On the morning of a great battle, the warrior Arjuna looks across the field, sees his own family and teachers on the other side, and puts down his bow. What his friend and charioteer Krishna tells him next became the Bhagavad Gita.
Prince Bharata comes home to find that his mother has sent his beloved brother Rama into exile so that Bharata can be king. He does not want the throne. So he walks into the forest to bring Rama back.
Two boys share everything at school. Years later, one is a king in a golden city and the other is so poor his family often goes hungry. Sudama walks to the palace with a small bundle of flattened rice. Will his old friend even remember him?
For years an old woman in the forest waits for Rama, sweeping the path and gathering fruit each morning in case today is the day. When he finally comes, she has only berries to give him. What she does with them surprises everyone.
Four thirsty brothers drink from a beautiful lake and fall to the ground. When the fifth, Yudhishthira, arrives, a voice tells him he may drink only after answering its questions. His life, and theirs, depends on his answers.
Emperor Akbar asks his court a question nobody could possibly answer. How many crows live in the city? Birbal answers at once.
In 1893, a young Indian monk with no invitation, no money and no friends in America stood up in a crowded hall in Chicago. His first five words brought thousands of people to their feet.
A hungry jackal falls into a tub of blue dye and comes out a colour no animal has ever seen. The whole forest bows to him. But can he keep his secret?
A hungry fox spots a bunch of shining purple grapes, high up on a vine. He jumps and jumps. Then he says something very interesting.
A god offers King Midas any wish he likes, and the king already loves gold more than anything. By the next morning, everything he touches shines.
After supper one evening, a comfortable husband and wife discover that their lottery ticket might have won a fortune. Before they even check the number, things begin to change. Chekhov's sharp, funny story.
An old sage sees a scorpion struggling in the river and reaches in to save it. It stings him. He reaches in again.
Emperor Akbar draws a line on the floor and sets his court a puzzle. Make it shorter, he says, without touching it.
Two monks bound by strict vows come to a flooded river, where a young woman is waiting, unable to cross. One of them does something the other cannot forget.
Two old friends set off on foot on the long pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Only one of them gets there. Tolstoy's story of what it really means to keep a promise to God.
A lonely old cobbler hears a voice in the night promising a visitor tomorrow. All day he watches the street from his basement window, waiting. Tolstoy's gentle story.
Six men who have never seen an elephant each touch a different part of one, and each is certain he knows exactly what it is. An ancient parable from India.
In 1938 a young London stockbroker cancelled a skiing holiday and went to Prague instead. He told almost nobody what he did there, for fifty years.
The fastest animal in the meadow is so sure of winning that he stops for a nap. The slowest one simply keeps going.
At a party, a rich banker bets a young lawyer two million roubles that he cannot survive fifteen years alone in a room. Chekhov's story of what the lawyer learns.
A king believes he would never fail if he knew three things - the right time, the right people and the right thing to do. Tolstoy's quiet parable about the answers.
The most powerful man in the world offered a poor philosopher anything he wanted. His answer has been remembered for more than two thousand years.
Two tricksters sell a vain emperor cloth that only clever people can see. Everyone pretends, until one child says what they all can see.
Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace for one glittering night at a ball. When it disappears, she and her husband pay for it with ten years of their lives.
A proud professor visits a Zen master to learn about Zen, and talks the whole time. The master quietly pours him some tea, and keeps on pouring.
