Amar Chitra Katha Redux

First, a confession: one of the reasons I so enjoyed this collection of folktale retellings is that reading it was a throwback to the Amar Chitra Katha days 8212; to happy hours spent in a world inhabited by sagacious monkeys, rueful snakes and scatterbrained crocodiles drawn with zigzag lines on the sides of their faces, an illustrator8217;s shorthand for dumbness. An improbably all-encompassing forest, with perhaps a village on its outskirts, was the setting for this world, and though the savage laws of the jungle sometimes prevailed, it was essentially comforting to see so many creatures mingling in this space 8212; forming friendships, counseling, bickering, conniving.

Many of those tales show up in this compilation of stories drawn from Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim traditions. A large number come from the beloved Jataka legends, about the previous lives of the Buddha. These are morality tales all right but what is sometimes forgotten is that they are also full of delicate humour 8212; while the underlying lessons are seriously meant, the actual structure of the stories is wry and self-effacing just as well, given that they involve talking animals. Much of the success of these retellings comes from the authors8217; recognition of this. Leading writers from Sri Lanka and Canada have, in most cases, embellished the tales with their own voices and imaginative powers, while retaining the spirit of the originals.

Graeme Macqueen8217;s 8220;Just like the Rest8221;, about a king8217;s encounter with the Boddhisatva 8220;pre-incarnated8221; as a stag, is especially enthralling.

Michael Ondaatje8217;s lively account of a group of vultures trying to help a merchant is another of the highlights 8212; complete with an illustration of a vulture-trap almost certainly a modern addition and a delightfully open-ended conclusion.

There are other, slightly less familiar stories 8212; like the title one, a fine allegory, about the over-sheltered elephant Scarless Face and his king, who must step out into the world and see suffering before they can be truly happy. It8217;s written by Griffin Ondaatje, the editor of this collection, and his retellings are among the most evocative 8212; notably 8220;The Camel Who Cried in the Sun8221;, from a legend about the Prophet Mohammed.

Ernest MacIntyre8217;s 8220;How the Gods and Demons Learned to Play Together8221;, my pick for the best story in this collection, comes from the Natyasastra8217;s myth about the birth of theatre 8212; but it is equally about empathy and perception, about how quickly we pass judgement on those who are different from us.

The retellings that don8217;t work are the shortest ones some barely two pages, which are workmanlike. It8217;s difficult to see the sense, for instance, in including vapid, joyless versions of 8220;The Monkey and the Crocodile8221; and 8220;The Deer, the Tortoise and the Kaerala Bird8221; 8212; reading these, you8217;ll be crying out for the Amar Chitra Katha versions complete with colourful drawings. But such missteps are few and far between, and for the most part this collection stays true to what Macqueen says in his foreword: 8220;When we retell and read these stories we become part of a community stretching back in time and reaching forward into the future.8221;