Monkey and Crocodile: The Panchatantra Book Four Retold

by Narindar Uberoi Kelly

The series TALL TALES OF OLD INDIA is a modern English retelling of The Panchatantra (literally five books), a collection of millennia old Indian morality tales. Eighty five stories depict animals and humans struggling with thorny issues of friendship, collaboration, conflict and ambition. Relentless in their unwillingness to whitewash or romanticize adult life, they describe the ignoble as well as the noble, cruelty and deceit as well as honor, foolishness as much as cunning, deception as rampant as honesty . Monkey and Crocodile the fourth set of twelve stories, deals with how to protect and preserve any gains you have made in life, no matter in what sphere. Most of the loss-of-gain stories are told by the Monkey who fooled the Crocodile into freeing him from sure death by telling a clever story. Many are about the use of deceit to improve one’s position, or to protect oneself. And the losers are foolish enough to be tricked out of their gains by a sweet-talking adversary. They are gullible and deserve what they get. Deceit, when exposed, can lead to the deceiver’s undoing. One should be humble before the noble, use intrigue when one cannot win advantage by strength, pay bribes when necessary, pick a fight only with equals, and give good advice only to those best able to use it.

32 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2014