Naráyana's best-seller gives its reader much more than "Friendly Advice." In one handy collection--closely related to the world-famous Pañcatantra or Five Discourses on Worldly Wisdom --numerous animal fables are interwoven with human stories, all designed to instruct wayward princes. Tales of canny procuresses compete with those of cunning crows and tigers. An intrusive ass is simply thrashed by his master, but the meddlesome monkey ends up with...