Creighton University

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of TT has the turtle suggesting the stick-trick.  People on the ground in this version find a flying turtle "so silly," and the turtle answers back that they should be quiet.  The final image of the turtle lying dead on his back may be the booklet's best.

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version starts with an excellent illustration, on the cover and then reversed on the title-page and then reversed again on the first pair of pages: a "fruit" the size of a kidney bean bounces off of the top of Little Chicken's head.  She concludes immediately that the sky is falling.  Hen and Cock are the first to be included in her fear and join her as she runs to tell the king.  Duck, Drake, and Turkey all likewise ask to come along.  Fox says he knows the king and will take them to him.  We learn late that the king is a lion.  The fox takes them to the lion's den, but they never get to the lion.  The fox devours them!  Surprise!

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version has the heron dream up and present the whole plan himself because he is old and finds it difficult to hunt for fish and crabs.  He claims that an astrologer told him that the pond would dry up.  He carries the fish in his beak.  He even carries the crab that way.  How the crab can tighten claws around the neck of the heron from there is unclear.  "The hunter can never be protector."  The moral is apt!

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of "The Crocodile and the Monkey" finishes quickly.  The crocodile's admission is followed by two sentences from the monkey indicating that he left his heart on the tree and that they need to go back.  The next sentence begins with reaching the bank and finishes immediately with the monkey climbing to safety.  In other versions, the monkey may need time to scheme, and the trip back is emphasized more.  Outstanding in this presentation is the centerfold double-picture of the wife crying crocodile tears as she convinces her husband that she has a disease curable only by the eating of a monkey's heart.  The following pair of pages also does a good job with the monkey's reflection as he rides on the crocodile's back.  Do blackberries hang from a tree as they are pictured to do here?  The moral is disappointingly general: "Presence of mind is very useful."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of the story ends more dramaticalliy than some others: the animals realize that they have been tricked and kill the blue jackal.  The event is well presented in the cover illustration, which repeats the last page's picture.  In this version, the animals are scared by the blue jackal and then he declares to them that he is the "messenger of the King of Gods."  He throws all the other jackals out of the forest, but then a herd of jackals passes by and starts howling, and the blue jackal starts doing the same. 

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is a somewhat uninspired telling of a good story.  Daboo is a washerman's donkey.  Daboo teams up with a fox.  One night they eat some great watermelon.  Daboo is in such a good mood that he wants to sing.  The fox warns him against waking people up.  Daboo answers "Nothing will happen.  What do you know about singing?  I'm a very good singer and I'm going to sing."  The fox makes his getaway, but Daboo "sings."  His braying gets him a sound beating from the watchmen whom he has alerted.  "Do not ignore the advice of your dear ones" fails as a moral because it does not get to the heart of the story, which has to do, I believe, with things like learning our context and our priorities.

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This tale is well told.  A Brahmin is given a goat.  Three "rogues" decide to get the goat from him in a clever way.  One after another they encounter him on the road, speaking of the goat he has on his shoulders as first a dog, then a calf, and finally a foal.  The Brahmin decides that what he is carying must be a demon, and he lets it go.  The rogues make off with the released goat.  Good facial expressions throughout, and especially good eyes.

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is the well known tale of regulated sacrifice: one animal per day delivers himself to the lion to save all the other animals from fear of his predations.  The rabbit here is pink.  His report is that a group of rabbits was on the way; the report does not include any slurs from the reported lion about the cowardice of the lion receiving his prey on a daily basis.  The art also does not include an image of what may be the most telling scene in the story: the lion sees the reported lion in the well.  This version also fails to integrate a supposed caught rabbit into the image in the well.  Ramsay Wood does a better job with this story in his "Kalila and Dimna."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This clever jackal recognizes lion footprints leading into his cave one day as the jackal returns to his home.  He addresses the cave, asking why it does not welcome him from a distance, as usual.  The lion answers in what he hopes will be a cavelike voice.  Busted!  The best picture of the pamphlet is the last: the jackal runs full speed.  The same image is copied to be part of the cover and to be the sole image on the title-page.

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of DLS is unusual not only because the skin belonged to a tiger but also because the donkey's washerman owner finds the skin and puts it onto his emaciated donkey.  The best illustration of the book, repeated in reverse on the cover, has the owner stretching out the skin in admiration.  The ploy works.  After a few days, the donkey has grown fat and stout.  But the angry farmers of the village decide to kill the "tiger."  In their presence, another donkey brays, and the washerman's donkey lifts his head and brays back.  The angry farmers lose control of themselves and kill the tiger-donkey.  "Think well before acting" is another rather generalized moral.  Might "Think about the consequences before you enter upon a course of action" have been better?

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version has the mouse originally disturbed by the lion's snoring!  The mouse jumps on the lion's back, and the lion gets "disturbed"!  The next double-page, repeated in a different form and size on the title-page, makes a lovely contrast with the final picture, repeated on the cover: anger versus friendship.  Again, this series prefers a general moral to one derived from the specifics of this story: "We should be merciful."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is an Indian version of MM.  The beggar Mungerilal of Konkan finds a bag of flour on his way home.  He hangs the bag near his bed and starts dreaming about what he will do with it.  After selling it, he will buy a goat, which will give milk and later give birth to a kid.  Soon he will have a thriving herd of cattle, a house, and a beautiful bride.  If she does anything wrong, he will beat her with a stick.  Perhaps a bit illogically for the story, he starts swinging a stick: where did he get that stick in his sleep?  The stick of course hits the pot, breaks it, and spills its contents useless onto the floor.  "Making too many future plans is not always good."  Is making "too many" future plans ever good?

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This well told version of the story includes several good elements.  The carpenters working on a temple go away to the village for lunch when one of them has driven a spike as a wedge into a large log.  A group of monkeys has been watching from a tree.  A curious young monkey among them tries to remove the spike with one paw and then another and finally sits astride it.  His tail gets caught.  Strenuous efforts by other monkeys at first cannot release him.  At last, he gets away with his tail pulled off and bleeding.  "Too much curiosity is not always good."  Is "too much" curiosity ever good?

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of the story has several unusual elements.  The beautiful daughter rejects the first three suitors: the sun god because he is too hot, the lord of the clouds because he is too dark and cold, and the wind god because he is always on the move.  The latter then recommends the mountain, not because he is stronger but because he is "very strong."  She rejects the mountain because he is too hard and tough.  At last comes the element usually present in each transaction: "Is there anyone stronger?"  The mountain then recommends the mouse, who easily makes holes in the mountain.  The sage who first adopted the mouse dropped into his lap by an eagle comments "Look at what destiny had to offer you.  You started as a mouse, and were destined to marry a mouse in the end."  He then transforms her into a she-mouse and gets her married.  The moral is curious: "Destiny plays an important role in life."  Does not that moral miss some of the fun of the fable's questions about good pairing in life?  The final picture may be the best.  The happy mouse bride and groom stand in the hands of the happy sage flanked by his happy wife.  This image is repeated on the booklet's cover.

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of the story has several elements different from those one can find in Ramsay Wood's telling in "Kalila and Dimnah" as well as other standard tellings, I believe.  First, the main characters are identified only as first, second, and third fish, respectively, without proper names.  The first believes in facing danger when it comes.  The second believes in wisely taking action when needed.  The third believes in fate.  There is no river connected with the pond.  Fishermen announce a plan to return in one day to catch all the pond's fish.  The second fish gathers all the pond's fish-dwellers and recommends movement now.  The first fish asks why they should run like cowards from their ancestral place.  The second fish then leads some others out to "another pond."  That there is another pond was not mentioned earlier and is not utilized again in this telling.  When the fishermen appear as promised, the first and third fish are trapped along with many others.  At that point the first fish pretends to be dead and is thrown back into the pond.  Third fish wishes he had listened to his friend.  "Fate also supports those who act wisely."  The trick in this telling is to realize that the first fish faces danger only when it is upon him.  The fable is caught, I believe, between establishing what that fish needs to learn and what the fate-dominated third fish needs to learn.

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This version of the story told as "Sneaky and Straight" in Ramsay Wood's version of "Kalila and Dimnah" has several unusual elements.  Dushta, the deceitful partner, first conceives of the plan of leaving their village and earning together in the city.  He is also the one to suggest after just a few days that he needs more money; they should visit their hole together.  The reader is not told of Dushta's father being in the tree until it starts burning.  We are not even told that the banyan is hollow until Shatya starts a fire under the tree.  "Evil intentions never bear fruit."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is the story of the adopted mongoose who actually protected a child from a snake.  The mother, seeing the mongoose with blood, leaped to the false conclusion that the mongoose had harmed the son.  She beat the mongoose dead before checking and finding her son safe with the bloody dead snake near him.  "Learn about the truth, and then act."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is the story that comes early in the "Friends" cycle of "Kalila and Dimna."  There are some changed elements.  An older pigeon advises against flying down to get the grain scattered in an open area but is not listened to.  He then advises the others, who are caught in the net, to fly up together with the net.  Strangely the accompanying illustration shows many of the pigeons walking on the net rather than caught in it.  They fly together to a rat that he had helped in the past.  "Unity is strength."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is the story of the two crows who turn to a fox -- surprisingly, not a jackal -- for advice on how to counter the snake who has twice eaten their eggs in the nest.  The fox's advice is what one would expect from the tradition: steal the princess' jewelry while she is bathing and lead the pursuing guards to the snake's hole at the base of the tree.  The plan works!  "A friend in need is a friend indeed."

One of twenty in the series, found near the counter as we were settling up a large order of books.  Sixteen pages with standard computer art.  This is a fine story, too seldom retold.  Four friends have learned a good deal of wisdom, apparently, and after their training they are heading for their home village when they come across the scattered bones of a dead lion.  One suggests that they test their knowledge and bring the lion back to life.  He assembles the bones into a skeleton and chants some mantras.  The second chants some mantras and puts skin, flesh, and blood into the skeleton.  The third starts to chant mantras to put life into the animal when the fourth intervenes and urges them to stop.  They charge ahead, while he climbs into a nearby tree.  As soon as the lion comes back to life, he roars and devours all three of the remaining learned men.  "Knowledge must be used wisely."