Fables from India: Interactive CD-ROM:Timeless Classics from "The Panchatantra," The World's Most Ancient Collection of Children's Stories

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Description

1996 Fables from India: Interactive CD-ROM:Timeless Classics from "The Panchatantra," The World's Most Ancient Collection of Children's Stories. Narrated by Ravishankar. Various visual artists. New Delhi: Padmini Multimedia Limited. $7.50 from Rudolph Goetze, NY, through Ebay, June, '99.

A delightful CD-ROM featuring five good stories with about five to ten screens each. After a portion of the story is read--in delightful British overseas accent--for that screen, a viewer can play with its characters: frogs catch flies when clicked on, lizards crawl across rocks, skeletons come out of caves and dance. The last frame of each story is a moral little song. There is often a nice finishing phase to a scene when the viewer clicks to go on to the following episode. The beginning presents the usual Panchatantra beginning, since the king is worried about his three lazy sons, and a minister promises to educate them through fables in 180 days. "Friends Become Foes" is the basic Kalila and Dimna story, with Raaja the lion, Sanjeet the bull, and Daama the cunning minister. "The Monkey's Curiosity" is familiar: Mangu gets his leg caught in the cleft left by the carpenter's wedge. "The Lion and the Rabbit" has perhaps the best scene in the video as animals disappear into the lion's cave, we hear only the sound of munching, and bones are thrown out. A pig even prompts a belch! This story uses a river for the lion's reflection in place of the usual well. "The Two Bed Bugs" does not include a louse; Vispa and Dannu both get away after Dannu carelessly bites the king before he is asleep. "The Two Friends" is about Papu and Darmu, whom I first met as Straight and Sneaky. This is one of the easiest CD-ROMs I have worked with, and one of the most enjoyable for its interactivity. Beware: pressing escape exits the whole program.

Date

1996

Language

English

Citation

“Fables from India: Interactive CD-ROM:Timeless Classics from "The Panchatantra," The World's Most Ancient Collection of Children's Stories,” Creighton University Libraries: Archives & Special Collections, accessed November 15, 2024, https://creightonarchives.omeka.net/items/show/525.

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