The Panchatantra: Fables of Statecraft

King Amarashakti has a problem no teacher can solve: his three sons are quick at mischief and slow at everything that matters. When the aging scholar Vishnu Sharma promises to make them masters of statecraft in six months, the kingdom can only wait and wonder. His cure is stories — five books of them. Here a gentle bull and a lordly lion bind their lives in friendship, and a hungry jackal's whispered lies tear them apart; a crow, a mouse, a turtle, and a deer show that the smallest allies can defeat the strongest enemy; a clever monkey outwits a crocodile's treachery; and an ancient war between crows and owls ends in fire and folly. Each tale is a strategy of power, friendship, loss, and rashness, and each unfolds within Vishnu Sharma's own dazzling frame. Faithful to the beloved Sanskrit classic and retold in vivid, natural English, this edition lets an ancient masterpiece live again for today's readers. Part of Timeless Classics.