BOOKS AMEYA

a morsel of grain a folk tale from Bihar

A Morsel of Grain | A Folk Tale from Bihar | Kalai

A long time ago, a sparrow carried the grain of a gram to a grinding stone to break it into two. While the grinding stone would break the grain into two, a part of the grain remained inside the wooden pricket, the pivot of the grinding stone. The sparrow diligently worked to get the trapped Read more…

Riches through the Roof is a Tamil folk tale

Riches through the Roof | A Folk Tale from Tamil Nadu | Kalai

In a small town in Tamil Nadu, three brothers lived together in peace. Among the three, the youngest one was crippled and lame. After their father’s demise, the three brothers divided his property and assets among themselves. The two brothers kept a good share of the property. They gave their disabled brother a scrubland, a Read more…

The Thirsty Travelers a folk tale from Madhya Pradesh

The Thirsty Travelers | A Folk Tale from Madhya Pradesh | Kalai

Once upon a time, a merchant’s daughter-in-law went to fetch water from a well outside their village. When she began drawing water from the well, four weary, thirsty travelers arrived there. One of the travelers requested her to give them some water. She hesitated to share some water with them as she didn’t have a Read more…

The seventh brother a Himachali folk story

The Seventh Brother | A Folk Tale from Himachal Pradesh | Kalai

There lived an old woman with her seven sons in a village named Kurmachal. Six of her sons slaved away in the fields, plowing, sowing and irrigating the land. They needed to get water from a lake far away from their village. To protect their crops from the wild animals, they built a wall around Read more…

A Horse's Egg is a folk tale from Haryana

A Horse’s Egg | A Folk Tale from Haryana | Kalai

Long, long ago, a guru asked his disciples to find out the price of a horse. After inquiring, they found that it would cost them somewhere between fifty to a hundred pagodas. The guru instantly dropped the idea of buying a horse because he couldn’t afford it. One day, the cow at the ashram didn’t Read more…

A King's Promise a folk tale from Odisha

A King’s Promise | A Folk Tale from Odisha | Kalai

Kapila was a Kshatriya, or warrior caste, guy who had lost his parents at a young age. As a boy, he looked after a large cattle herd that belonged to a rich man. The rich man had a son by the name of Kasia. Being the same age, Kapila and Kasia spent a lot of Read more…

The Sampat Vrata a folk story from Maharashtra

The Sampat Vrata | A Folk Tale from Maharashtra | Kalai

The South-Western Indian state of Maharashtra has a rich history of folk tales related to every day of the week. Every day is reserved for a ritual to a specific deity. These rites are believed to bring emotional and financial prosperity to the devotees. This folk tale talks about the sampat vrata, or the special Read more…

Kuvar Kanchhala and the Princess folk tale

Kuvar Kanchhala and the Princess | A Folk Tale from Madhya Pradesh | Kalai

Once upon time, there was a king. One early morning, a sweeper lady passed by while the king was sitting on the balcony of his palace. She uttered “Rama, Rama” and looked away. Shocked at her insolence, the king ordered his men to present the woman before him. Trembling, she stood before the king and Read more…

A Present for the King is a Kashmiri folk story

A Present for the King | A Folk Tale from Kashmir | Kalai

Here is an interesting incident that happened in a remote village on the banks of Wular Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Kashmir. Silver coins were not known in this remote village, and people used copper coins in low denominations. No one had seen a silver coin with the image of Queen Victoria, the then Read more…

The Abandoned Twins is a Gujarati folk story

The Abandoned Twins | A Folk Tale from Gujarat | Kalai

Once upon a time, there lived a king with his two queens. The king treated his favorite queen with a lot of love and care. However, his attitude toward the other queen was nothing but humiliating. While his beloved queen remained childless, the other queen conceived. When the king’s preferred queen learned about this, she Read more…