Folktales from India

This book is in great condition and made it to me in a very timely manner.

This book is part of the University of Chicago's series of books on international folklore. While A.K. Ramanjuan provides an excellent introduction in the book, this is not the book of Indian tales he selected and edited himself. That is this book, Folktales from India (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library) in the Pantheon Fairy and Folktale Series. Both books are excellent surveys of Indian folklore. The University of Chicago book (of India as opposed to from India) has a more scholarly bent to it and is recommended to more serious students of the literature.

There are approximately 110 tales told in 22 languages. The stories range from the comic to allegories and romantic sequences. For instance, there is a tale entitled "A Friend in Need". It relates the friendship between a tortoise and a fox. A leopard visits and tosses the tortoise back into the water. Another tale relates the best of flowers. According to Birbal, clothing is the product of flowers. A tale on non-violence describes a holy man asking a snake to cease biting things although hissing is acceptable. The stories enunciate themes which are not common to the subtle English humor handed down over the centuries. The acquisition is valuable as a potential conversation piece.

At the center of this book is an uninterrupted treasuremine of oral tradition folktales. If the reader looks through the extensive scholarly introduction, she learns that the tales have been organized around a series of themes (men's quest tales, woman's tales, animal tales...) and the significance of various aspects of the storytelling tradition. This organization allows the reader to approach the book from any level. She can just read the stories, uniterrupted by scholarly comments, or she can learn more about how they fit into a larger context. A nice book for the person interested in a quick and easy read.

It doesn't matter what country your from, these tales are classic. Sure there's a lot of cultural lingo in these, but nothing to the point that brings the reader into a state of confusion. Basically it's easy to understand the essence of the tales. A delightful read, you'll laugh, and you'll probably learn something too.