''Beastly Tales from Here and There'' is a 1992 collection of ten fables in poetry written by
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...
. In the introduction, Seth states,"The first two come from India, the next two from China, the next two from Greece, the next two from Ukraine. The final two came directly to me from the Land of Gup."
Contents
# ''The Crocodile and the Monkey''
# ''The Louse and the Mosquito''
# ''The Mouse and the Snake''
# ''The Rat and the Ox''
# ''The Eagle and the Beetle''
# ''The Hare and the Tortoise''
# ''The Cat and the Cock''
# ''The Goat and the Ram''
# ''The Frog and the Nightingale''
# ''The Elephant and the Tragopan''
Poems
"The Tortoise and the Hare" depicts Seth's sense of humour. In his version, the loser, being a celebrity, is feted and the winner ignored.
"The Frog and the Nightingale" is a
fable
Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...
about a
nightingale
The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird which is best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, ...
who gets singing lessons from a frog while the frog tries to commercialize her voice.
Adaptions
Poems from the book have been performed by
Naseeruddin Shah
Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He was notable in Indian parallel cinema and has starred in various international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfa ...
,
Ratna Pathak, Heeba Shah, and Kenneth Desai.
References
{{Vikram Seth
Indian English poetry collections
Poetry by Vikram Seth
1991 poetry books
Viking Press books