The Elder 
How the speckled hen got her speckles: Brazilian Folklore Once upon a time, ages and ages ago, there was a little white hen. One day she was busily engaged in scratching the soil to find worms and insects for her breakfast. As she worked she sang over and over again her little crooning song, “Quirrichi, … Read more
Why the Tiger and the Stag Fear Each Other: Brazilian Folklore Once upon a time there was a large handsome stag with great branching horns. One day he said to himself, “I am tired of having no home of my own, and of just living anywhere. I shall build me a house.” He searched on … Read more
How Night Came: Brazilian Folklore Years and years ago at the very beginning of time, when the world had just been made, there was no night. It was day all the time. No one had ever heard of sunrise or sunset, starlight or moonbeams. There were no night birds, nor night beasts, nor night flowers. … Read more
Why the Bananas Belong to the Monkey: Brazilian Folklore Perhaps you do not know it, but the monkeys think that all the bananas belong to them. When Brazilian children eat bananas they say, “I am a monkey.” I once knew a little boy in Brazil who was very, very fond of bananas. He always said, … Read more
His Dead Wife’s Photograph: Indian Ghost Story This story is from the book “Indian Ghost Stories” by S. Mukerji, published in 1914. As the reader reads through the story, it may be worth remembering that it was written during the British Raj, evoking the atmosphere and setting of colonial India. This story created a sensation … Read more
The Talking Pupils: Chinese Folklore At Ch‘ang-ngan there lived a scholar, named Fang Tung, who though by no means destitute of ability was a very unprincipled rake, and in the habit of following and speaking to any woman he might chance to meet. The day before the spring festival of Clear Weather (One of the … Read more
Saint Andrew’s Night: Germanic Folklore It is commonly believed in Germany that on St. Andrew’s night, St. Thomas’ night, and Christmas and New Year’s nights, a girl has the power of inviting and seeing her future lover. A table is to be laid for two persons, taking care, however, that there are no forks upon … Read more
The Resuscitated Corpse: Chinese Folklore A certain old man lived at Ts‘ai-tien, in the Yang-hsin district. The village was some miles from the district city, and he and his son kept a roadside inn where travellers could pass the night. One day, as it was getting dusk, four strangers presented themselves and asked for a … Read more
Good Will Grow Out of Good: Folktale from India In a certain town there reigned a king named Patnîpriya, (i.e., lover of his wife.) to whose court, a poor old Brâhmiṇ, named Pâpabhîru, (i.e., a shudder at sin.) came every morning, with a yellow lime in his hand, and presenting it to the king, pronounced … Read more
The Gardener’s Cunning Wife: Folktale from India In a certain village there lived with his wife a poor gardener who cultivated greens in a small patch in the backyard of his house. They were in thirty little beds, half of which he would water every day. This occupied him from the fifth to the fifteenth ghaṭikâ … Read more
The Tiger Guest: Chinese Folklore A young man named Kung, a native of Min-chou, on his way to the examination at Hsi-ngan, rested awhile in an inn, and ordered some wine to drink. Just then a very tall and noble-looking stranger walked in, and, seating himself by the side of Kung, entered into conversation with … Read more
The Painted Skin: Chinese Folklore At T‘ai-yüan there lived a man named Wang. One morning he was out walking when he met a young lady carrying a bundle and hurrying along by herself. As she moved along with some difficulty, (Impeded, of course, by her small feet. This practice is said to have originated about A.D. … Read more
The Thunder God: Chinese Folklore Lê Yün-hao and Hsia P‘ing-tzŭ lived as boys in the same village, and when they grew up read with the same tutor, becoming the firmest of friends. Hsia was a clever fellow, and had acquired some reputation even at the early age of ten. Lê was not a bit envious, but … Read more
The Scholars on the Hill: Chinese Folklore There was a certain scholar who, passing through Su-ch‘ien on his way to Nanking, where he was going to try for his master’s degree, happened to fall in with three other gentlemen, all graduates like himself, and was so charmed with their unusual refinement that he purchased a … Read more
The Marriage of the Fox’s Daughter: Chinese Folklore A president of the Board of Civil Office, named Yin, and a native of Li-ch‘êng, when a young man, was very badly off, but was endowed with considerable physical courage. Now in his part of the country there was a large establishment, covering several acres, with an … Read more
The Unjust Sentence: Chinese Folklore Mr. Chu was a native of Yang-ku, and, as a young man, was much given to playing tricks and talking in a loose kind of way. Having lost his wife, he went off to ask a certain old woman to arrange another match for him; and on the way, he … Read more
The Painted Wall: Chinese Folklore A KIANG-SI gentleman, named Meng Lung-t’an, was lodging at the capital with a Mr. Chu, M.A., when one day chance led them to a certain monastery, within which they found no spacious halls or meditation chambers, but only an old priest in deshabille. On observing the visitors, he arranged his … Read more
Yuki–Onna: Folktale from Japan IN a village of Musashi Province, there lived two woodcutters: Mosaku and Minokichi. At the time of which I am speaking, Mosaku was an old man; and Minokichi, his apprentice, was a lad of eighteen years. Every day they went together to a forest situated about five miles from their village. … Read more
A Dead Secret: Folktale from Japan A LONG time ago, in the province of Tamba, there lived a rich merchant named Ina muraya Gensuke. He had a daughter called O-Sono. As she was very clever and pretty, he thought it would be a pity to let her grow up with only such teaching as … Read more
Mujina: Folktale from Japan ON the Akasaka Road, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka, which means the Slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the Slope of the Province of Kii. On one side of this slope you see an ancient moat, deep and very wide, … Read more
Jikininki: Folktale from Japan ONCE, when Muso Kokushi, a priest of the Zen sect, was journeying alone through the province of Mino, he lost his way in a mountain-district where there was nobody to direct him. For a long time he wandered about helplessly; and he was beginning to despair of finding shelter for the … Read more
Diplomacy: Folktale from Japan IT had been ordered that the execution should take place in the garden of the yashiki. So the man was taken there, and made to kneel clown in a wide sanded space crossed by a line of tobi-iski, or stepping-stones, such as you may still see in Japanese landscape-gardens. His arms … Read more
The Story of O-Tei: Folktale from Japan A LONG time ago, in the town of Nii-gata, in the province of Echizen, there lived a man called Nagao Chosei. Nagao was the son of a physician, and was educated for his father’s profession. At an early age he had been betrothed to a girl called O-Tei, … Read more
Oshidori: Folktale from Japan THERE was a falconer and hunter, named Sonjo, who lived in the district called Tamura-no-Go, of the province of Mutsu. One day he went out hunting, and could not find any game. But on his way home, at a place called Akanuma, he perceived a pair of oshidori (mandarin ducks – … Read more
The Story Of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi is from the book “Kwaidan: stories and studies of strange things, by Lafcadio Hearn; 1904; Houghton Mifflin Company, New York.” Deriving its title from the word for “ghost story” in Japanese, Kwaidan is a book by scholar and translator Lafcadio Hearn in which are compiled an array of ghost stories hailing … Read more
The Adventures of the Rich Youth: Arabian Folklore In a land of wide steppes and wind-worn mountains, a great and just king once ruled over many people. He had everything—wealth, warriors, and wisdom—but he had no son. Long he prayed, and at last the gods answered. A son was born to him, strong and bright-eyed, … Read more
The Seven Stages of Roostem: Arabian Folklore Persia was at peace, and prosperous; but its king, Ky-Kâoos, could never remain at rest. A favourite singer gave him one day an animated account of the beauties of the neighbouring kingdom of Mazenderan: its ever-blooming roses, its melodious nightingales, its verdant plains, its mountains shaded with lofty … Read more
The Cobbler Astrologer: Arabian Folklore In the great city of Isfahan lived Ahmed the cobbler, an honest and industrious man, whose wish was to pass through life quietly; and he might have done so, had he not married a handsome wife, who, although she had condescended to accept of him as a husband, was far … Read more
The Barber and the Demon: Folktale from India Once there lived a barber who was very idle. He would do no work and devoted his time to preening himself with an old mirror and a broken comb. His old mother rebuked him all day for this, but it didn’t touch him. At last, one day … Read more
Meamei the seven sisters: Australian Folktale Wurrunnah had had a long day’s hunting, and he came back to the camp tired and hungry. He asked his old mother for durrie, but she said there was none left. Then he asked some of the other tribesmen to give him some doonburr seeds that he might make … Read more
The Weeoonibeens and the Piggiebillah: Australian Folktale Two Weeoombeen brothers went out hunting. One brother was much younger than the other and smaller, so when they sighted an emu, the elder one said to the younger: “You stay quietly here and do not make a noise, or Piggiebillah, whose camp we passed just now, will … Read more
The Two Daughters: Folktale from Japan At Akita, in the province of Inaba, lived an independent gentleman, who had two daughters, by whom he was ministered to with all filial piety. He was fond of shooting with a gun, and thus very often committed the sin (according to the teaching of holy Buddha) of taking … Read more
The Man with his Leg Tied Up: Native American Folklore As a punishment for having once upon a time used that foot against a venerable medicine man, Aggo Dah Gauda had one leg looped up to his thigh, so that he was obliged to get along by hopping. By dint of practice he had become … Read more
Strong Desire and the Red Sorcerer: Native American Folklore There was a man called Odshedoph, or the Child of Strong Desires, who had a wife and one son. He had withdrawn his family from the village, where they had spent the winter, to the neighborhood of a distant forest, where game abounded. This wood was … Read more
Gray Eagle and his Five Brothers: Native American Folklore There were six falcons living in a nest, five of whom were still too young to fly, when it so happened that both the parent birds were shot in one day. The young brood waited anxiously for their return; but night came, and they were left … Read more
The Boy who Set a Snare for the Sun: Native American Folklore At the time when the animals reigned in the earth, they had killed all the people but a girl and her little brother, and these two were living in fear, in an out-of-the-way place. The boy was a perfect little pigmy, and never … Read more
The Water Spirit: Germanic Folklore About the middle of the sixteenth century, when Zündorf was no larger than it is at present, there lived at the end of the village, hard by the church, one of that useful class of women termed midwives. She was an honest, industrious creature, and what with ushering the new-born … Read more
The Cellar of the Old Knights: Germanic Folklore There was a poor, but worthy, and withal very merry, fellow at Tilleda, who was once put to the expense of a christening, and, as luck would have it, it was the eighth. According to the custom of the time, he was obliged to give a plain … Read more
Hans in Luck: Germanic Folklore Hans had served his master seven years, and at last said to him— “Master, my time is up; I should like to go home and see my mother, so give me my wages.” And the master said— “You have been a faithful and good servant, so your pay shall … Read more
Rabbit and the Indian Chief: Canadian Folktale Long ago an Indian Chief was living with his people far in the Canadian forest. Life was good and food was plentiful and the people were all very happy. But one day a wicked giant and his old witch wife came crashing into the land from a far … Read more
Karma: Folktale from Japan The young man, Ito Tatewaki, was returning homeward after a journey which he had taken to the city of Kioto. He made his way alone and on foot, and he went with his eyes bent upon the ground, for cares weighed him down and his mind was full of the business … Read more
The Nurse: Folktale from Japan Idé the samurai was wedded to a fair wife and had an only child, a boy called Fugiwaka. Idé was a mighty man of war, and as often as not he was away from home upon the business of his liege lord. So the child Fugiwaka was reared by his mother and … Read more
The Cold Lady: Folktale from Japan Once an old man and a young man left their village in company, in order to make a journey into a distant province. Now, whether they went for pleasure or for profit, for matters of money, of love or war, or because of some small or great vow that … Read more
The Widow’s Son: Philippines Myth In a little house at the edge of a village lived a widow with her only son, and they were very happy together. The son was kind to his mother, and they made their living by growing rice in clearings on the mountain side and by hunting wild pig in … Read more
Aponibolinayen and the Sun: Philippines Myth One day Aponibolinayen and her sister-in-law went out to gather greens. They walked to the woods to the place where the siksiklat grew, for the tender leaves of this vine are very good to eat. Suddenly while searching about in the underbrush, Aponibolinayen cried out with joy, for she … Read more
The Man Who Would Not Scold: Chinese Folklore Old Wang lived in a village near Nanking. He cared for nothing in the world but to eat good food and plenty of it. Now, though this Wang was by no means a poor man, it made him very sad to spend money, and so people called … Read more
The Nodding Tiger: Chinese Folklore Just outside the walls of a Chinese city there lived a young woodcutter named T’ang and his old mother, a woman of seventy. They were very poor and had a tiny one-room shanty, built of mud and grass, which they rented from a neighbour. Every day young T’ang rose bright … Read more
The Boy Saved by Thoughts: Canadian Folktale A poor widow woman once lived near the sea in Eastern Canada. Her husband had been drowned catching fish one stormy day far off the coast, and her little boy was now her only means of support. He had no brothers or sisters, and he and his mother, … Read more
How Rabbit Deceived Fox: Canadian Folktale Long ago in Indian days in Canada, when Rabbit worked for Glooskap as his forest guide, he was a great thief. He liked most of all to steal by moonlight, and he crept quietly into gardens and fields where Indian vegetables were growing, for he was very fond of … Read more
Great Heart And The Three Tests: Canadian Folktale Somewhere near the sea in olden times a boy was living with his father and mother. He had no brothers or sisters. His father was a great hunter and the boy inherited something of his power, for he was always very successful in the killing of game. … Read more
The Laughing Fish: Folktale from India As a fisherwoman passed by the palace hawking her fish, the queen appeared at one of the windows and beckoned her to come near and show her what she had. At that moment a very big fish jumped about in the bottom of the basket. ‘Is it a male … Read more
The Boy Called Thick-Head: American Folktale Three brothers lived with their old mother in the forest near the sea. Their father had long been dead. At his death he had little of the world’s goods to his credit and his widow and her sons were very poor. In the place where they dwelt, game was … Read more
The Husband Who Minded The House: Norwegian Folklore Once on a time there was a man, so surly and cross, he never thought his Wife did anything right in the house. So, one evening, in haymaking time, he came home, scolding and swearing, and showing his teeth and making a dust. “Dear love, don’t be so angry; … Read more
The Lad and The North Wind: Norwegian Folklore Once on a time there was an old widow who had one son; and as she was poorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal for cooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down the … Read more
The Three Sillies: English Folklore Once upon a time there was a farmer and his wife who had one daughter, and she was courted by a gentleman. Every evening he used to come and see her, and stop to supper at the farmhouse, and the daughter used to be sent down into the cellar to … Read more
The Flea: Italian Folklore Resolutions taken without thought bring disasters without remedy. He who behaves like a fool repents like a wise man; as happened to the King of High-Hill, who through unexampled folly committed an act of madness putting in jeopardy both his daughter and his honour. Once upon a time the King of … Read more
The Tree Spirit’s Love: Folktale from India A very long time ago, in a village in Nagaland, there lived a very beautiful girl, the only child of her parents who were very rich. As was the custom among the Ao-Naga tribe, when a girl reached puberty, she went to the girls’ dormitory to spend the … Read more
The Golden Snake: Folktale from India Long ago, in a quiet village hemmed by thick forests and winding rivers, there lived a poor old woman who earned her living by collecting firewood. One day, as she cut branches in the forest, she stumbled upon a shimmering golden snake coiled beneath a banyan tree. Startled, she … Read more
The Prophecy of the Tiger: Folktale from India On the outskirts of a forest, a brother and sister lived in a small mud hut. As their parents had died long ago, it was the brother’s duty to find a suitable bridegroom for his sister. It so happened that once a young man from a distant … Read more
The Silent Exchange: Folktale from India A rich and powerful Raja (King) was convinced in his heart that no one in the world was as powerful as he was. But he told no one about it. One day he began to wonder whether others could guess what he was thinking. So he called together all his officers … Read more
The Giant of Loch Léin: Irish Folklore On a time there lived a king and a queen in Erin (Welsh name for Ireland), and they had an only son. They were very careful and fond of this son; whatever he asked for was granted, and what he wanted he had. When grown to be almost … Read more
Brains Over Brawn: Folktale from India In two adjoining villages there lived two famous men. The one was called Mr. Mighty-of-his-mouth—one that could accomplish wonders with words alone. The other was called Mr. Mighty-of-his-hands—one who could make no use of that glib instrument the tongue, but was able to bear burdens, cut wood, and perform … Read more
The Clever Monkey and the Boar: Folktale from Japan Long, long ago, there lived in the province of Shinshin in Japan, a traveling monkey-man, who earned his living by taking round a monkey and showing off the animal’s tricks. One evening the man came home in a very bad temper and told his wife to … Read more
Fate’s Unwritten Path: Folktale from India A young Brahman (Scholar-sage) in search of knowledge had heard about a great sage and philosopher who lived in the heart of a dense forest, far from the madness of civilization. So he walked for days through the thorns of the jungle and the menace of wild beasts till he reached … Read more
The Jasmine Prince: Folktale from India There was once a king who was called the Jasmine Prince because the scent of jasmines would waft from him for miles whenever he laughed. But for that to happen, he had to laugh naturally, all by himself. If someone else tickled him or forced him to laugh, there … Read more
Widow Who Spoke to Walls: Folktale from India A poor widow lived with her two sons and two daughters-in-law. All four of them scolded and ill-treated her all day. She had no one to whom she could turn and tell her woes. As she kept all her woes to herself, she grew fatter and fatter. … Read more
The Boy Who Turned Into A Monkey: Folktale from India Once upon a time there was a boy in a village whose mother had died when he was young. After some time, the father married again in order to have a helpmate for himself a well as to provide a mother for his young son.But … Read more