Taatayya Kathalu in English

           Across a dense forest there lived two otters. These otters had the habit of quarrelling among themselves on their catches. Once, the otters had a big quarrel with a big fish they happened to eye at the same time. The first otter said, "I had seen the fish first. So, it is mine." The second otter retaliated, "I had my paws on it first. It is mine." The first one replied, "Don't make a fool of me.                 It is I who killed it so, it is mine." "I brought the fish to the shore. It is mine," shouted the second otter. Thus, the argument continued. A jackal was watching the show from a distance and decided to bring it to an end. He came to the otters and offered, "Tell me your problem friends. I shall try to solve it." The first otter said, "Look dear jackal, it is I who saw the fish first. This fellow wants it for himself." The second otter complained, "I only brought the fish ashore.    ...

          This is a famous story that has been told for years and years. It is about a crow that was cheated the way he cheated someone else.            An old lady was selling some delicious dough rings. The crow stealthily hopped and stole a dough ring and flew away to a far away tree. The crow thought to itself, "How stealthy am I! I can eat this dough ring without any disturbance here. At that very moment, a jackal happened to pass that way.       He sniffed and caught the smell of the dough ring. Up on the tree, he saw the crow perched and about to Aplan struck the jackal. the sweet dough ring. "Hey crow sister, you are such a beauty. Your black feathers and the cute beak are breathtaking," the jackal started flattering. The crow started to faint in the flattery. The jackal added, "Oh! I love to hear your voice." The crow opened her mouth to sing, but alas, the dough ring fell down and the jackal ate it all ...

     Deep in the forest lived a fox. He was cunning and was content in cheating other animals. He stole and ate the food stored by other animals. It was a hot summer day and food was in shortage even for active animals. The fox, who was lazy to hunt, found it very difficult to even steal some food. He roamed around the forest in search of some easy food.         He came to pass by a large tree. There was a large hole in the trunk of the tree. The fox sniffed around and smelt some food inside the trunk. The food was actually kept by some woodcutters who had gone there to cut some trees for firewood. The greedy fox happily jumped into the tree hole and started to eat the food. Soon, the fox had eaten all the food and was stomach full.         Once content with his food, the fox felt thirsty, as the food was cooked and not raw as in the case of animal catches. The fox wanted to get out of the tree hole. He started to climb out, but ala...

             Once, a fox found the corpse of an elephant lying across a forest footpath. The fox thought to himself, "My long time wish to taste elephant meat is going to be over today." He hungrily got ready to eat the elephant, but could not bite the tough skin of the elephant corpse.                 At that moment, he saw a lion coming that way. He ran to the lion and said, "Hey King of the forest, I want to taste elephant meat. I have seen a dead elephant. Can you tear it open for me?" The lion replied, "I am terribly sorry for you dear fox. I don't eat dead meat. Also, I don't eat leftover meat. And, I don't eat kills of other animals," and left the place. Now, the fox had to wait for some other bigger animal to come that way.              Soon, a tiger came that way. The need to taste elephant meat was very strong in the fox. He came with a plan. He ran to the tiger a...

              It was a calm village. The people in the village were all dependent on the rich agricultural fields. Daily they used to cook very early and leave for their agricultural works and return home in the evening. To their surprise, at least one family found their vessels empty.                 They could not trace the culprit. A wicked jackal was in the habit of stealing food and other eatables from the villagers. The villagers somehow sensed that it was a jungle animal that came stealthily to their homes and ate their food. So, they set some traps around the village and waited patiently.          The next day, the jackal came to the village as usual. He fell into a trap. He tried with all his strength, but could not escape. A sanyasi happened to come that way. The cunning jackal pleaded, "Respected sanyasi, you are such a good and pious person. Can you kindly set me free?" T...

   Lion is called the king of the forest not just because he but also because he is very considerate. He never kills unnecessarily. Once, a lion was returning to his den after a nice hunt. He found an infant jackal crying. The baby had lost his parents. The lion took pity on him and brought him to his den. "Dear wife, I found this baby jackal crying in search of his parents. I think his parents are lost. Take care of him like our cubs," he told the lioness. The baby had lost his parents. The lion took pity on him and brought him to his den. "Dear wife, I found this baby jackal crying in search of his parents. I think his parents are lost. Take care of him like our cubs," he told the lioness. The lioness also took care of the baby jackal like her own cubs. The baby jackal grew along with the remaining cubs. The cubs too accepted the jackal as their brother.               The lioness began to teach her cubs how to hunt. The jackal too joined in...

         There was an old lion in a forest. He was so old that he could no longer hunt effectively. He could not get food by himself, He had to eat only the leftovers of the kills made by other animals. Sometimes he had to stay hungry for days together if he could not find such leftover food.  A jackal and a crow were true followers of the lion. They were happy to stay with the lion and eat what the lion gave them. They too were very sad to see their king's pathetic state. "We have to do something to make our king really happy," said the jackal to the crow. The crow replied, "Yes, my friend. We have to make our king happy." At that time they happened to come across a sick camel. The camel was counting his days. He staggered in the direction of the jackal and the crow. "What are you discussing folks?" asked the camel. The wise jackal said, "Our king lion is too old to hunt anymore. So, we were talking about who would sacrifice their life for the ki...

Jackals are very secret in nature. At the same time, they are cowards. They are very afraid of even small things. Shintu was no exception. He was a jackal who was filled with fear. Even his wife got annoyed and chased him away. Poor Shintu was turned homeless.     Shintu roamed in the jungle with a place to go. He shivered to his bones when he heard even snake sounds. He could not eat properly and sleep properly. He came across a path in the jungle where a battle had taken place recently.             Suddenly, he heard a loud roaring sound that was so strange. He had never heard such a sound. It was nothing like the roaring of a lion or tiger. It was not like the trumpet of the elephant. It was not even like the bark of the dog. Shintu was totally filled with fear. Shintu gathered all his strength and crawled slowly in the direction of the roaring sound. He saw a strange thing lying on the ground. He went near and wagged his tail. When his t...

Once a jackal went to a lion and led, "Hey King of the forest! I am very much interested to serve you. Will you accept me to be your servant? I shall serve you loyally." The lion too accepted and made the jackal his servant. True to his word, the jackal served the lion with sincerity and loyalty. He watched for any animals and gave clues to the lion. The lion attacked the animals and gave away the leftovers to the jackal. Days passed. The jackal grew fat and healthy from eating all he was left out with. He became greedy and went to the lion and said, "From now on I shall make my own hunt." The jackal went hunting. He saw many animals but was not interested. He waited for some big animal to pass by. A big elephant came that way. The jackal thought, "Aha, now I've got my meal." He leapt to attack the elephant. But, you know what happened; the elephant threw away the jackal with his trunk and gave nice thrashing. The poor jackal ran away for its life. Mo...

There was a farmer who owned a big field in the outskirts of his village. He used to take his donkey with him when he was going to the field for the night watch. The next day morning, he loaded the donkey with the crops and took them to the market for sales. Daily night, the donkey heard the howling of a jackal.  He saw that his master turned afraid on hearing this howling, for his master would say, "What a deep howl! It just cuts through my nerves. One night the donkey happened to meet the jackal.  The donkey felt very jealous of the jackal and said, "See jackal, even my master is afraid of your voice. Look at me, he always beats me and makes me carry heavy loads.   The cunning jackal wanted to teach a lesson for the jealous donkey. He said, "Who said that your master will not be afraid of you? Have you ever tried howling in the late night?" The donkey thought, "Aha, so, that is the secret." The following night, as the farmer was about to sleep, the donk...

  The story goes like this. In a forest there was a heavy fight to choose a king. The old lion king had fallen sick and was about to die. There were many younger ones who were fighting among one another to capture the throne as king of the forest.  A poor jackal was very hungry. So, he went in search of food to a nearby village. He saw a big pot kept in the backyard of a weaver's house. He fell into the pot of blue dye thinking that it was a pot of waste food. The jackal turned blue. The jackal looked at itself in the river water and thought, "Well, let me try to scare other animals in the forest." When the jackal entered into the forest, all animals got frightened for real. The jackal took its chance and started to command them, "Look fellow creatures, I am the new king. From now on you shall bring food and water for me daily. Whatever I say shall be the rule in this forest." The animals took turn to serve their new king.  Once, there was a heavy rain in the fo...