Justice Algeria A humble peasant one day found that the water from the well, from which his entire family drank, reeked of cattle urine. It didn’t take long for him to understand that the problem came from a nearby pen of goats, sheep and lambs. A few months before these animals had been driven…
The Man Who Stole Maize Zulu Nation – South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Eswatini One day a villager came to see the tribal elder. He told him someone has been stealing his maize, a little at a time, but in the long run it has been adding up. Last night, he had been lurking…
How the Trees Stopped Talking Estonia and Finland Many years ago, when human beings were still capable of imagining, a man left his cabin and went to the forest in order to collect firewood. He came across a very straight birch tree and decided that this tree would do. He placed his leather bag…
The Kind Man and the Stingy Man Ainu People – Japan and Russia A man had cast his net across the river and, having done so, caught a quantity of fish. Meanwhile there came a raven, which perched beside him and seemed to be seriously hankering after the fish. The bird was much to…
The Tale of the Sands Maghrebi Sufism – Tunisia A stream, born from a spring in the mountains, flowed down through forests and ravines. It ran through valleys full of fruit trees, giving drink to trees and plants, humans and animals. It felt that its destiny was to quench the thirst and nourish the…
Meibang Meiliu, the Mother Butterfly Miao People – China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand However, the umbilical cord had to be cut from each of them. Jiangyang’s was cut with a piece of bamboo which turned into rice and mountain ferns. The Water Dragon’s was cut with raw copper – which is why dragons fear…
Mangye sets off in search of grain Bouyei People – China and Vietnam A long, long time ago, the Bouyei People had no cereals with which to sustain themselves, so they just fed on the meat of the animals they hunted and on the bark of certain trees. However, a woman who had just…
The Two Weavers and the Devil’s Grandmother Germany Long, long ago, there lived two weavers in a small mountainous town and, since they were the only weavers for many miles around, everyone bought their clothes from them to protect themselves from the cold of winter. One of the weavers was a good man, who…
Essarye Gunadule (Kuna Tule) – Panama / Colombia The liana climbs by waving on the stalks of large trees –Nakekiryai said– and, from above, he begins to cry, to moan ‘Nanapipiye, nanapipiye…’ And the mother, the great Mother Earth, shouts at him from below, ‘Essarye!’ (‘Come into my arms, my son!’) And the…
Lindu, Queen of the Birds Estonia Lindu was queen of the birds – daughter of the Sky. She lived far off on an island in the Baltic where she and multitudes of birds whispered secrets to one another. Each spring Lindu would sing them home, guiding their passage north from the far reaches of…