KacheliTV

KacheliTV — the world's stories, read aloud.

Looking for a story to fall asleep to, to ride with on a long drive, or to share at bedtime? Start here.

We read the folk tales and classics of every culture on Earth — complete and unabridged, never excerpts — in fresh English translations, performed by our cast of voices. The fairy tales of Ireland and Japan. The legends of India and Nigeria. Jamaica, the Netherlands, the Cherokee, the Norse — and the Russia of Pushkin and Krylov. The stories your grandmother knew, and stories from shores you've never heard — every culture in the spotlight, no one missed.

New tales arrive every week. Pick a shelf, press play, and let the world's grandmothers talk you to sleep.

Free always — here and on every podcast app. Prefer no commercials? Find us on Apple Podcasts.

From The Dog You Chose LLC, Gulfport, Florida. Public-domain sources, told with respect.

Find us:

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@KacheliTVFlorida

Telegram — https://t.me/kacheliTV

Website — https://dogyouchose.com

The Dog You Chose books — https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FYSTBLQ3

Our cast is a company of AI-generated voices, performing fresh in-house translations of public-domain works from every culture.

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S97 · E1
October 21 · 25 min
Georgian Folk Tales — Part 1: Master and Pupil · Conkiajgharuna · The Strong Man and the Dwarf
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Season 97 · Episode 1 — the opening of the Georgian shelf of KacheliTV World Classics: folk tales from Georgia, read aloud in Marjory Wardrop's English translation. THE BOOK BEHIND THIS EPISODE Georgian Folk Tales (London: David Nutt, 1894), translated by Marjory Wardrop (1869–1909) — the first volume of the Grimm Library and the first attempt to translate into English any part of the secular literature of the Georgian people. Wardrop took her tales from three collections: the Georgian tales proper from the collection edited by Mr. Aghniashvili (Tiflis, 1891); the Mingrelian tales from Professor A. A. Tsagareli's Mingrelian Studies (St. Petersburg, 1880), collected by him in Mingrelia in 1876–79; and the Gurian tales from an anonymous collection (St. Petersburg, 1884). Every tale in the book was read and screened under this shelf's content rule before anything was built: of the thirty-eight tales, three are told here. The rest stand named, each with its reason, in the shelf register — the excluded tales are not told, and no completeness is claimed for the book. IN THIS EPISODE 0:35 Introduction 2:10 Master and Pupil — or the Devil Outwitted: a peasant's son apprenticed for a year to a devil learns shape-changing, is known again by his father, and out-changes his master through hound and falcon, horse and mouse, fish and pheasant, apple and needle, until the thread burns in the fire. 9:31 Conkiajgharuna — the little girl in rags, the Georgian Cinderella: a stepdaughter fed from her cow's horns of honey and butter, gifted golden hair for her courtesy, and found at last by the golden slipper that fits no one else. 19:26 The Strong Man and the Dwarf — a giant who has nowhere met his match challenges the kingdom to wrestle, and a weak, insignificant-looking dwarf out-brags him at every proof of strength, from the stone squeezed dry to the hot loaf worn as a plaster. Narration: Scratch. Music: the instrumental theme "Three Pairs of Yellow Eyes" is heard at the opening and at the close, and in a short excerpt between the stories; there is no music under the narration.
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S82 · E2
October 21 · 17 min
Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales — Part 2: The Enchanted Grouse · Susan Walker, What a Talker!
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part Two of the Finnish shelf: Finnish fairy tales and folk tales, from Mighty Mikko: A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922) by Parker Fillmore (1878–1944), the American writer who gathered the folk tales of many peoples. Fillmore made his excursions into Finnish folklore with the help of his Finnish-speaking friend Lydia Tulonen, and offers the stories, as he says himself, not as literal translations but as his own versions, retold for the English reader. Billed by reteller and book, as the tales Fillmore gathered; not a survey of all Finnish tradition, and no completeness is claimed. Part One brought The Forest Bride. The tales are read in the order they stand in Fillmore's book under this shelf's standing rule; the tales that precede today's in the book and were set aside — the five opening tales named in Part One's register, and since then The Terrible Olli, The Devil's Hide, The Mysterious Servant, and the first two of the Familiar Faces — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. The Enchanted Grouse — Helli the hunter cannot shoot a grouse that begs for its life, and feeds it instead for three years; it rewards him with a flight over the ocean to its three sisters, and with the youngest sister's little locked box, which, dropped at home, opens into a castle. Susan Walker, What a Talker! — Susanna can never keep a secret, so when her husband finds a buried treasure he first plants a grouse in his fishnet and a pike in his birdsnare — and her own telling of it makes the whole village laugh the treasure away. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:56 The Enchanted Grouse 11:13 Susan Walker, What a Talker! Parker Fillmore, Mighty Mikko: A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922) — public domain. Narrated by Benedetto. Music: opening and closing theme, "2-20" — also heard as a short separator between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
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S96 · E1
October 21 · 30 min
Tunisian Folk Tales — Part 1: Abu Nowas and His Wife · The Washing Kettle · The Treasure · The Merchant and the Barber · The Donkey-Driver and the Lion · The Wolf and the Hedgehog · The Hare and the Wolf
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Season 96 · Episode 1 — the opening of the Tunisian shelf of KacheliTV World Classics: folk tales from Tunisia, read aloud in fresh English translations made for this programme. THE BOOKS BEHIND THIS EPISODE Both sources are collections by Dr Hans Stumme of Leipzig. The tales of the city of Tunis come from his Tunisische Märchen und Gedichte — Tunisian Tales and Poems (Leipzig, 1893), tales and poems in the Arabic dialect of the city of Tunis, printed with his own translation. The tales of the south come from his Märchen der Berbern von Tamazratt in Südtunisien — Tales of the Berbers of Tamazratt in Southern Tunisia (Leipzig, 1900), twenty-six pieces in the Berber tongue of Tamazratt which Stumme recorded in the city of Tunis in March 1897 from two men of Tamazratt, porters and folk singers, named Muhammed and Mhammed. The tales are told in the order they stand in their books, and every piece of both books was read and screened under this shelf's content rule before anything was built: of the fifty-one prose pieces in the two books, seven are told here. The rest stand named, each with its reason, in the shelf register — the excluded pieces are not told, and no completeness is claimed for either book. IN THIS EPISODE 0:36 Introduction 2:09 Abu Nowas and His Wife — the shared death of Abu Nowas and his wife Nur-Essbach, though neither of them dies at all: a jest for Harun Arraschid that ends in laughter and a thousand gold pieces. 12:04 Dschuha and the Washing Kettle — the borrowed kettle that gave birth to a little one, and, borrowed again, died in childbed; the judge rules for Dschuha. 14:36 Dschuha and the Treasure — a calf's hide sold for a single heller, and the pierced coin that marks a chest of gold. 16:59 The Merchant and the Barber — the Tunis merchant who mocked the barber's trade, the shipwreck, and the steamer's cargo that made them both rich; people called them the Tunisian merchants. 22:49 The Donkey-Driver and the Lion — a thorn drawn from a sick lion's paw in a gorge, and the lion's gratitude on the road home. 25:37 The Wolf and the Hedgehog — partners on a farm, a disputed inheritance, and a race the short-legged hedgehog cannot lose. 27:41 The Hare and the Wolf — hunting partners dividing the spoil, one part against three, until the wolf smells the greyhound: "The world was bad before; now it has become good." Narration: Orson. Music: the instrumental theme "The Spring Remembers" is heard at the opening and at the close, and in a short excerpt between the stories; there is no music under the narration. Tunisian folk tales, Hans Stumme, Tunisische Märchen, Tamazratt, Berber tales, Abu Nowas, Dschuha, folk tales, KacheliTV
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S95 · E1
October 21 · 17 min
Namaqua Fables and a Damara Tale — Part 1: The Lion's Defeat · The White Man and the Snake · The Cock · The Flying Lion · The Unreasonable Child
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: fables of the Namaqua — the Nama people of Great Namaqualand, north of the Orange River, in what is now Namibia — and one household tale of the Damara, from "Reynard the Fox in South Africa; or, Hottentot Fables and Tales" (London: Trübner and Co., 1864), edited by W. H. I. Bleek (1827–1875) and chiefly translated from original manuscripts in the library of Sir George Grey. Most of the fables were taken down in the Nama language at Berseba, in Great Namaqualand, by the Rhenish missionary Georg Krönlein (1826–1892); the Damara tale, in the Otjiherero language, was written down by the missionary Johannes Rath (1816–1903), who had worked in Damara Land. Billed by collector, book and people, exactly as the source prints them; not a survey of all the traditions of Namibia, and no completeness is claimed. Every tale in the book was read in full, in book order, under this shelf's standing rule, and most were set aside — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. The five tales built are given in the book's order. The Lion's Defeat — while the Lion sleeps, the Jackal persuades the little Fox to tie the Lion's tail to a shrub with a rope of ostrich sinews, and the little Fox alone answers the Lion's question truthfully. The White Man and the Snake — a man frees a snake from under a stone, and she wants to bite him; the Jackal is called to judge. The Cock — caught by the Jackal, the Cock asks him to pray first, as the white man does. The Flying Lion — in the days when the Lion could fly and nothing could live before him, the great Frog breaks the bones the White Crows are guarding. The Unreasonable Child to Whom the Dog Gave Its Deserts — a little girl lends out her eingi fruit, a needle, an axe, honey, food, feathers and milk, and asks for every one of them back, until she meets the family's dog. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:03 The Lion's Defeat 4:02 The White Man and the Snake 6:29 The Cock 7:40 The Flying Lion 9:50 The Unreasonable Child to Whom the Dog Gave Its Deserts W. H. I. Bleek (ed.), Reynard the Fox in South Africa (Trübner and Co., 1864) — public domain. Narrated by Magnolia. Music: opening and closing theme, "Rain of the Celestial Court," also heard as short separators between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. This episode's theme track runs hot as recorded, so its excerpts are gain-reduced in the mix. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Namaqua fables · Namibia folk tales · Georg Krönlein · Johannes Rath · W. H. I. Bleek · Damara tale · African folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S91 · E1
October 21 · 20 min
Folk-lore in Borneo — Part 1: The Two Creator Birds, the Coming of Rice, and a Kayan Lullaby
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of the shelf: four pieces from Folk-lore in Borneo (Wallingford, Pennsylvania, 1899) by William Henry Furness the Third, a Philadelphia physician who travelled in Borneo in the eighteen nineties and took these traditions down by word of mouth. Billed by peoples, collector and book — tales of the Kayan and Dayak peoples of Borneo, the great island the Borneans themselves call Kalamantan — not a survey of all the peoples of Indonesia, and no completeness is claimed. Furness's sketch also tells a tradition of the origin of head-hunting and an account of the country of the dead; both are set aside under this channel's standing rule and are named in the shelf register. The Kayan Story of Creation — in the old, old days a rock falls from the heavens, a sword-handle dropped from the Sun grows into the great tree, a vine falls from the Moon, and the first people, the birds and beasts, and fire itself come into the world. The Dayak Story of Creation — the two great birds Iri and Ringgong make the rivers, the trees and man himself, first of clay, then of wood, then of the red-sapped Kumpong tree, and the dog chooses to follow man. How Rice Came to the Dayaks — Si Jura climbs the fruit tree that hangs from the sky to the country of the Pleiades, learns rice-farming from Si Kira, and is lowered home with three kinds of rice. A Kayan Lullaby — the song a Kayan mother sang over her child, as Furness learned it. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:38 The Kayan Story of Creation 8:35 The Dayak Story of Creation 14:32 How Rice Came to the Dayaks 18:29 A Kayan Lullaby William Henry Furness, Folk-lore in Borneo (privately printed, Wallingford, 1899) — public domain. The rice tale is quoted there from Sir Spenser St. John, Life in the Forests of the Far East (1862). Narrated by Felix. Music: opening and closing theme, "Istanbul Cello Nocturne" — heard at the introduction and the close, with a short separator of the same theme between the stories; the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Borneo folk tales · Dayak folk tales · Kayan folk tales · Folk-lore in Borneo · William Henry Furness · Indonesian folk tales · creation myths · world folk tales
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S92 · E1
October 21 · 26 min
Patrañas: Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional — Part 1: Juanita the Bald; or, A Daughter's Love
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: Spanish stories, from Patrañas, or Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional (London: Griffith and Farran, 1870), collected by Rachel Harriette Busk, who travelled in Spain and gathered these stories from the people who told them. Billed by collector and book, as the tales Busk gathered; not a survey of all Spanish tradition, and no completeness is claimed. The book's opening tales were screened in the order they stand in the book under this shelf's standing rule — eight of the first nine were set aside, every one named with its reason in the shelf register — and the ninth is read here whole. Juanita the Bald; or, A Daughter's Love — on the banks of the Tagus, a poor shepherd who would not take money or a castle chooses the gift of a daughter; when blindness takes his sight, fifteen-year-old Juanita leads him to Toledo to find a cure, and sells her glorious hair — the hair that fell to the ground as she knelt in prayer — to pay the doctor's fee of five hundred maravedis, then gives the hair back rather than keep what was bought under a mistake, and is known ever after by the name she chose. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:43 Juanita the Bald; or, A Daughter's Love Rachel Harriette Busk, Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional (Griffith and Farran, 1870) — public domain. Narrated by Silas. Music: opening and closing theme, "Luminous Springs 2" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the tale itself is read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Spanish folk tales · Spain fairy tales · Rachel Harriette Busk · Patrañas · Juanita the Bald · river Tagus tales · Toledo tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S89 · E1
October 21 · 29 min
Where Animals Talk: Mpongwe Tales of the Gaboon River — Part 1: A Tug-of-War and Other Tales
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of the shelf: four tales from Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1912) by Robert Hamill Nassau, who spent forty years in West Africa. The sixteen tales of the book's first part were narrated to him at Libreville, on the Gaboon River, by two members of the Mpongwe people, who chose legends that were current in their own tribe. Billed by people, collector and book, as Mpongwe tales of the Gaboon River; not a survey of all the peoples of Gabon, and no completeness is claimed. The book holds sixteen Mpongwe tales; the other twelve were set aside under this channel's standing rule and are named in the shelf register. A Tug-of-War — Tortoise, despised for boasting that he is the equal of Elephant and Hippopotamus, sets the two giants pulling against each other on a single vine, until each owns him their equal. Who Are Crocodile's Relatives? — old Crocodile dies, and the Birds and the Beasts plead before the council for his property; the quarrel is never settled. Who Is King of Birds? — Njambi judges the birds by their speeches, and settles the kingship on the Cock; and how the chicken first came to dwell among mankind. Why Mosquitoes Buzz — Ear breaks her promise of oil, and Mosquito comes to our ears to this day, asking for it. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:33 A Tug-of-War 13:12 Who Are Crocodile's Relatives? 16:34 Who Is King of Birds? 26:47 Why Mosquitoes Buzz Robert Hamill Nassau, Where Animals Talk: West African Folk Lore Tales (Richard G. Badger, 1912) — public domain. Narrated by Morgana. Music: opening and closing theme, "Rain of the Celestial Court" — heard at the introduction, between the stories, and at the close; the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Gabon folk tales · Mpongwe folk tales · Robert Hamill Nassau · Where Animals Talk · West African folk tales · animal tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S88 · E1
October 21 · 17 min
Ba-Ronga Tales of Delagoa Bay — Part 1: Nabandji, the Girl of the Toads · The Year of the Famine
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: tales of the Ba-Ronga of Delagoa Bay, from Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga de la baie de Delagoa (Lausanne: Georges Bridel & Cie, 1897) by Henri-Alexandre Junod (1863–1934) of the Swiss Romande Mission, who collected these stories around Lourenço Marques and the mission station of Rikatla, from the tellers of the Ronga villages themselves, and printed them in French; the English you hear is a fresh translation made for this programme. Billed by collector, book and people, exactly as the source prints them; not a survey of all the traditions of Mozambique, and no completeness is claimed. Every tale in the book was read in full, in book order, under this shelf's standing rule, and most were set aside — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. Nabandji, the Girl of the Toads — a young man insists on choosing his own bride, against his parents' warning, and brings home a wife who will not eat: for in her far country the people carry a second, hidden mouth at the nape of the neck, and Nabandji's food is the green grass of the bush and the toads of the lake, until her husband's magic song shows the whole village what she is. The Year of the Famine — in a year of hunger, a husband digs up the family's buried dowry hoes, buys maize, and hides it in the forest to eat alone, while his wife and children go hungry; but his wife follows him, finds the hiding place, and keeps her knowledge until the day of the beer feast, when she digs the basket up before both their families. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:52 Nabandji, the Girl of the Toads 9:58 The Year of the Famine Henri-Alexandre Junod, Les chants et les contes des Ba-Ronga (Georges Bridel, 1897) — public domain. Narrated by Morgana. Music: opening and closing theme, "The River's Dying Vision," also heard as a short separator between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Ba-Ronga tales · Delagoa Bay · Mozambique folk tales · Henri Junod · Nabandji · African folk tales · Ronga stories · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S87 · E1
October 21 · 17 min
Moroccan Folk Tales — Part 1: The Woodcutter · The Owl · The Falcon and the Owl · The Sea and the Mosquito
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: folk tales from Morocco, in fresh translations made for this reading. Hans Stumme's Tales of the Shluh of Tazerwalt (Leipzig, 1895) prints the tales of the Shilha of Tazerwalt in southern Morocco in their own tongue together with the collector's translation; they were told to him by Haz Abdallah Ben Mhammed. Rene Basset's Tales of Africa (Paris, 1903) prints The Owl from Albert Socin and Hans Stumme's collection of the Arabic dialect of the Houara of the Wad Sus. Billed by collector and book, as the tales these books gather; not a survey of all Moroccan tradition, and no completeness is claimed. The tales were screened in the order they stand in their books under this shelf's standing rule, and a great many were set aside — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. The Woodcutter — a poor woodcutter spares the spirit in a tree trunk, and receives a hand-mill that grinds by itself, a bowl that fills itself with couscous and meat, and a cat that voids gold; each is stolen from him by a swap for its double, until the spirit gives him three little sticks that beat whoever speaks the word, and will not stop until the stolen things are given back. The Owl — a poor shepherd sells his flock to an owl for a hundred reales, and collects the price from the owl's own pot. The Falcon and the Owl — a falcon takes a featherless old owl for a young one, and warms her until her memories give her age away. The Sea and the Mosquito — how the sea lost its pride, and why its water is salt. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:12 The Woodcutter 10:49 The Owl 13:36 The Falcon and the Owl 15:27 The Sea and the Mosquito Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluh von Tazerwalt (J. C. Hinrichs'sche Buchhandlung, 1895), and Rene Basset, Contes populaires d'Afrique (Librairie Orientale et Américaine, 1903) — public domain. Narrated by Bruno. Music: opening and closing theme, "The River's Dying Vision No. 2," also heard as short separators between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Moroccan folk tales · Morocco fairy tales · Hans Stumme · Rene Basset · Tazerwalt · Shilha tales · The Woodcutter · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S86 · E1
October 21 · 32 min
Folk-Lore of the Holy Land — Part 1: Johha the Jester · The Two Wazirs · The Upright Judge
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: folk tales of Palestine, from Folk-Lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish (London: Duckworth & Co., 1907) by J. E. Hanauer (1850–1938), Canon of St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem and a member of the Palestine Exploration Fund, who lived most of his life in the land whose stories he gathered; the volume was edited by Marmaduke Pickthall. Billed by collector and book, as the tales Hanauer collected; not a survey of all Palestinian tradition, and no completeness is claimed. Much of Hanauer's book is given to saints, prophets and miracles, and those legends are set aside under this shelf's standing rule; what is read here are its secular folk tales and anecdotes of wit and kindness, taken in the order they stand in the book — every tale set aside stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. Johha the Jester — the famous trickster counts his twelve donkeys and keeps finding eleven, keeps one peg of his sold house and hangs his rights upon it, and lends a saucepan that gives birth and a cauldron that dies. Ibrahim Pasha and the Door — the governor of Jaffa has a burgled goldsmith's door flogged, twice, until it whispers the thief's name. The Two Wazirs — a sultan's two wazirs dispute birth against education, with a trained cat, a mouse, and two answers about the dawn. Stretch Your Legs According to Your Coverlet — a merchant feigns illness to test his three sons, and the youngest cures him with a proverb. He Only Moved the Tent-Peg — a young devil on pilgrimage swears to harm no living thing, and keeps his oath, after a fashion. The Two Beggars — two roast fowls, one stuffed with gold, are sold twice over for a single small coin. The Upright Judge — the Kadi Abdallah el Mustakim fills a sack with a widow's stolen earth, and asks the Caliph who seized her land to lift it. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:30 Johha the Jester 9:36 Ibrahim Pasha and the Door 12:58 The Two Wazirs 16:11 Stretch Your Legs According to Your Coverlet 20:11 He Only Moved the Tent-Peg 22:47 The Two Beggars 25:51 The Upright Judge J. E. Hanauer, Folk-Lore of the Holy Land (Duckworth & Co., 1907) — public domain. Narrated by Madame de Pamplemousse. Music: opening and closing theme, "The Cello's Unfinished Promise 2," also heard as a short separator between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Palestine folk tales · Holy Land folklore · J. E. Hanauer · Folk-Lore of the Holy Land · Johha · Juha tales · Arabic folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S84 · E1
October 21 · 27 min
Jewish Fairy Tales — Part 1: Head or Tail · The King's Servants · The Clever Wife · The Fox and the Raven
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: Jewish fairy tales, in the English retellings of Gerald Friedlander (1871–1923), the London rabbi and scholar who gathered old Jewish stories from many writings and recast them in a modern setting for young readers. The four tales come from his two collections of 1918, Jewish Fairy Tales and Stories (Routledge) and Jewish Fairy Stories (Bloch; Project Gutenberg eBook #72880). Billed by collector and book, as the tales Friedlander gathered; not a survey of all Jewish tradition, and no completeness is claimed. Both books were screened in full, in the order they stand, under this shelf's standing rule — folk tales only, with scripture retellings and sacred legends left aside — and every tale that was set aside stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. Head or Tail — an enormous snake lets his tail lead for a day, and the tail leads them into a cistern, a bonfire and a thorn-bush before the head takes charge again. The King's Servants — a king gives each of his servants a spotless new coat, and later invites them all to two banquets; the wise servants, who kept their coats clean and came prepared, fare very differently from the foolish. The Clever Wife — Ada of Sidon, promised that when she and her husband part she may take from the house whatever she likes best, has her sleeping husband carried to her father's house in his own armchair, and keeps him by his own promise. The Fox and the Raven — Master Fox flatters the raven in the fig-tree into singing, and the cheese falls straight to the ground. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:40 Head or Tail 4:50 The King's Servants 15:01 The Clever Wife 23:31 The Fox and the Raven Gerald Friedlander, Jewish Fairy Tales and Stories (George Routledge & Sons, 1918) and Jewish Fairy Stories (Bloch Publishing Company, 1918) — public domain. Narrated by Mira. Music: opening and closing theme, "Napoli in Fiamme," also heard as a short separator between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Jewish folk tales · Jewish fairy tales · Gerald Friedlander · Jewish Fairy Tales and Stories · Jewish Fairy Stories · The Clever Wife · The Fox and the Raven · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S81 · E1
October 21 · 14 min
Folk Tales from Bosnia — Part 1: Nasreddin’s Gusle · Nasreddin’s Bag of Tricks · Three Brothers, All Three Clever · The Three Brothers
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: folk tales from Bosnia, from Croatian Folk Songs and Tales from Bosnia (Vukovar: Ern. Jančik, 1883) by Nikola Tordinac (1858–1888), a young priest and schoolmaster of Đakovo who gathered these stories in the Bosnian towns of Žepče and Kreševo — from a schoolboy who had them from his mother, a girl of Žepče who had learned hers from the town's women, parish priests, an old woman from Livno, and his friends' manuscript collections — and died at twenty-nine, five years after his book appeared. Billed by collector and book, as the tales Tordinac gathered; not a survey of all Bosnian tradition, and no completeness is claimed. The tales were screened in the order they stand in his book under this shelf's standing rule, and a great many were set aside — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. Heard here in fresh translations made for this reading. Nasreddin's Gusle — the watchmen catch the Hodja filing a shop padlock by night, and his answer is ready. Nasreddin's Bag of Tricks — the sultan, wearied by complaints that the Hodja cheats the whole world, orders him to cheat him too, and lends him a cart and twelve oxen to fetch his tools. Three Brothers, All Three Clever — a stolen mare is hunted by pure reasoning (tall, so fair, so great-moustached), and before the qadi of Travnik the same chain of logic names first a lemon in a sack, then the meat on their plates. The Three Brothers — for three years something eats the brothers' haystack by night; the clever brothers run from the forest noise, but the fool catches the three flying horses, and leaps the emperor's ditch for three princesses and nine loads of treasure. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:54 Nasreddin's Gusle 2:49 Nasreddin's Bag of Tricks 4:43 Three Brothers, All Three Clever 8:09 The Three Brothers Nikola Tordinac, Croatian Folk Songs and Tales from Bosnia (Ern. Jančik, 1883) — public domain. Narrated by Lulu. Music: opening and closing theme, "The Cello's Unfinished Promise," also heard as a short separator between the stories — the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Bosnian folk tales · Bosnia fairy tales · Nikola Tordinac · Croatian Folk Songs and Tales from Bosnia · Nasreddin Hodja · Bosnian Nasreddin tales · Three Brothers · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S56 · E4
October 21 · 32 min
Palace Tales of Burma — Part 4: The Adventure of the Cheap Baby
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part Four of the shelf: the seventh story of Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) by H. Fielding — Harold Fielding Hall (1859–1917), who spent years in Burma in the government service and heard these stories in the palace world of Mandalay. Billed by author and book, as tales of the old Burmese court; not a survey of all Myanmar's peoples, and no completeness is claimed. Three of the book's tales stand set aside under the shelf's standing rule and are named in the shelf register; this tale stands alone as one part, exactly as its fellows did. The Adventure of the Cheap Baby — the King is tired from reforming the justiciary, and the Queen holds that cases of women and children should be tried by women. So the King, with a wicked light in his eye, gives her a case to try herself: two criminals have stolen a boatman's baby, kept it a whole night, and left it nearly dead with hunger. The Queen appoints her court from her maids of honour — Ma So and Ma Hla as secretaries, a third girl as the "royal voice" — the gong sounds, twenty soldiers march in with drawn swords, and the chains of the accused come clanking down the corridor. What the court sees when the ranks open, what the "royal voice" learns kneeling beside the boy, and the sentence the Queen pronounces at last, is the tale: a palace comedy about a baby bought, in all innocence, for one rupee. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:56 The Adventure of the Cheap Baby H. Fielding, Palace Tales (London and New York: Harper & Brothers, 1900) — public domain. Narrated by Mira. Music: opening and closing theme, "Calm After the Current" — heard at the introduction and the close only; the tale itself is read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Burmese folk tales · Myanmar folk tales · folk tales of Burma · Palace Tales · H. Fielding · Mandalay palace tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S55 · E3
October 21 · 8 min
Folk Tales of Paraguay — Part 3 (El Cerro del Monje · La Isla del Diablo)
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Two more legends of the Guaraní country of the Misiones and the great rivers, collected in that country by Juan Bautista Ambrosetti for his "Supersticiones y leyendas" (Buenos Aires: La Cultura Argentina, 1917), and heard here in a fresh English translation made for this programme. On the Alto Uruguay, north of the ruined Jesuit reduction of San Javier, a palm-crowned hill carries a poor wooden chapel: the Cerro del Monje, the Monk's Hill, where a miraculous spring rose in the hole dug for a cross, where the sick come in pilgrimage — above all in Holy Week — and where every bride leaves her wedding dress upon the saint, one dress over another, so that happiness will not abandon her new home. Then, near Goya, the Isla del Diablo, the Devil's Island: the phantom island that wandered the river by night, full of infernal spirits, until a missionary friar blessed it still — and which afterwards served as a hiding place for bandits a little worse than all its spirits. Juan B. Ambrosetti (1865–1917), "Supersticiones y leyendas" (1917) — public domain. These are Guaraní and Misiones legends from that book, billed by their people and their collector — not a survey of the whole of Paraguay. Of Ambrosetti's Misiones place legends, five were built in Part 2 and these two complete the passed bench; the remaining items of his Misiones chapters stand set aside under the shelf's content register, one Oliveira Cézar legend remains held for a ruling, and the full register is kept with the shelf's canon. Narrated by Violetta. Music: opening and closing theme, "Convergence at Dusk". Chapters: 01:15 El Cerro del Monje — The Monk's Hill 05:21 La Isla del Diablo — The Devil's Island Guaraní folk tales · Paraguay folk tales · Guaraní legends · South American folk tales · Juan Bautista Ambrosetti · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S31 · E8
October 21 · 26 min
Folk Tales of Cabo Verde — Part 8 (The Princess Who Groans · Dutiful and Undutiful · The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces)
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Folk Tales of Cabo Verde, Part Eight. Three tales from Elsie Clews Parsons' Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands (1923), collected from Cape Verdean storytellers in New England and first printed in 1923 — read aloud as Parsons printed them, in the order she printed them. The Princess Who Groans (No. 90): a prince dreams of Aldraba Juliana, enchanted at the bottom of the sea, and will not eat until he sees her. With a bottle of sweet-oil and three kerchiefs — the color of the sky, the color of the stars, the color of the moon — he rides through the parted sea to her door, and brings her home; but she will not speak until his violin asks her what her three groans were for. Declared for this tale, in plain sight: running to praise the last kerchief, the servant "broke a leg and did not feel it" — folk-tale hyperbole in one clause; and the prince takes the princess by the hand through her window, as the tale tells it — everything she groaned for, her servant and her sewing-basket, is fetched for her before the wedding. Dutiful and Undutiful: The Princess Who Groans (No. 91): Paul' and Anton choose cuscus over their father's blessing; Pedr' chooses the blessing, shares his cuscus with a hungry child, and takes the poorest horse in the herd — a horse that shines with light, and talks. Declared for this tale: each elder brother, asked by an old man to let him hold on to the horse's tail, dismounts and beats him — one clause each, the unkindness Pedr's kindness answers; and the last task the horse sets is spoken, not shown — cut off the shark's head, and the ring the princess dropped will be in its belly. Pedr' brings the ring back; the cutting itself is never described. The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces (No. 95): a boy sets out to learn how the princess wears out seven pairs of shoes in a night, and on the road his three loaves buy him an invisible coat and a magic whip from San Anton, the Virgin Mary and God themselves. Declared for this tale: his mother put poison in the loaves so that he would die on the road rather than at the king's house — the loaves are given away on the road, and nobody is harmed by them; the king's terms are death for failure, stated as the stakes and never carried out; and the boy cracks the whip over the head of the old man dancing with the princess, and he disappears — nobody is killed. These are three of the tales that passed this shelf's reading gate. The rest of Parsons' collection is being read in full, tale by tale; the tales that do not pass are named, with the reason, in the collection's written register. Nothing violent is framed or softened — it is left out, and the register says so. CHAPTERS 00:00 Opening Theme 00:56 The Princess Who Groans 07:55 Dutiful and Undutiful: The Princess Who Groans 19:53 The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces Source: Elsie Clews Parsons, Folk-Lore from the Cape Verde Islands, Parts I–II (Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. XV, 1923) — public domain; text from the Internet Archive. Narration: Madame de Pamplemousse (KacheliTV). Music: opening and closing theme, "Glacial Forest 3" — heard at the introduction and the close, and briefly between the tales; the tales themselves are read dry. Cape Verdean folk tales · Cape Verdean fairy tales · Cape Verdean folk tales audiobook · Cape Verdean folklore · Elsie Clews Parsons · West African folk tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S23 · E12
October 21 · 14 min
Folk Tales of the Philippines — Part 12 (Respect Old Age · The Golden Rule · Cochinango · Pedro and the Witch · The Woman and Her Coles Plant)
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part 12 opens with the two gentle moral tales banked at Part 11's gate, then continues in the book's own order. Two grandsons teach their fathers how an old man is to be treated; a "foolish" boy makes a whole palace dance; a witch's captive escapes on a talking horse; and a poor woman's plant climbs to the sky. In "Respect Old Age," a son ordered to leave his old father in a farm hut cuts the blanket in two — saving the other half, he says, for his own father's old age. Told by José Ignacio, a Tagalog from Malabon, Rizal. In "The Golden Rule," a grandson carves wooden plates "for you and my mother when you are old," and the grandfather is restored to the family table. Told by Cipriano Seráfica, a Pangasinan from Mangaldan, Pangasinan. In "Cochinango," the poor boy everyone calls a fool wins the princess's guessing-contest with gifts earned by kindness on the road — a magic buyo, a food-giving cane, an ever-full purse, and a guitar that makes everyone dance. Told by Felix Y. Velasco, who heard it from his grandmother, of Laoag, Ilocos Norte. In "Pedro and the Witch," the witch Boroka carries Pedro off to her mountain home, and a friendly horse and two magic handkerchiefs carry him safely home. Told by Santiago Dumlao of San Narciso, Zambales. In "The Woman and Her Coles Plant," a poor woman's plant grows to the sky and wins her a wishing wand from St. Peter — and her pride is her undoing. Told by José Hilario of Batangas. A word on these tales, told plainly. In the two opening tales, the resolve to cast off an old father is stated and repented in the same movement, at a grandson's word; no one is harmed. In "Cochinango," the princess's wish to starve her prisoners stands as intent only — the prisoners are fed by the magic cane and freed in the tale; the closing line that the kingdom's raiders were "captured or killed" as they danced stands in a single summary clause. In "Pedro and the Witch," the witch's eating of children is her stated character, never enacted on the page; her plan to make a feast of Pedro is stated and prevented, and the pursuing witches lose their wings to the fire handkerchief in a single passage. In "The Woman and Her Coles Plant," the bell strikes the woman senseless and she recovers; her fatal fall from the broken plant stands in the tale's single closing clause, the moral of her vanity. The book's next tale, "A Negrito Slave," stands held at this gate, awaiting the owner's ruling, and "Alberto and the Monsters" stands stopped at the same gate; four earlier tales remain held from earlier gates, as does Tale 17. The book's footnote markers are kept out, and its comparative notes stand in the book, unread here. The book's storytellers, kept with honour: José Ignacio ("Respect Old Age"); Cipriano Seráfica ("The Golden Rule"); Felix Y. Velasco ("Cochinango"); Santiago Dumlao ("Pedro and the Witch"); José Hilario ("The Woman and Her Coles Plant"). Chapters: 00:33 — Respect Old Age 01:44 — The Golden Rule 02:59 — Cochinango 09:04 — Pedro and the Witch 11:39 — The Woman and Her Coles Plant Source: Dean S. Fansler (ed.), Filipino Popular Tales, Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Vol. XII (1921) — the tales written down in English by the Filipino narrators credited above; public-domain 1921 edition (Project Gutenberg eBook #8299). The collectors' notes stand in the book, unread here. Our telling is a fresh in-house rendering of the 1921 text. Music: opening and closing theme, "La Rive des Esprits". Thank you for listening — the Philippine tales continue on this shelf. 🔊 The KacheliTV podcast carries a new world folk tale every day — follow the show so the next story finds you.
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S74 · E1
October 21 · 25 min
Folk Fables of Montenegro — Part 1 (They Sent the Wolf on the Pilgrimage)
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! A new shelf opens with fourteen short fables from "Narodne basne" (Folk Fables), collected by Vuk Vrčević (1811–1882) and printed at Dubrovnik in 1892. Vrčević, born at Risan in the Bay of Kotor, was the lifelong collaborator of Vuk Karadžić, and he gathered the people's tales, in the words of his own title page, in Boka, Montenegro, Dalmatia — and most of all in Herzegovina. Billed by collector and book, exactly as printed in 1892; these fourteen fables are the first clean set in the book's order, not a survey of all Montenegrin folk prose, and no completeness is claimed. The villagers send a captured wolf on pilgrimage, and an old fox keeps her distance from the returned pilgrim, for she has never seen a pilgrim with four legs, and a tail and teeth like a wolf's. The stones refuse to grow, and are cursed to stay frozen for ever. The earth laughs at its newest master. The oxen demand the cows' easy life, and think better of it. A fox declines to take a bone out of a wolf's throat. A Turk and a Christian, sworn brothers, meet a bear in the forest. A hyacinth gives a carnation the old wisdom about brides: a girl's beauty lasts a little while, but goodness lasts for ever. Sly, brief and wise — read in a fresh English translation made for this shelf from Vrčević's printed Serbian text. Twenty-two of the book's fables were set aside under the channel's content law, each named in the shelf's register; more of the fables wait for the parts that follow. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:21 They Sent the Wolf on the Pilgrimage 3:27 Why the Stone Does Not Grow 4:59 The Earth Changes Its Masters 6:09 The Oxen and the Cows 8:06 The Dog and the Boar 9:23 The Fox and the Wolf 10:49 The Raven and the Dove 12:24 The Bear and the Two Sworn Brothers 14:10 The Sheep and the Sow 15:58 Two Donkeys at the Market 17:13 The Hyacinth and the Carnation 19:19 The Poet and the Donkeys 21:26 The Nightingale and the Cuckoo 23:16 The Tiger and the Fox Vuk Vrčević, Narodne basne (Dubrovnik: Dragutin Pretner, 1892) — public domain. Narrated by Benedetto. Music: opening and closing theme, "Glacial Forest 3," also heard as a short separator between the fables; the fables themselves are read dry, with no music under the narration. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Montenegro folk tales · Montenegrin fables · Vuk Vrčević · Narodne basne · animal fables · Balkan folk tales · Bay of Kotor · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S82 · E1
October 21 · 17 min
Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales — Part 1: The Forest Bride
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part One of a new shelf: Finnish fairy tales and folk tales, from Mighty Mikko: A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922) by Parker Fillmore (1878–1944), the American writer who gathered the folk tales of many peoples. Fillmore made his excursions into Finnish folklore with the help of his Finnish-speaking friend Lydia Tulonen, and offers the stories, as he says himself, not as literal translations but as his own versions, retold for the English reader. Billed by reteller and book, as the tales Fillmore gathered; not a survey of all Finnish tradition, and no completeness is claimed. The tales were screened in the order they stand in Fillmore's book under this shelf's standing rule, and the five tales that precede this one in the book were set aside — every one stands named, with its reason, in the shelf register. The Forest Bride — Veikko, the youngest of three brothers, follows the direction of his felled tree straight into the forest, and finds his sweetheart there: a dainty little mouse in a velvet gown, who rings her silver bell and sets hundreds of mice fetching grains of wheat for a loaf of white bread, and fibres of flax for a web of linen so fine it folds into a nutshell. When a passer-by pushes her little coach into the river, the enchantment breaks, and the mouse stands revealed as a princess. Parker Fillmore, Mighty Mikko: A Book of Finnish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1922) — public domain. Narrated by Benedetto. Music: opening and closing theme, "Napoli in Fiamme" — the tale itself is read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Finnish folk tales · Finland fairy tales · Parker Fillmore · Mighty Mikko · The Forest Bride · Finnish fairy tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S65 · E2
October 21 · 6 min
Folk Tales of Colombia — Part 2 (The Stone Axe)
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part Two continues the shelf of the Kagaba — the Kogi people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the north of Colombia — with three short texts from the recordings of the German ethnologist Konrad Theodor Preuss, printed with his German translations in the journal Anthropos between 1921 and 1927. Two were told by the Kagaba priest Miguel Nolavita of Palomino. The English you hear is a fresh rendering of Preuss's German, made for this shelf. In the first text, the younger brothers Kasifigui, Ulabafigui and Tairona bring the stone seikui — axe and knife in one — to Priest Namsiku: a red stone axe for the dry season and a green one for the rain, carried in the hand at the dances that call the seasons forth; and the telling closes in later days, when Don Carmen Campo brings iron tools instead. In the second, the termite mounds come up from the savanna by the sea and build only so far into the mountains and no farther, and the last of them, high in the Sierra, may not enter the huts at all. The part closes at Noavaka with the chengi shell — the shell that is handed round at the close of the salt dance — which Priest Aluafuiko and the younger brother Matuna brought from the friends at Taganga, because it would be needed at the last song and dance, and at the baptism. Of the texts screened in book order for this part, three are told here. Set aside by name under the house rule — each because its plot turns on depicted killing or cruelty — are Namsiku's Dealings with the Younger Brothers Kasifigui, Duguinaui the Mask-Maker, the Misdeed and Punishment of Sekuisvutsi, and Grandmother Munkula, Victor over Zuimakane. What otherwise remains in the corpus is songs, prayers and invocations, which are not tales and are not counted; with this part, the narrative texts of Preuss's Kagaba corpus that can be told under the house rule have all been told, in Parts One and Two together. No more than that is claimed. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:48 The Stone Axe 3:17 The Termite Ants 4:30 The Chengi Shell Konrad Theodor Preuss, Kagaba texts from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Anthropos XVI/XVII–XX (1921–1927) — public domain. Fresh English translation made for KacheliTV. Narrated by Scratch. Music: opening and closing theme, "Convergence at Dusk" — the same theme is also heard as a short separator between the stories; the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud. Colombian folk tales · Kogi Kagaba myths · Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta · Konrad Theodor Preuss · South American folk tales · etiological tales · world folk tales · free audiobook
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S63 · E2
October 21 · 28 min
Folk Tales of Kazakhstan — Part 2 (The Child Who Was Apprenticed to the Mullah · The Three Sons)
Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode! Part Two returns to the folk tales of the Kasak people — the Kazakhs — as Wilhelm Radloff collected and translated them in the third part of his "Specimens of the Folk Literature of the Turkic Tribes of Southern Siberia," published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Saint Petersburg in 1870. Radloff's book names this part for the "Kirghiz dialects," and in his own preface he explains why: the people of the steppe from the Altai to the Ural call themselves Kasak, and "Kirghiz" is the name the Russians and Europeans wrongly gave them. The tales are billed exactly as he presents them, and Radloff's German rendering is here turned into English. No more than that is claimed. Part Two tells two tales whole. In "The Child Who Was Apprenticed to the Mullah," an orphan schoolboy who has nothing with which to feast his eight and thirty schoolfellows begs a lapful of bread, meets a beautiful girl, and takes her little cap — and the Khan takes the cap and orders him, on the usual spoken threat, to find its owner. His schoolfellows stand surety for him with their own heads pledged in words, and he finds the girl and brings her back in time to free them all. In "The Three Sons," three brothers who have lost the three hundred roubles their father left them go to a prince for judgment, and on the road — and at his table — they show a gift for seeing what is hidden, until the prince tests them with a tale of his own: whose mind, among a bridegroom, a schoolfellow and forty robbers, was pure? Told exactly as printed, with nothing softened and nothing added: every threat in both tales is spoken and never carried out; no blow is struck and no one is harmed on the page; the one death, the Khan's, is announced the morning after, off the page and unexplained, in the tale's own formula. Of the book's prose tale sections — two hero tales and eleven numbered tales, one of them a set of riddles — ten have now been read in full on this shelf. Three are told in Parts One and Two. One more was read in full for this part and is excluded by name under this library's standing rule that tales built on enacted violence are set aside, not retold: "Dudar Kyz," in which a wolf-bridegroom devours a camel and a maid, a forged letter orders a mother and her child burned, and a horse is killed on the page. Six were excluded by name at Part One. Two tales and the riddle set stand unscreened for later parts. No completeness is claimed. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 2:25 The Child Who Was Apprenticed to the Mullah 13:25 The Three Sons Source: W. Radloff, Proben der Volkslitteratur der türkischen Stämme Süd-Sibiriens, Part III (Saint Petersburg, 1870) — public domain. Fresh English translation for this reading. Narrated by Mira. Music: the theme "Convergence at Dusk" — heard at the introduction, between the two tales, and at the close only; the tales themselves are read dry. KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
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