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‘Gulliver’s Travels’ by Jonathan Swift is a masterpiece story. The book enjoys a unique status in the English literature as a travelogue, children’s storybook, a satire on the political state of affairs during the eighteenth-century England – the accolades, connectivity are endless. In short, Jonathan Swift’s classic is ageless, an all-time entertainer for the old and young at heart.

Jack and the Beanstalk is a popular English fairytale, which has been around for a few thousand years. Many versions of this story has been told over the years but the most popular version, on which, this story is based, was written by Joseph Jacobs, published in 1890 in his book English Fairy Tales. The tale has a universal appeal. People of different ages and cultures can relate to the story.

He lived peacefully with his wife Shaivya and son Rohitashva in his kingdom Ayodhya. But suddenly he fell prey to a terrible misfortune. The truthful King had to give away his kingdom and to sell his family to fulfil a promise he had made to the sage Vishwamitra. Mahatma Gandhi was deeply influenced by the virtues of telling the truth when he watched the play of King Harishchandra in his childhood days.

The Panchatantra tales are one of the earliest collection of fables ever written. The authorship of these stories is attributed to a learned Brahmin by the name of Pundit Vishnu Sharma who devised these tales for the purpose of instructing a king’s irresponsible sons in the art of kingship.

“All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn”, said Ernest Hemingway speaking about the great American classic by Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written as a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which itself is considered as one of the greatest American classics. It tells the story of Tom Sawyer’s friend Huck and the runaway slave Jim, and their exciting adventure as they travel down the Mississippi River.

We all are quite familiar with the image of the Laughing Buddha. Known to bring good luck, wealth and prosperity, his statue adorns many of our shelves and desks. Popularly known as ‘Hotei’ in Japan and ‘Budai’ or ‘Pu-Tai’ in China, this Chinese monk is a significant and popular symbol in Buddhist and Shinto culture. He is usually seen as the incarnation of Maitreya, the future Buddha.

The story revolves around Antonio, the merchant of Venice. Antonio borrows money from Shylock, the Jewish moneylender, in order to help his friend Bassanio to woo Portia, a rich heiress of Belmont. Shylock agrees to give the money without interest but makes a condition that if the loan is not repaid in three months, he will exact a pound of flesh from the merchant. Antonio agrees. He is confident that his ships will return in time.

‘The Shoemaker and the Elves’ was originally written in German by Jakob Ludwig Grimm and Wilhelm Karl Grimm, the authors of all-time favourites like ‘Cinderella’, ‘Snow White’ and ‘Hansel and Gretel’. This story has been around for more than a hundred years and still has the power to hold a reader spellbound. It is a heart-warming tale about a kind but extremely poor shoemaker and his wife who are helped by two elves and how they in turn show their gratitude to the tiny benefactors. The story reiterates the importance of positive values like goodness, kindness and generosity.

The story of Pinocchio the walking talking puppet is amongst one of the most popular children stories of all time written by Carlos colloid in 1883 it had originally appeared in serialized form in an Italia children newspaper under the title the adventures of Pinocchio

Treasure Island is an exciting adventure novel by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It tells the thrilling story of a young boy, Jim Hawkins and his search for buried treasure. At the beginning, we see Jim leading an ordinary life, assisting his mother in running an inn in a small English seaside town. Things are set in motion when Jim discovers a pirate’s treasure map and goes off with his friends on an expedition to discover the hidden riches. On the way he comes across dangerous characters and fearsome pirates.