The Folk Tales Of Burma

This handbook is the first in-depth overview of the fascinating world of Burmese folk-tales. Part one provides a wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary survey of folk-tale studies, together with a broad functional classification of Burma’s tales. Part two presents, mostly for the first time in a European language, the categorized actual tales themselves. With commentaries on plots and cross-cultural motifs - past and present. With index, substantial bibliography, and suggestions for further research.

The 21 colourful Burmese folk tales in this volume have been retold in English by teachers from the Phaung Daw Oo Monastic Education High School, Mandalay, Myanmar, formerly Burma. Accompanying the stories are 22 illustrations created by their young pupils. Herein you will find stories like THE CROW IS AS PROUD AS THE PEACOCK , THE THREE SISTERS, THE BLIND BOY, SHIN MWE LON AND MIN NANDA, THE GREEDY KING, A DISRESPECTFUL DAUGHTER and many more. Herein you will find stories like The Crow Is As Proud As The Peacock , The Three Sisters, The Blind Boy, Shin Mwe Lon And Min Nanda, The Greedy King, A Disrespectful Daughter and many more. As with most folk tales with Eastern origins, the stories have deeper meanings hidden beneath what, on the surface, may appear to be a simple story. The morals in these Burmese tales often reoccur in the tales from other cultures’. Such universal themes include traditional family values and respect, still very much to the fore in a country that to a great extent has stood still in time. 55% of the net profit from the sale of this book will be donated to the Phaung Daw Oo Monastic Education High School, Mandalay to assist with teaching materials. These funds will assist the inspired school founders, Ven. U Nayaka and Ven. U Jotika, who, to date, have helped many underprivileged children benefit from a high standard of education.

The village story teller in Burma considered a tale as a tale and no more, and would not distinguish or classify the stories that he told. But actually tales told in Burmese village could be divided into three categories.1.folk tales 2.folk legends 3.Jatakas or Buddhist birth tales. This Collection of Burmese folk tales is highly coloured and exotic. the stories illumine universal human truths. the atmosphere of these tales is of the same kind as their European counterparts. Some of the tales are highly significant in courts of low and often contain pointers as to how certain situations should be dealt with. they from the foundation of many decisions taken in courts of low.

Drawn from the rich storytelling traditional of Burmese folklore, twenty fables travel across time and kingdoms, myths and legends-princes and crowned, false kings dethroned, battles are fought and love triumphs. The beautiful illustrations add to the magic of this enchanting collection of Burmese folktales.

From the author of the internationally bestselling The Art of Hearing Heartbeats comes this charming collection of folktales that offer a window into Burma’s fascinating history and culture. Since 1995 Jan-Philipp Sendker has visited Myanmar (Burma) dozens of times, and while doing research for his novels The Art of Hearing Heartbeats and A Well-Tempered Heart, he encountered numerous folktales and fables. These moving stories speak to the rich mythology of the diverse peoples of Burma, the spirituality of humankind, and the profound social impact of Buddhist thought. Some are so strange he couldn’t classify them or identify a familiar moral, while others reminded him of the fairy tales of his childhood, except that here monkeys, tigers, elephants, and crocodiles inhabited the fantastic lands instead of hedgehogs, donkeys, or geese. Their morals resemble those of the Brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen, illustrating how all cultures draw on a universal wisdom to create their myths. The Long Path to Wisdom’s evocative stories run the gamut of human emotions, from the familiar to the shocking, and are sure to delight fans of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats as well as those newly discovering the magic of Sendker’s incandescent writing.