One Innocent Farmer
Video not yet publicly available
This tale has been recorded and will be uploaded to the video gallery on 6th May 2025, where it will be available to watch for free – together with many, many other tales.
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I first heard this tale decades ago from a German teller, Ingeborg Klink.
A storyteller in Israel, Lois Tzur, later told me that she had a copy in Chinese Fairy Tales, a small volume published by Peter Pauper Press (1946). No source was given in the book.
However, Mo Yan (Nobel Prize in Literature, 2012) ended his acceptance lecture by telling this tale, which he had heard from his grandfather.
More deep tales
The video gallery has become very extensive. So if you would enjoy more tales like this which explore the depths of the human psyche, here are a few suggestions.
Go here for tales to watch
Go here for a list of all tales included on this site
Go here to receive an e-mail notification when new tales are added
Permission to tell outlines my views on copyright
For those who are teachers: Telling stories in the classroom: basing language teaching on storytelling