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PREFACE
This is the twenty-sixth book complied under the
Sindhi Adabi Board's Folklore and Literature
Project. In 1956, the Board had approved this
Five-Year Research. Project (1957-61) for the
collection, compilation and publication of
Sindhi Folklore and literature. The work was
stared in January 1957, and the first two years
were devoted mainly to the collection of
material. The compilation and publication work
commenced form 1959.
The material for the project has been collected
both from the oral tradition of the village folk
and the written record. The oral traditon was
reduced to writing thorough a network of the
fileldworkers, one stationed in each “taluka”
area.
The project aims at publishing representative
works pertaining to the following selected
segments of sindhi folklore and literature: (a)
Fables and Fairy Tales, (b) Pseudo-historical
Romances, (c) Tales of historical nature, (d)
Folk-poetry, (e) Folk-songs, (f) Marriage songs,
(g) Poems pertaining to wars and other events,
(h) Riddles, (i) Proverbs, (j) Wit and humour
and (k) Folk Customs and Superstitions.
The scheme has been deliberately named as
“Folkore and Literature Project”. At the present
stage, a considerable body of verse is current
through oral tradition among the village folk
with which the educated and the intellectuals
are not familiar. All this material is
'folklore' in the sense that it is popular and
is preserved with the village folk: yet, a
considerable part of it is 'standard
literature', and will be recognized as such
after it is published.
Of the seven volumes planned under the project
to incorporate different varieties of
folk-tales, legends and other stories, this is
the sixth volume pertaining to what may be
called 'the tales of beasts, birds and animals'.
A broad division of the Sindhi folk-tales into 'classical'and
'popular' may be made for the sake of
convenience. The first three volumes of this
series included tales, mostly of the 'classical
type'. Some of the significant features of the
'classical type', e.g. the nature of the plot,
fulfilment of the 'conditions' by the hero and
the typical characters, were briefly described
in the 'Preface' to the First Volume (published
in December 1960). The Fifth Volume included
mainly the short popular tales for the young, in
which figure the everyday human characters,
instead of demons, fairies,genii, witches and
sorcerers which dominate the 'classical type' .
In this volume are included tales of beasts,
birds and animals . Most of these are simple
nursery tales for children with an entertainment
or moral appeal. Among the animals, the jackal
is the most popular one and figures prominently
in as many an 27 tales. The lion and the fox
come next. If the lion is the king, the jackal
is the politician among the animals. He tries to
contrive and succeed; and even when hard-pressed
he wriggles out of the apparently difficult
situations.
Among the birds, the crow is more popular and
figures prominently in five tales. He is the
cleverest of all the birds but as the proverb
goes “The wise crow is often caught by both of
its legs”. The sparrow and the jay figure next
to the crow.
Besides animals and birds, such other creatures
as the mouse, the ant, the louse, the nit, the
cobra and the hedge-hog also figure in this
collection of tales.
Of the 66 tales included in this volume,
39 pertain to beasts and animals, 20 to birds
and 6 to other creatures. One tale is about a
little boy and little girls,
which belongs to the category of tales compiled
under Vol, V and has been retained as a symbolic
link between this and the previous volume.
Two hundred and thirty (230) Sindhi folk-tales
have been brought to light through the first
five volumes of this series. With the
publication of this sixth volume, a total of 296
tales would have been laid under contribution.
Thanks are due to Syed Ikram Ali, Principal
,Model School ,Institute of Education,
University of Sindh, who assisted in seeing
through the final proofs of the English pages of
this preface.
N.A Baloch
Director
CONTENTS
1. Jackal, the Killer of Lions(pp. 1-6)
2. Jackal, the King (pp.7-8)
3. The Wise She-Jackal (pp.9-10)
4. The Cunning Jackal (pp.11-12)
5. The Jackal and the Farmer (pp.13-14)
6. The Jackal and the Mawali (hashish drinker)
(pp.15-20)
7. The jackal and the Old Woman (pp.21-22)
8. The Farmer and the Lion (pp.23-26)
9. The 'Tikar' (pp.27-29)
10. The Jackal and Reindeer, the Rabbit and the
Leopard (pp. 30-32)
11. The Rabbit , the Lion and the Fox (pp.
33-35)
12. The Jackal and the Lion (pp.36-38)
13. The Jackal and the lioness (pp. 39-42)
14. The Jackal, the Wolf and the Camel (pp.
43-45)
15. The Jackal and the Dead Camel (pp. 46-47)
16. The Jackal and the Rabbit (pp. 48-49)
17. The jackal, the Crow, the Pigeon and the
Chandul bird (p. 50)
18. The Jackal and Friends (pp. 51-54)
19. The Jackal and the Dogs (pp. 55-56)
20. The Jackal and the Lamb (pp. 57-59)
21. The Jackal and the Ewe (p. 60)
22. The Jackal and the Crocodile (pp. 61-65)
23. The Jackal and the Cock (pp. 66-69)
24. The Jackal and the Partridge (pp. 70-71)
25. The Jackal and Sparrow (pp. 72-73)
26. The Jackal and Witness (pp. 74-76)
27. The Jackal is Chased on a Plain (p. 77)
28. The Lion and the Calf (pp. 78-79)
29. The Cock, the Calf, the Lamb and the Camel
(pp. 80-82)
30. The Cock and the Dog (pp. 83-84)
31. The Jackal and the Monkey (pp. 85-88)
32. The Female Deer and Her Young Ones (pp.
89-91)
33. The She-deer and the Crododile (pp. 92-94)
34. The goat and the Fox (pp. 95-96)
35. The He Blue-Ox and the She Blue-Ox (pp.
97-98)
36. The Wise Kid (pp. 99-102)
37. The Bald Kid (pp. 103-104)
38. The Frog and the Camel (p. 105)
39. The Young She-buffalo (pp. 106-108)
40. The Parrot and the Tortoise (pp. 109-110)
41. The Crane and Its grand-Mother (pp. 111-113)
42. The Stork and Its Wife (pp.114-115)
43. The Crow and the Lali Bird (pp.116-118)
44. The Crow and the Jay (pp.119-121)
45. The Crow and the Jay (p. 122)
46. The Jay and the Crow (pp. 123-124)
47. The Ring-dove and the Crow (pp. 125-129)
48. The Crow and the Sparrow (pp.130-133)
49.The King and the Jay (p. 134)
50. The Sparrow and the Jay (pp.135-139)
51. The Sparrow and the Little Rat (pp.140-141)
52. The Little Mouse and Sparrow (pp. 142-143)
53. The She-sparrow and the He-sparrow (pp.
144-145)
54. The Herrho bird and the Meetiro bird (p.
146)
55. The Sparrow and the Phusirri bird (p. 147)
56. The Death of Manu Moosirro bird (pp.
148-150)
57. The Sons of She-Sparrow (pp. 151-152)
58. The Little Fat Boy and the Little Fat girl
(pp.153-154)
59. The 'Phido' and the 'Phidi'(birds, male
and female) (pp. 155-156)
60. The Milk-King and the Milchy Animals (pp.
157-159)
61. The Clever Mouse (pp.160-162)
62. The Louse and the Ant (pp. 163-164)
63. The Louse and the Nit (pp. 165-166)
64. The Cobra and the Jogi (p. 167)
65. The gandan Fish gets Bones (p. 168)
66. The Hedge-Hog gets Thorns. (p. 169)
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