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For most of human history, our accumulated wisdom was carried in a single, spellbinding chain of transmission: the folktale. Passed from voice to voice, generation to generation, these stories were – and remain – an instruction manual to the world. The World Story Bank gathers the folktales and traditional stories of humanity — from all points of the compass — and returns them, alive, to the world. Each episode is a single tale, told simply, named with the tradition it comes from. An initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, the World Story Bank exists to gather this fragile and ancient wisdom, to protect it, and to rewild it back into modern culture. The project was launched in London in 2024, and celebrated its first anniversary in 2025 at an event hosted by Queen Camilla at Clarence House. Listening and retelling keeps the stories alive. https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank
Unknown Host hosts World Story Bank.
Buying a Dream Six chiefs rule a single village, and the eldest holds the rest in fear. One night he sets them a strange challenge: dream, and he will buy the finest dream for a high price. But it is the youngest chief —
The Mystic Garden A just king sends three young men of royal blood out into the world to earn their station, and their voyage brings them to an island garden of extraordinary beauty — where they are welcomed, but given t
The Star Wife A young warrior, hunting where he has never been before, comes upon a worn circle in the grass — and from the sky descends a basket of dancing women, one of them lovelier than all the rest. He loses his hea
The Tortoise & the Deer When the tortoise challenges the swift-footed deer to a race along the river, the deer can hardly believe his luck — for surely no creature so slow could ever outrun him. But the tortoise has spen
The Serpent-Wife A solitary labourer, happiest wandering the woods alone, meets a great serpent who offers him strange instructions — and following them brings him a beautiful wife and a life of unaccountable good fortun
How the Toad Got His Bruises Long ago, the story goes, the toad had smooth and handsome skin — and never missed a party, however far he had to travel. So when an invitation arrives to a feast in the sky, the toad is dete
The Singing Bird of Heaven The Sun Goddess of High Heaven means to send her August Child to rule the troubled Land of Reed Plains below — but first the land must be made calm, and one by one the messengers she sends fail
The Magic Fiddle Seven brothers and the sister who keeps their house — until their jealous wives make a secret bargain with a spirit, and one day at the water's edge something terrible befalls the girl. But hers is not a
The Three Heads of the Well In the days before King Arthur, the gentle daughter of the King of Colchester finds her father remarried to a cruel and envious queen, and chooses to leave the court to seek her fortune. On th
The Nsasak Bird & the Odudu Bird The King of Calabar makes a promise: whichever bird can endure hunger the longest will be made a chief. The great Odudu bird, far larger than his small friend the Nsasak, is certain of vi
Many Wise Fools On a spring picnic in a beautiful valley, hunting purple violets by an old well, a young noblewoman named O Shingé is saved from grave danger by a handsome stranger — a doctor who tends to her and then va
The Two Brothers Two brothers set out to seek their fortune, each carrying ten loaves of bread — but when the first has cunningly eaten his way through the second's share, he abandons his penniless brother on the road. A
The Coming of People – A Long Time Ago In the time before writing, when stories were the only way to carry what people knew, the Inuit told of how the world began: how the earth fell from the sky, and how the first child
The Wonderful Hair A father so poor he despairs of feeding his many children is visited in a dream and sent on a strange errand: to a fountain at the head of a stream, where a maiden bright as the sun sits embroidering,
The Sugar-Candy House Deep in a wood, a brother and sister stumble on a marvellous discovery: a little pink cottage built entirely of sugar-candy, just begging to be nibbled. But the house belongs to an old wolf named Ga
The Monkey's Fiddle Driven from his hungry homeland to seek work among strangers, Monkey earns a marvellous reward: a bow and arrow that never miss, and a fiddle that forces all who hear it to dance. But back home his go
The Perfidious Vizier A prince sets out across the desert to claim his promised bride, escorted by his father's trusted vizier and a thousand horsemen. But the vizier has been bought by a jealous rival, and he leads the
The Seal-Catcher's Adventure On the wild northern coast near John o' Groats, a fisherman makes a good living hunting seals for their valuable skins — never suspecting that the seals are no ordinary beasts. One evening a
Van Wempel's Goose Nicholas Van Wempel of Flatbush — fat, rich, and thoroughly henpecked — is sent out one New Year's Eve with ten shillings and the strictest instructions: fetch the goose, and on no account stop at the
The Talkative Tortoise A king of Benares cannot stop talking — he leaves no one else a moment to speak — and his wise adviser, who is the Buddha in an earlier life, searches for a gentle way to cure him of it. The chance
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World Story Bank is hosted by Unknown Host. The show is categorised under Arts (Books) and has published 0 episodes.
World Story Bank regularly covers Arts, Books, Society, Culture. It sits in the Arts category, with a Books focus.
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