Panchatantra Tales: Moral Tales for Children

By Tanvir Khan

Panchatantra is a fictional storybook written for children and consists of traditional folk tales. The stories are about the five ways in which human beings can achieve their goals in life. In the term, 'Panchatantra', Pancha means the number five and Tantra means strategies or ways.
The book Panchatantra is a collection of various stories. Some stories of Panchatantra are the most popular folk stories from ancient Indian literature. No one knows how old the stories of Panchatantra are but these stories are usually attributed to Vishnu Sharma. Some people believe that the stories of Panchatantra are as ancient as the Rig-Veda.
Reading of the book Panchatantra is recommended for children of age group 6-8 however, children older than that can read it too.
This book has attractive illustrations and graphic that will create interest in children.

• Language: English
• Publisher: V&S Publishers
• Release date: Apr 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9789350571873

Book preview

PANCHATANTRA

The Four Friends

Once upon a time, there lived four friends in a jungle – a deer, a tortoise, a rat and a crow. They all lived together under the shade of a big banyan tree and were happy to be together. They all belonged to different kind of families but lived in harmony and helped each other in times of difficulty. The crow used to fly high in the sky and spot food, whereas the deer, tortoise, and the rat would go and get it. They would then pray to god and eat together, sharing the food equally.

One day, while the tortoise, rat and the crow were away, a cruel hunter caught the deer

in a huge net and took him away. When the other friends returned, they were shocked not find him there. They decided to look for their friend. While flying in the sky, the crow saw the hunter taking the deer away in the net. He flew back and told the rat and the tortoise and they thought of a plan to save their friend. The crow said to the rat, Dear friend, the deer has been caught in the hunter’s net. The hunter will take him and kill him. You must go and cut the net using your sharp teeth.

I will definitely do that. But how do I get there? asked the rat.

After pausing to think for a moment, the crow’s face glowed. He said, I’ll take you on my back.

The crow carried the rat on its back and flew away, while the tortoise followed them slowly. On reaching where the deer was they saw that the hunter had gone to drink some water from the river. The rat quickly chewed the net and freed the deer. The deer was very happy to be free again and thanked the rat for his help.

Suddenly they heard the hunter’s footsteps. The crow flew away and the rat and the deer too ran away quickly. The poor, slow tortoise, could just manage to reach the bush, so he hid behind that. When the hunter returned and saw the deer missing, he was furious. Then he saw the tortoise hiding behind the bush and decided to take it home in a bag.