Soso Tham (1873–1940), the acknowledged poet laureate of the Khasis of northeastern India, was one of the first writers to give written poetic form to the rich oral tradition of his people. Poet of landscape, myth and memory, Soso Tham paid rich and poignant tribute to his tribe in his masterpiece The Old Days of the Khasis. Janet Hujon’s vibrant new translation presents the English reader with Tham’s long poem, which keeps a rich cultural tradition of the Khasi people alive through its retelling of old narratives and acts as a cultural signpost for their literary identity. This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Indian literature and culture and in the interplay between oral traditions and written literary forms. This edition includes: • English translation • Critical apparatus • Embedded audio recordings of the original text

It Is Believed That The Only Way The Khasi People Could Learn Of God S Word Was By Passing On The Stories Of Their Forefathers. The Alphabet Of The Great Khasi Tribe Of North-East India Was Born As Late As In 1842, When Thomas Jones, A Welsh Presbyterian Missionary, Introduced The Roman Script To Form The Essentials Of The Khasi Written Word. But Long Before The White Man Came, The Khasis Knew Agriculture, Trade, Commerce And Industry. And They Were Also Masters Of Storytelling. Theirs Was A Society Of Great Wisdom And Civilized Conduct At A Time When Brute Force Held Sway. For Theirs Was A Culture That Worshipped God Through Respect For Both Man And Nature. Perhaps That Is Why Khasi Stories Always Begin With When Man And Beasts And Stones And Trees Spoke As One . . . How Did The Great Storytelling Tradition Of The Khasis Survive So Long Without A Script? Putting Together Myths And Legends Peopled By Deities And Poor Folk, Speaking Trees And Talking Tigers, The Sun And The Moon And Everything Below Bilingual Poet And Writer Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih Describes How Fables Of Love And Jealousy, Hate And Forgiveness, Evil And Redemption Inform The Philosophy, Moral Principles And Daily Activities Of His Community Even Today.

How to Read a Folktale offers the first English translation of Ibonia, a spellbinding tale of old Madagascar. Ibonia is a folktale on epic scale. Much of its plot sounds familiar: a powerful royal hero attempts to rescue his betrothed from an evil adversary and, after a series of tests and duels, he and his lover are joyfully united with a marriage that affirms the royal lineage. These fairytale elements link Ibonia with European folktales, but the tale is still very much a product of Madagascar. It contains African-style praise poetry for the hero; it presents Indonesian-style riddles and poems; and it inflates the form of folktale into epic proportions. Recorded when the Malagasy people were experiencing European contact for the first time, Ibonia proclaims the power of the ancestors against the foreigner. Through Ibonia, Lee Haring expertly helps readers to understand the very nature of folktales. His definitive translation, originally published in 1994, has now been fully revised to emphasize its poetic qualities, while his new introduction and detailed notes give insight into the fascinating imagination and symbols of the Malagasy. Haring’s research connects this exotic narrative with fundamental questions not only of anthropology but also of literary criticism.

Boats on Land is a unique way of looking at India’s northeast and its people against a larger historical canvas—the early days of the British Raj, the World Wars, conversions to Christianity, and the missionaries. This is a world in which the everyday is infused with folklore and a deep belief in the supernatural. Here, a girl dreams of being a firebird. An artist watches souls turn into trees. A man shape-shifts into a tiger. Another is bewitched by water fairies. Political struggles and social unrest interweave with fireside tales and age-old superstitions. Boats on Land quietly captures our fragile and awkward place in the world.

Here you will find gods who make the three worlds tremble and lightning swing wildly across the firmament, shape-shifting asuras living in enchanted forests, wandering rishis with formidable magical powers, bewitching apsaras gliding through heavenly palaces and heroes so tall they touch the skies. Myths and folktales have nourished the cultural and spiritual heritage of India since the dawn of creation. They not only accentuate the splendour of the country's diverse cultures-Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Islamic, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, and tribal-but, collectively, they also blend to shape our nation's psyche. Many of them are familiar to us from our own childhoods. Those that are new serve to remind us of the extraordinary complexity of India's storytelling tradition. Sometimes these tales are archetypal, and sometimes they defy categorization. Sometimes they affirm our core values and, at other times, they make us question the motives that drive us. But what is always true about them, no matter how fantastical or creative the forms they take, is the rare insight they give us into the lives we live. They teach us about kinship, desire, greed, conflict, friendship, treachery, compassion, arrogance, persecution, empowerment, secrecy, romance, suffering, courage, challenges, wisdom, sexuality, and spirituality-and innumerable other things we might expect to experience in the course of our journey through life.