories. Especially the musical donkey was a popular one- I loved listening to my father, as he used to tell it with expressions J I used have hearty laugh thinking about the donkey.

I have shared a few popular kids stories here…..  

Four Friends and a Hunter – A deer, a turtle, a crow and a rat were friends, living happily in the jungle.  One fine day the deer was caught in a hunter’s trap and the friends made a plan to save him. The deer struggled as if it was in pain and then it lie motionless with eyes wide open, as if it was dead. The crow and other birds then sat on the deer and started poking as if it was a dead animal.  The turtle crossed the hunter’s path and distracted him. The hunter left the deer, thinking it was dead and went after the turtle. The rat chew opens the net to free the deer while the crow picked up the turtle and quickly took it away from the hunter.

Moral of the story: Team work helps you achieve great results

The Jackal and the Drum – A hungry jackal wandered into a deserted battlefield in search of food. The place had nothing but a drum that the army left behind. When the wind blew, the branches of a tree moved and hit the drum, making a loud noise. The jackal was scared and decided to run from there. On second thoughts, he decides to explore the noise. As he drew closer to the sound, he found the drum and realized it was harmless. When he approached the drum, he found food nearby.

Moral of the story: Fight fear with boldness and it disappears.

The Talkative Tortoise – Once upon a time a tortoise named Kambugriva lived near a lake. It has two swan friends who also lived in the lake. Once during summer the lake dried up and there was very little water for the animals. The swans tried to help the tortoise saying that there was another lake in the forest, where they should go to survive. They  made a plan to take the tortoise along. They made the tortoise bite the center of a stick and told it not to open its mouth, no matter what.

The swans then held each end of the stick and flew, with the tortoise in between. People in the villages along the way saw a tortoise flying and were awestruck. There was a commotion on the ground about two birds taking tortoise with the help of a stick. Inspite of warnings from the swans, the tortoise opened its mouth and said:”what is the commotion all about? And then it fell to its death.

Moral: One should speak only at the right moment.

The Musical donkey – A washer man had a donkey named Udhata. The donkey carried loads during the day and was set free to graze in the nearby fields at night. He met a jackal one night and together, they would get food from nearby farms while the farmers slept. While Udhata enjoyed vegetables, the jackal attacked the farmer’s poultry.

One night Udhata was in a gay mood and told the jackal that he wanted to sing. The jackal warned him that singing while stealing vegetables from a farm is not a good idea. The donkey ignored the warning and sang to its heart’s content, even as the jackal ran to save its life. Soon the farmers woke up hearing the donkey braying an beat it with sticks for eating vegetables from their farms.

Moral: There is a right time and place for everything.

Have your ever read stories of Panchatantra??  Love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading this post

Be Happy!