The Cat Who Pretended To Be A Lama

A long time ago there was a lama, a Buddhist monk, who spent his time in deep meditation. Next to him there lay a cat. One day the cat stole the lama’s snuff bottle and the lama went after the cat and got his snuff bottle back. Then another time the cat stole the lama’s rosary and hid in a hole. When the lama grabbed the cat by the tail, the tail suddenly got torn off. not a Mongolian snuff-bottle but close enough The cat went away and...

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The Bear

A poor cooper*was on a search for a tree fitting to make it into rings for a barrel. When he came to an island in the lake, he saw a red willow. This one, he wanted to make into rings. But when he approached the willow to cut it down, it said to him: “Don’t chop me down, please! I will give you everything that you want.” And it kept its word – soon the cooper became wealthy. Even rich, people say. After a little while had passed, he went...

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The Tale of the Khaan and the Badarcin

  Once upon a time there lived a khaan, that is, the Mongolian equivalent to a king. On one very normal day, he suddenly announced: “I will leave my throne to the man telling a lie which makes a sitting man stand up and a sleeping man wake up.” A tailor heard this and came before the khaan to become khaan in his stead. “Dear khaan, dear khaan! In the heavy rain of the day before last, the edges of heaven got torn and I went and sewed them...

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