5 Tales of India: Folktales, Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends of India and Pakistan

By Aaron Shepard

Traditional tales are retold by a master storyteller in this collection of folktales, myths, and legends from India and Pakistan. The stories are:
 
THE GIFTS OF THE GRASSCUTTER
 
Wali Dad, a humble grasscutter, never asked for wealth -- so why can't he give it away?
 
THE PRINCESS AND THE GOD
 
The princess Savitri must use all her wit and will to save her husband from the god of death.
 
THE MILLIONAIRE MISER
 
Sushil is so stingy, even a god takes notice.
 
HOW VIOLENCE IS ENDED
 
A prince must choose whether to heed his father's last words or take revenge on the king who has killed both parents.
 
KINGS FOR BREAKFAST!
 
King Vikram must rescue a magic goose from King Karan and discover the secret of his wealth.
 
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Aaron Shepard is the author of many books, stories, and scripts for young people, as well as professional books and resources for writers and educators. He has also worked professionally in both storytelling and reader's theater, as a performer, director, and teacher trainer. Aaron's lively and meticulous retellings of folktales and other traditional literature have found homes with more than a dozen children's book publishers, large and small, and with the world's top children's literary magazines, winning him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. His extensive Web site, visited by thousands of teachers and librarians each week, is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader's theater, while his stories and scripts have been featured in textbooks from publishers worldwide, including Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, SRA, The College Board, Pearson Education, National Geographic, Oxford University Press, Barron's, Hodder Education, and McGraw-Hill.
 
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Story Project
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781620352601

Aaron Shepard

Aaron Shepard has written award-winning short fiction and has been published in a number of Canadian literary journals, including the Fiddlehead and PRISM International. His personal essay “Edge of the Herd” appears in the anthology Nobody’s Father: Life Without Kids. He is a graduate of the University of Victoria’s MFA in Creative Writing program, and has served on the fiction board of the Malahat Review. An avid outdoorsman, Aaron enjoys hiking, camping, birdwatching, and cross-country skiing in his spare time. When is a Man is his debut novel. Follow Aaron on Twitter at @AaronWhen.

Book preview

5

TALES OF INDIA

Folktales, Fairy Tales, Myths, and Legends of India and Pakistan

Aaron Shepard

The Story Project

Bellingham, Washington

Copyright © 2016, 2018, 2022 by Aaron Shepard

Ebook Version 2.0

Aaron Shepard is the author of many books, stories, and scripts for young people, as well as professional books and resources for writers and educators. He has also worked professionally in both storytelling and reader’s theater, as a performer, director, and teacher trainer. Aaron’s lively and meticulous retellings of folktales and other traditional literature have found homes with more than a dozen children’s book publishers, large and small, and with the world’s top children’s literary magazines, winning him honors from the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, the Bank Street College of Education, the National Council for the Social Studies, and the American Folklore Society. His extensive Web site, visited by thousands of teachers and librarians each week, is known internationally as a prime resource for folktales, storytelling, and reader’s theater, while his stories and scripts have been featured in textbooks from publishers worldwide, including Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, SRA, The College Board, Pearson Education, National Geographic, Oxford University Press, Barron’s, Hodder Education, and McGraw-Hill.

For more on Aaron and

his books, please visit

www.aaronshep.com

The Gifts of the Grasscutter

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In a mud hut far from town lived an old grasscutter named Wali Dad.

Every morning, Wali Dad cut and bundled tall, wild grass. Every afternoon, he sold it as fodder in the marketplace.

Each day, he earned thirty paisa. Ten of the small coins went for food. Ten went for clothes and other needs. And ten he saved in a clay pot under his bed.

In this manner Wali Dad lived happily for many years.

One evening, Wali Dad dragged out the pot to see how much money it held. He was amazed to find that his coins had filled it to the brim.

What am I to do with all this money? he said to himself. I need nothing more than I have.

Wali Dad thought and thought. At last he had an idea.

The next day, Wali Dad loaded the money into a sack and carried it to a jeweler in the marketplace. He exchanged all his coins for a lovely gold bracelet.

Then Wali Dad visited the home of a traveling merchant.

Tell me, said Wali Dad, in all the world, who is the noblest lady?

Without doubt, said the merchant, it is the young queen of Khaistan. I often visit her palace, just three days’ journey to the east.

Do me a kindness, said Wali Dad. "The next time you pass that