Payahadu the Disabled Dai People – China, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand Yanhadu was a small, deformed, and without doubt not very good looking young man, who lived in the Menghun Basin a long, long time ago. However, he was exceptionally clever and had worked hard since childhood to develop new skills in order…
Recovering the Sun Han People – China (and half of the world) In a time, almost beyond the reach of memory, there was a young couple who lived in a small village. The man was called Liuchun, and he ploughed the land, while the woman, Huiniang, wove clothes on her loom. Their life, while…
Panraran Yacu Hanan Chanka Quechua People – Peru Many years ago, in the Andean community of Tapuk, which in Quechua means ‘the one who asks’, everything was prosperous. The people who lived there had crops and animals and the land produced abundantly. There was a large number of puquiales ‒ springs ‒ which supplied…
Tagori-hime, the Goddess of Green Growing Things Shinto – Japan Amaterasu, the benevolent goddess of the Sun, decided that she would never see her brother, Tsukiyomi the god of the Moon, again. She did not know what had exactly happened during his visit to Uke Mochi, the goddess of fertility and nourishment, of flora…
Why Achaman Created the Human Being Guanche People – Tenerife Island (Spain) In the beginning, there was only Achamán, powerful god of heaven, who was self-sufficient and had no need of anything or anyone. Being eternal, before him there was nothing. Everything was empty. There was no sea reflecting any sky, nor was…
The Wind in the Pine Japan Long, long ago, so long that even the White Crane cannot remember it, in the Land of Fresh Rice Ears, the Land of the Reed Plains, there grew a Pine-Tree. It stood within the sound of the sea. Great it grew, and there was not a greater in…
Mariora Floriora Moldova In all the wide Wonder Garden of Earth no nymph was so lovely as Mariora Floriora, the Sister of the Flowers. She was as bright as a tear of joy, as light-footed as a fawn. Her golden hair, soft as silk, fell in clusters on her white brow and in waves…
The Tortoise and the Leopard Igbo People- Nigeria The leopard had been trying to catch the tortoise for a long time, until one day he came across her on a lonely path. ‘Aha! I’ve found you at last!’ said the leopard. ‘Prepare to die!’ The tortoise, knowing that her life was going to end…
A Home for All – The Story of Hiena Luo People of Kenya and Tanzania It all started when Hyena got lost in thoughts not only about being alone, but even being lonely. He was loitering in the mopane wood at the edge of the savanna plain. He wanted to laugh, but he was…
In Your Hands Jewish Tradition, India, Benin Many people considered the old rabbi a prophet. Aside from his spiritual qualities, his simplicity and kindness, many of those who followed him claimed to have seen him do extraordinary things, ‘miracles’, some said, while others claimed that he was able to see the future and guess…