Every person born in India, often finds his or her colorful childhood days filled with fantastic folktales ranging from the valiant and thrilling deeds of Kings and Queens, to the magical world of Gods, Sentient Creatures and great Sages.
In India even the most abstruse and magical concepts are presented as a story. Just like The Great Panchatantra Tales, which was used to teach children moral values, way before the Western School Sytem got adopted in India.
"The Panchatantra (IAST: Pañcatantra, Sanskrit: पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.[2] The surviving work is dated to about 300 BCE, but the fables are likely much more ancient." - Wikipedia.
Image: An English Translation Of Panchatantra
Here's a brief but good dissertation on Panchatantra that I found to be interesting
http://dl.ndl.go.jp/view/download/digidepo_998358_po_2004-11-jafa-e.pdf?contentNo=2
You can read the Panchatantra tales here
https://rohitdhankar.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/reading-2_the-great-panchatantra-tales_complete.pdf
However, of all the stories that a child finds himself or herself fascinated with, few can compare to the wonderfully chilling tale of Baital Pachisi, also known as the story of Vikram and Vetal.
"Vetala Panchavimshati (Sanskrit: वेतालपञ्चविंशति, IAST: vetālapañcaviṃśati) or Baital Pachisi ("Twenty-five (tales) of Baital"), is a collection of tales and legends within a frame story, from India. It was originally written in Sanskrit.
One of its oldest recensions is found in the 12th Book of the Kathasaritsagara ("Ocean of the Streams of Story"), a work in Sanskrit compiled in the 11th century by Somadeva, but based on yet older materials, now lost. This recension comprises in fact twenty-four tales, the frame narrative itself being the twenty-fifth. The two other major recensions in Sanskrit are those by Śivadāsa and Jambhaladatta." - Wikipedia.
Image: Ernest Griset's depiction of Vikram and the Baital in Richard Francis Burton's 1870 retelling of the story.
It tells the story of how a famed Indian King named Vikram, confronted a spirit/undead Vetal, with vampiric characteristics, twenty-five times. Every time the evil spirit Vetal gave the King a puzzle to solve. Failing to solve the puzzle it would result in King Vikram's death.
However King Vikram successfully solved all the puzzles, and was finally able to win over the undead, after which he came to learn of a hair-raising secret from the undead.
The story re-narrated by Sir Richard F. Burton is made available by Project Gutenberg, under the copyright free e-books category
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2400/2400-h/2400-h.htm
