EpicsClassic retold
Ekalavya's Gift
A boy from a forest tribe is turned away by the great teacher Drona. So he makes a clay statue of Drona and teaches himself, until he is a better archer than the princes. Then his teacher asks for a terrible fee.
For KidsFable & folk tale
Birbal's Khichdi
A poor man stands all night in an icy lake to win a reward from Emperor Akbar. But the court says a far-away lamp kept him warm, and he gets nothing. Then Birbal starts cooking his khichdi.
SportsBiography
Four Golds in Berlin
The grandson of enslaved people, born to a poor farming family in Alabama, went to the 1936 Olympic Games in Hitler's Germany and won four gold medals.
FoundersBiography
The First Self-Made Millionaire
Sarah Breedlove was born to parents who had been enslaved, orphaned at seven and widowed by twenty. She washed other people's laundry for a living. Then she found a problem she understood better than anyone, and built a business to solve it.
Famous LivesBiography
The First Teacher
In 1848, a young woman in Pune walked to school every morning while people on the street threw mud and stones at her. Savitribai Phule kept walking, and opened the door to education for the girls of India.
HistoryHistorical narrative
The Great Charter
In June 1215, in a riverside meadow in England, an unpopular king was forced to accept a list of promises. It failed within weeks, yet its ideas have outlived every king since.
SportsBiography
The Stolen Bicycle
A twelve-year-old boy in Louisville lost his new bicycle and walked, furious, into a basement boxing gym. He became Muhammad Ali, and one day he risked everything for what he believed.
KindnessTrue story
The Visas of Chiune Sugihara
In the summer of 1940, a crowd of desperate refugees gathered at the gate of a small Japanese consulate in Lithuania. The diplomat inside had to choose between his orders and his conscience.
HistoryHistorical narrative
A Handful of Salt
In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi set out on foot to walk 385 kilometres to the sea, to break an unjust law by picking up salt. The whole world watched.
HistoryHistorical narrative
The Night the Wall Opened
For 28 years, a wall divided Berlin. On 9 November 1989, a confused answer at a press conference sent thousands of people to the border, and history changed overnight.
Life LessonsClassic retold
The Bet
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.
ReflectionHistorical narrative
The Philosopher Who Asked a King to Move
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.
Famous LivesBiography
Twenty-Seven Years
Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison for opposing apartheid. He came out not seeking revenge, but determined to build a country for everyone.
HistoryHistorical narrative
The Seat on the Bus
On 1 December 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat. Her quiet "no" sparked a year-long boycott that helped change America.