Thai Tales: Folktales of Thailand

By Margaret Read MacDonald and Supaporn Vathanaprida

Margaret Read MacDonald, renowned author of more than 15 books on folklore and storytelling, teams up with librarian Supaporn Vathanaprida to present this fascinating folktale collection and introduction to Thai thought. Drawing on memories of her childhood in Northern Thailand, Supaporn shares her tales and comments to help both adults and children understand the surprising world of Thai folklore and culture. The 28 engaging stories show many aspects of the Buddhist worldview in action. Humorous stories, animal tales, teaching tales of Buddhist monks, and tales of amazing magical events that entertain the Thai imagination are included in the collection.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1563080966
• ISBN13: 9781563080968
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Libraries Unlimited
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.1" x 10.1"

Customer Reviews

Thai Tales

The myths in this book took place in the past in Thailand. They are about life, New Year, lying, humor, animals, jataka, which are stories about Buddha in his previous lives, tales that make you think, local legends, elaborate legends, and tales about helpful gods and spirits. The myths are easy to understand and relate to our present time, because the topics they describe still occur today.In the back of the book there is a section titled The Place of Buddhism in Thai Life. The main Thai religion is Buddhism. It came to them from India. The most memorable part of this book was in the myth about Lung Ta the woodcutter. The Thai people had found a new site for their place of worship. The only problem was that there was a large tree in the middle of the site. That was a job for Lung Ta the woodcutter. He climbed up this tall tree and started chopping its branches and then he fell. What happens when he falls is very surprising. While some of the myths were slower and more relaxing. I found that I preferred the fast and more action filled stories. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best, I would give this book an 8. I think that it deserves that because it seemed targeted at children 9 to 13 but it was written more at a 3rd grade level. Most of the scenes were very brief. They just said that the character went to a place and did something. There then left. They don't describe what it was like when the person did these things. If I had been the author I would have made this book more complex. It was a little easy to read. I don't think that most children under the age of 8 would enjoy reading this book. They would not enjoy it because they wouldn't understand it, even though they could read the words. I really liked that this book had different types of myths. It made reading it more exciting because there were a variety of points to be gotten across. Such as what story tellers had to do with lying. Story tellers often made up outrageous stories. In one of the myths the king actually set up a contest for who could make up the most outrageous story. The reward for the least truthfull story is to marry the princess. The book helped me learn about Thai culture and beliefs. Earlier in this year I had read a book about Native American myths. It was interesting to see the differences between the two. I would recommend that people who would like to learn about other countries and their cultures read this book.