Folk Stories from Tibet

In many ways folk tales are like dreams – you never know what’s going to happen next.

Ever since I was a little boy, I have been fascinated by stories. Most recently by Tibetan ones. Over the past several years, I recorded as many stories as I could and then translated them from Tibetan in to English in this book. These stories have been told and retold from generation to generation and in the process folk stories are translating moral codes, cultural values, and ancestral knowledge. And, let’s not forget, they also provide brilliant entertainment.

Many of the Tibetan words ate untranslatable, so with a few changes (and I hope the Tibetans will forgive me) and some readaptation, these beautiful folk stories that have been passed down over the year have finally found their way into this book.

Fifty-nine or sixty stories? Here is one more reason to open this book and find out…

Folk tales are to literature what clouds are to the vast sky. They appear with the wind and grow by themselves, taking on shapes that are moving, beautiful, and peculiar. They are funny, sad, and frightening. The folk tale's true domain is the night, when the fire crackles and sleep is slow to come. It's then that the trees, the animals, and the people all start talking. Legendary warriors, mysterious princesses, demons, and spirits all emerge on the starry screen. These tales are like the wide-open spaces of the steppes and mountains. Over the grunts of the yaks, the voice of the Apalas and Amalas (Grandpa and Grandma) rises: Once upon a time. Nyima, nyima...