Inspiration: Folk Tales & Stories

A Korean Folktale Long ago, the green frog lived with his widowed mother in a small pond. The green frog never listened to his mother, and when she told him to do something, he always did the opposite. If his mother told him to play in the hills, he went to the river....

A big, tough samurai once went to see a little monk. "Monk!" He barked, in a voice accustomed to instant obedience. "Teach me about heaven and hell!" The monk looked up at the mighty warrior and replied with utter disdain, "Teach you about heaven and hell? I couldn't...

Tetsugen, a devotee of Zen in Japan, decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking. Tetsugen began by traveling and...

Once Buddha was walking from one town to another town with a few of his followers. This was in the initial days. While they were traveling, they happened to pass a lake. They stopped there and Buddha told one of his disciples, "I am thirsty. Do get me some water from...

Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young people in the kingdom...

Once upon a time, somewhere in post-war Eastern Europe, there was a great famine in which people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering soldier came into a village and began asking...

Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of new clothes that he spent all his money on being well dressed. He cared nothing about reviewing his soldiers, going to the theatre, or going for a ride in his carriage, except to show off his new clothes. He...

Now you must know that a Town Mouse once upon a time went on a visit to his cousin in the country. He was rough and ready, this cousin, but he loved his town friend and made him heartily welcome. Beans and bacon, cheese and bread, were all he had to offer, but he...

A Folk Tale from Ethiopia Fire, Water, Truth and Lies were friends, but Lies wasn’t too happy about this and he wanted to destroy the harmony. So one day he said, “Why don’t we go together and look for free places so that each of us will have a kingdom of his own? So...

A Story from the Jewish Tradition The Holy One gathered the dust for the creation of the first man from the four corners of the earth, The Spirit of Life asked God why did He do this. The Holy One replied, "If a man should chance to come from the East to the West, or...

A devout clergyman sought every opportunity to impress upon the mind of his son the fact that God takes care of all his creatures. Happening, one day, to see a crane wading in quest of food, the good man pointed out to his son the perfect adaptation of the crane to...

Among the Aztec people of Mexico, it is said that a long time ago there was a great fire in the forests that covered our Earth. People and animals started to run, trying to escape from the fire. Our brother owl, Tecolotl, was running away also when he noticed a small...

Once upon a time an artist who had painted a small and very beautiful picture placed it so that he could see it in the mirror. He said, "This doubles the distance and softens it, and it is twice as lovely as it was before." The animals out in the woods heard of this...

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to...

This is an intriguing story with many applications in contemporary politics. The animals state a case for compassion and justice; the farmer does not care, until he sees a glimmer of self-interest. The result is the same — the tree is saved — so does his motivation...

If you look at the category tags on most of our blog posts, the word you will most often see is "inspiration." There is a reason for that. The word "inspiration" comes from the Latin inspirare "blow into, breathe upon." The meaning is deeper than that, though: it...

Prince Siddhartha saw the wild swans one day, flying white as clouds over the palace. His cousin took a bow, drew back the string, and let an arrow fly. One swan fell. Both boys ran, and the prince came first to the place where the swan lay. She was still alive. He...