P.V. Ramaswami Raju - The Fawn and the Little Tiger

Fables were an ancient form of teaching using stories. While many are by well known fabulists, I've been unable to learn anything about P.V. Ramaswami Raju. His book Indian Fables dates back to 1887, relatively new for a collection of fables. In the Preface Sir William P. Andrew states:

 Of these a few have long had a standing in the literature of India, though in a slightly different garb. The rest may be said to have been derived from original sources.

During the past two years these Fables, with illustrations, have been before the public in the columns of The Leisure Hour. 

The book is also for sale at Yesterdays Classics , who describe it as:

 An appealing collection of more than a hundred Indian fables that are delightful as well as short, pithy, and ingenious. Each fable has its separate moral in prose or rhyme; these are often epigrams of the shrewdest kind, full of wit and subtlety. Most of these fables are likely to be new to the majority of readers.

I chose "The Fawn and the Tiger" to fit this past week's Global Tiger Day mascot. The photo is available at World Wildlife.org where you can upload it as computer wallpaper. There are other mature tigers there, but this little guy was my choice and certainly fits today's story. How often I've heard people wish they could pet baby tigers, lion or bear cubs! "The Fawn and the Little Tiger" is a warning. 

 

Beyond that story and the tiger cub photo, World Wildlife posted this earlier this week on Monday: 

Did you know that every part of the tiger—from whisker to tail—has been found in the illegal wildlife trade? Poaching is one of the biggest threats to tigers in the wild—and many other species. These beautiful animals won't survive without our help.

Tomorrow is Global Tiger Day, and we're hoping to find 500 people who will create a safer world for wildlife with a very meaningful gift. Can we count on you?

Symbolically adopt a tiger with a monthly donation to protect nature and help us reach our goal.

Please act now  ►

You'll make a huge difference for vulnerable wildlife and their habitats while sustaining WWF's critical conservation work around the globe

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This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, “Keeping the Public in Public Domain.” The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated. I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20^th century. My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them. I hope you enjoy discovering them.

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."