Htin Aung (1909–1978)

Very nice background on Burmese Buddhism. The tales were fun to read, mildly moralistic, and just plain interesting. They were also split into two categories: 1) those told by the Thingazar Sayadaw (the vast majority), and 2) those told by other monks (12 in total). The first tend to be more clever with a bit more continuity, structure, and relevance whereas the latter are more simplistic and the gist of the tale is not always clear. All-in-all, I enjoyed the book quite a bit and learned substantially from an easy read of it. I bought the book in Yangon (a paperback, for about $5.00 USD) and will be keeping this one as opposed to giving away or selling....at least for now.… (mais)

contient :"Un fianc" pour mademoiselle souris", "Le poussin et le chat", "L'horrible Devo", "Le juge lapin", "Pourquoi le cormoran n'a t-il pas de queue", "Pourquoi la corneille est-elle si petite, "comment l'oiseau Galoun devint ramasseur de sel", "tortue d'or, "la tête", "petite fermière", "le crocodile Nuage de pluie", "le gros oeuf", "le fumeur d'opium et les ogres", "l'arc-en-ciel", "le vieil homme sur le Lune", "les pinces magiques", "l'astrologue de Pagan", "la fée et le chasseur", "le buveur et le fumeur", "le fantôme du lutteur", "quatre sourds", "l'armateur et le rameur", "les quatres benêts", "comment les oiseaux se lièrent d'amitié", "un lapin très malin", "les trois oeufs de la princesse dragon", Pourquoi le jeune faon aboie t-il", le roi et le général", "pourquoi la caille se tient-elle sur une seule patte", "l'oiseau noisette", "pourquoi les escargots ne sont-ils jamais fatigués", "pourquoi la corneille garde t-elle les oeufs du coucou", "les quatre jeunes gens et le voyageur", "trois petits sots", "comment le lapin s'enrhuma", "comment le tigre et le singe devinrent ennemis", "le corbeau et le colibri", "le musicien de Pagan", "Po et le tigre", "comment le crocodile perdit sa langue", "comment le vautour devint chauve", "pourquoi les chauve-souris ne paient-elles pas d'impôts", "pourquoi le lapin a le nez qui bouge", "pourquoi le buffle ne possède plus de dents du haut", "pourquoi le tigre n'aima pas le chat", "le lapin d'or et le tigre d'or", "un vrai bêta", "deux serviteurs fidèles", "l'éclipse de Lune", "la petite grenouille", "pourquoi y a t-il beaucoup de pagodes à Pagan", "Mademoiselle grenouille", "les voleurs et le pot d'or", "comment le grand roi mangea de la paille", "comment le lapin libéra la forêt d'un tyran", "le petit flûtiste", "petit poucet", "Mong Pauk Tchain", "Coquin et menteur", "le coq enchanté", "capardeur", "chanceux et besogneux", "les sourds"… (mais)

These are folktales that aren't favoring good over bad, but have a slight twist to make the reader think about how both sides being shown are potentially good and bad. It weighs the pros and cons of life's decisions on us as we read. This book in my opinion wouldn't make sense to a child, unless they were reared in the Burmese culture. There is a lot of subtleties that a child may or may not get and the humor though it is adult and entirely appropriate to be shelved in a children's section, isn't something a child could contend with. I believe the best tale is about the girl's who are met by the crow and get to choose the boxes-- that folktale would lend itself to a child and still be able to teach the moral.… (mais)