How these are made
Every culture has a story worth hearing, and every story gets a fair telling.
Where the stories come from
These are old stories, the kind passed down through generations in villages, courts, and by firelight long before anyone wrote them down. Some teach a lesson outright. Some just leave you thinking. All of them earned their place by surviving centuries of retelling.
Every tale in every volume comes from a collection now in the public domain, and every one is credited by name at the back of the book it appears in. Nothing here is presented as newly invented, and nothing is presented as folklore without a source you can go and look up.
What gets changed, and where you can read about it
Retelling an old story means making choices. Some of the old versions are harsher than a child needs, and some carry assumptions their first tellers never questioned. Where a change has been made, it is written down at the back of the volume, along with what the older version said. You do not have to take anyone's word for what was altered.
A fair telling for every culture
No story is treated as more sophisticated than another, and none is flattened into a stereotype of where it came from. The point is the same one these stories have always served: a good tale, told well, with something true sitting at the end of it.
About the author
Tihika is a pen name, and there is no biography on this page. The stories are much older than whoever is retelling them, and they are the reason to be here.
Who they are for
For children of all ages who love a good story. For teens meeting these tales again. For grown-ups who never stopped loving the old ones. And for the person doing the reading, who is allowed to enjoy it too.
Ten percent goes to people and animals in need
Ten percent of the royalties from these books, and of the proceeds from the printables shop, is given away. It is shared between:
- People hit by natural disasters, beginning with the families in Nepal after the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods, through relief funds such as the Prime Minister Disaster Relief Fund of Nepal.
- People living through war and instability, through humanitarian charities such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
- Stray and abandoned pets in North America and Europe, through shelters and rescue charities such as the Toronto Humane Society, the BC SPCA, Humane Canada, Humane World for Animals and Dogs Trust.
“The Bhotekoshi-Trishuli disaster was not just a local tragedy, it was a warning to the world.”Prime Minister Balendra Shah of Nepal, address to the United Nations General Assembly, September 2026
The Prime Minister told the Assembly that at least 1,400 people were confirmed dead and more than 6,000 were still missing after the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods.