Customer Reviews

The Monkeys and the Mango Tree: Teaching Stories of the Saints and Sadhus of India

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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"The Monkeys and the Mango Tree" is a special book for people of all ages and religions. This large collection of Hindu wisdom tales, retold by Johari, are classic stories that still apply in the modern age. The stories are short but leave the reader thinking. A truly lovely book.

The book comprises of 25 short stories from India. These stories are developed in the context of the saints and sadhus of this land of ancient religions. Each story has a clear moral message to the young people for whom these are targeted. The simplicity of the style and the language makes it easy for everyone to follow the events even if one is uninitiated in the cultural and religious complexity of India.

The selection of tales in this volume is acceptable - if you've read little of this type of literature, you will probably be positively impressed with the variety of stories and with the fact that few of the stories are blatantly diadactic. If you have read much similar material, the stories will strike you as satisfactory in their retelling but you will have seen much of the material before, often with much more sparkle to the story.

The Bird of Prosperity tells of a poor family whose concern for each other gains them wealth and conpares their plight with the plight of a greedy family.

The Butter in the Milk is primarily an analogy of God in the universe compared to butter in the milk.

The Saint and the Scorpion is a story of the value in following your dharma.

The Merchant Who Would Not Go to Heaven is a story of a Merchant who has to many responsibilities to accept an offer to go to heaven.

Siva and the Demon, and Narada's Infatuation come from Hindu mythology.

The book contains about 25 such stories alone with etching style illustrations; the foreward is best left unread.

A lovely collection of stories! I personally find religious texts difficult to read, but stories like this help define a religion or culture's details without being too sophisticated or complex. Anyone at any age can read this charming book. Highly recommend.

This is an excellent book to be read to children or adults about lessons in life taught through stories...