Taatayya Kathalu in English

            Although animals of the same breed tend to be friends, sometimes there develops a dear friendship among animals of varied kinds. Once, a deer, a tortoise, a rabbit, and a crow became very close friends. They shared many things they could with one another. Life was very happy for the friends. There is a twist in everybody's life.  A hunter was lucky enough to catch the tortoise. As he started carrying the tortoise, the remaining friends cooked a plan to help their friend. The crow started cawing loud. The hunter turned to look in that direction. There he saw the beautiful deer dancing. He could not resist his eagerness to catch the deer. He let the tortoise down and took his bow and arrow to aim at the deer. The moment the hunter let the tortoise down, the rat signaled the tortoise to crawl as fast as he could and dive into the nearby pond. By the time the hunter took his aim, the deer ran away from the place. Thus, both the friends escaped ...

     There was a mouse that was very possessive of all that he could lay hands on. It would not let anyone else share or even touch its possessions for that matter. It was the custom of a saint to visit the temple that was close to the place where the mouse lived. He was a kind-hearted saint. So, he used to feed the mouse with some food. The mouse once asked the saint, "Revered Swamiji, can you free me of my hunger eternally?"  The saint also promised, "I'll surely help you," and put the mouse into a crystal cage saying, "As long as you are inside this cage you will not feel hungry at all." Now, the mouse was utterly happy. It was content to be inside the cage for a while.      A cat that was in search of food too, happened to pass that way. On seeing all the food and material spread near the mouse the cat jumped and started to eat them. Now, the mouse became, restless. It could not bear the cat eating all its wealth. At the same time, it could not giv...

In the heart of the forest, there was a ruined palace. The king had used it as a summer resort a long time back.    Now that the king had died, there were no visitors and the palace had turned into ruins. This ruined leftover had become the shelter for a colony of mice. Once, a herd of elephants happened to cross that way. With loud trumpeting, they crumpled everything they set foot on. When they were about to crush the ruins, the chief mouse ran to the master elephant and begged, "Hey mighty elephant, we are living in these ruins for generations and generations. All our children and their children would turn homeless if your mighty feet lands on these ruins. Be kind enough to spare our lives and our homes." The kind-hearted elephant ordered its fellow elephants not to disturb the ruins and left the place without damaging it.          Days went by. Season changed. Summer came. The mice went through the entire forest in search of food. As they were appr...