My picture of the boy and the tiger has a long history (see wikipedia). Perhaps it was first told in Sanskrit in India.
Then a man called Borzuy went to India. Not looking for stories at first, but following information about a mountain herb that could restore life to the dead. He found his herb, eventually, but trialling it discovered that it’s revivifying powers had been greatly exagerated.
His Indian companions directed him to a sage, who told him that he should have taken his information more metaphorically. The real thing is in fact a book, Kalila and Dimna.
(more on this in the Panchatantra article in Wikipedia)
And I, Simon Gregg, have part of this excellent book, rendered into English by Ramsay Wood.
And here he is talking about it:
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bookfreeq said
Interesting post! I didn’t know that the picture has such a history. I went to that ICR lecture, here’s my review of it: http://bookfreeq.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/institute-for-cultural-research/
(we’re just batting a linking ball here aren’t we!)
fables of conflict and intrigue « Yahoo! 360 said
[...] last, I’ve got my hands on Ramsay Wood’s second volume of Kalila and Dimna. (I have mentioned his first volume before) This one is subtitled fables of conflict and intrigue. I had sent a copy to M, and had [...]