A flock of doves is trapped in a hunter’s net. Only by working together, and with the help of their friends the mice, can the doves escape.

The families of birds living on a tamarind tree ignore their wise elder’s warning and get into trouble. This is a lesson about how problems should be solved before they become too big.

Three fish are good friends. When they find out that some fishermen are coming to catch them, they must figure out a way to save themselves. What does each of them do?

A holy man turns a mouse into a beautiful girl and brings her up as his own daughter. When she grows up, he wants her to get married to the greatest being in the world. But who is it?

A RAT THAT ATE IRON. A BIRD WITH TWO HEADS. FOUR GREEDY TREASURE-SEEKERS. A DOG THAT WENT TO FOREIGN LANDS TO FIND FOOD. These are only a few of the colourful stories that long, long ago ? it is said ? a sage told three princes so that they could learn to live wisely. Instead of giving them boring lessons, the learned tutor told them fables alive with animals and human characters faced with difficult situations about friendship, cooperation, quarrels and ambition. The tales told by Pandit Vishnu Sharma about 2,500 years ago offer a map of how to make one?s way through life in a moral and wise manner. These stories of friends and enemies, cruelty and deceit, honour and humility, foolishness and cunning, deception and honesty, tell us about the choices we have and how to find a solution to tough questions of right and wrong. This all-colour, beautifully illustrated edition contains stories retold from all five books of the Panchatantra and is designed to make it easy for readers to move from story to story, and across stories within stories ? making it a must-have for readers young and old.

The Panchatantra is a collection of folktales and fables claimed to have been authored in Sanskrit over 2500 years ago by the famous Hindu Scholar Pandit Vishnu Sharma. It provides insight into human behaviour despite the fact that all the characters are from the animal realm. The precise date of the composition of the Panchatantra is unknown and ranges between 1200 BCE and 300 CE. Some researchers date him to the third century BCE.

Vishnu Sharma looks like your average teenager, but he's just discovered 'average' no longer applies to him. As the new guardian of the Panchatantra, a book of Indian fables, Vishnu must now protect its heroes from disappearing into storybook history forever. The modern evil-doers (a.k.a. TaleCorps) seek to control and manipulate stories worldwide, and their dark and mysterious leader, Professor Shadow, finally has Vishnu within his grasp. He wants Vishnu to know the 'benefits' of working for TaleCorps and has made the boy an offer he only wishes he could refuse. Will the guardian turn betrayer?