Stories by Category: Folk Stories

The Crow's Hassle: ONCE upon a time, a farmer's wife was sitting and sifting corn. All of a sudden a crow flew by and swooped off with a kernel of corn from her basket. The farmer's wife got really angry and threw a mud ball at the bird. She had such good aim, the mud ball hit the crow, who fell to the ground, the kernel of corn fell out of the crows mouth and it rolled under the roots of a great big Banyan tree. The farmer's wife ran up to the crow, and grabbed it by the tail, "Give me back my kernel of corn, if you don't, I'll eat YOU instead!; read more and listen

The Horse Mind: Once there was a man who came to visit his friend. His friend was a good host, and he said, "Oh, come in. It's great to see you old friend. Please come in, I'll get you something to eat."; read more and listen

A Real King: Once there was a king who was both good and righteous. He was known far and wide for his wisdom and his kindness to the people of his kingdom. After many years, he began to feel bored with being a king, so he asked his adviser, "How old is my son now? I want him to become king so I can quit this job." The adviser said, "Your son is only 15 years old. The law says he must be 18 years old before he may be crowned as the king." The king said, "No, no no... that is no good at all. I want him to become king now." The adviser said, "You yourself are still a young king. If you were to wait for 3 years, you would still be very young to be retiring from your duties as a king." The king thought this over.; read more and listen

The Earthquake: Once there was a man who didn't believe in praying. He never prayed about anything. Whenever someone would talk about prayer, he would say, "Ah, prayer. It doesn't do anything. I'll tell you what prayer is; It's just a big waste of time."; read more and listen

Bhagat Dhanna ji: A long time ago in India there was a simple farmer named Dhanna. He lived a quiet life and loved to farm. Every day on his way to his fields, he passed by the house of a pundit who did many rituals and prayers, and Dhanna found this very interesting. One day he saw the pundit serving food to a stone statue. And he asked the pundit, "Why are you bringing food to a stone?" The pundit replied, "This is not a stone! This is a Thakur. If one pleases the Thakur all their wishes come true. You must feed the Thakur first, and only after that can you eat."; read more and listen

Bhai Taru's Life of Fearless Love: In the village of Poola lived a young man named Taru. He worked very hard every day on his farm with his family. He was also a very devoted Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh and he always loved serving people. Everyone knew he loved to serve and everyone loved Bhai Taru. Bhai Taru believed all people are children of God. He also learned from Guru Gobind Singh Ji to treat all people with equality and love. He didn't care if someone was Hindu or Muslim, he just wanted to serve the God in them.; read more and listen

Bhai Sud: Once upon a time, in a village in the Punjab, there was a very old man named Bhai Sud. He was 86 years old and he was well known for being truly wise. One day, as he was taking his daily walk, he saw the village chief running around in a frantic hurry. He yelled to Bhai Sud in alarm, "Bhai Sud Ji, there is a gang of bandits coming this way! They have been going from village to village, stealing everything, killing people and destroying everything in their path!"; read more and listen

The Thief and Kali: Once a long time ago there was a thief. His father had trained him to be a thief. He was a really good thief because he listened to everything his father taught him about stealing. One thing his father told him was this: "Never listen to anything a saint says. Don't even listen to a single word out of the mouth of a saint. If you hear what saints say, you will not be able to be a thief." He was the best thief around.; read more and listen

The Sweetness of the Naam: Once upon a time a long time ago there lived a Muslim child in India named Farid. Like most children Farid loved eating sweets. His mother always knew this about him, and one day she told him, "Son, the Lord created everything and is the Giver. Meditating on Him is the best." Farid replied, "Mama, if I meditate on The Almightly, will I get something in return?" She explained, "Well my son, when we meditate, we look very sweet to the Merciful Lord. So God gives us sweets to eat". "Oh!!! I love sweets!!!!!", he declared joyfully.; read more and listen

A Truly Great Man: Once there was a king who thought he was the greatest man in the world. His adviser informed him that there was in fact a greater man than him. The king greatly wanted to know who this could possibly be, so they both went out to meet this person. It turned out to be an old man. He was very humble and poor, but he was a man of God. See how the old man taught the king what greatness truly is...; read more and listen