Indian Fairy Tales · Chapter
The Farmer and the Moneylender explained
This chapter presents a modern Indian version of a fable found in Avian, suggesting an Indian original that may predate the Christian era.
What happens
This chapter presents a modern Indian version of a fable found in Avian, suggesting an Indian original that may predate the Christian era. The tale is compared to similar stories in Aesop, Jacques de Vitry, Bozon, and Rudyard Kipling, highlighting the cultural transmission and borrowing of fables across time and geography.
Themes in this chapter
Cultural Transmission and Borrowing
The chapter explicitly traces the Indian origin of a fable later found in Avian and other European collections, illustrating the movement of stories across cultures.
Key passages
“Here we have collected in modern India what one cannot help thinking is the Indian original of a fable of Avian.”
The author suggests that this modern Indian tale is likely the original source for a fable attributed to Avian.
Highlights the claim of Indian priority in the fable's lineage.
“The preceding number showed one of his fables existing among the Jatakas, probably before the Christian era.”
An earlier chapter demonstrated that one of Aesop's fables appears in the Jatakas, likely dating before the Common Era.
Provides evidence for the antiquity of Indian fable traditions.