A stunning collection of fables that have been part of India''s oral and scholarly traditions for at least two thousand years, perhaps longer. Collectively, the stories in this volume have been known as the Panchatantra, the Five Books. Although they originated in India, they have been told and retold all over the world in various versions and have impacted many literary genres, particularly those containing animal characters and ''nesting stories'', that is, a story within a story within yet another story. These stories have influenced Arabic and European storytelling since the middle ages and are clear precursors of the Aesop''s Fables and Arabian Nights.This edition, like the original Panchatantra, comprises eighty-five nesting stories placed within five frame stories. It is a collection of ancient folk wisdom, a guide on how to live a wise and good life in the multicultural, global world of today.