The People Behind the Stories

Those who help keep the Caravan moving.

The caravan has only just set out. Here we will name the people and organisations who help bring the tales to life — next to the tale and the country they helped.

Would you like to help? Write to us: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, or read Support the Caravan.

The collectors who kept these tales alive

Every tale reached us through people who told it and wrote it down. Our cartoons retell their work.

• Russia · The Cat and the Fox
  A Russian folk tale, retold from “The Cat who became Head-Forester” in Arthur Ransome’s “Old Peter’s Russian Tales” (1916).
• Japan · The Badger Tea-Kettle
  A Japanese folk tale set at the Morinji temple, retold from “The Accomplished and Lucky Tea-Kettle” in A. B. Mitford’s “Tales of Old Japan” (1871) and “The Tea-Kettle” in Grace James’s “Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales” (1910).
• India · The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal
  A folk tale from the Punjab, retold from “The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal” in Flora Annie Steel’s “Tales of the Punjab” (1894).
• Iceland · Búkolla, the Magic Cow
  An Icelandic folk tale, retold from “Búkolla og strákurinn” (printed as “Búkolla” in Jón Árnason’s “Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri”, 1862–1864) and “Búkollu saga” from the full edition (1954–1961).
• Mexico · Opossum Brings Fire
  A myth of the Cora people of Nayarit, Mexico, retold from K. Th. Preuss, “Die Nayarit-Expedition” (1912).
• Denmark · The Troll Who Built Kalundborg Church
  A legend from Kalundborg, Zealand, Denmark, retold from Thomas Keightley, “The Fairy Mythology” (1892), after Thiele’s “Danmarks Folkesagn”.
• Italy · Colapesce, the Boy Who Lived in the Sea
  A legend from Messina and the Strait of Messina, Sicily, Italy, retold from the Sicilian folk versions collected by Giuseppe Pitrè, “Studi di leggende popolari in Sicilia” (Turin, 1904), chapter “La leggenda di Cola Pesce”.
• Morocco · Unamir and the Maiden of the Seventh Heaven
  A tale of the Shilha (Amazigh, Berber) people of Tazerwalt in southern Morocco, retold from Hans Stumme, “Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt” (Leipzig, 1895), No. 10, “Die Geschichte von Achmed Unamir”.