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For most of human history, our accumulated wisdom was carried in a single, spellbinding chain of transmission: the folktale. Passed from voice to voice, generation to generation, these stories were – and remain – an instruction manual to the world.
The World Story Bank gathers the folktales and traditional stories of humanity — from all points of the compass — and returns them, alive, to the world. Each episode is a single tale, told simply, named with the tradition it comes from.
An initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, the World Story Bank exists to gather this fragile and ancient wisdom, to protect it, and to rewild it back into modern culture. The project was launched in London in 2024, and celebrated its first anniversary in 2025 at an event hosted by Queen Camilla at Clarence House.
Listening and retelling keeps the stories alive.
https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank
THE MYSTIC GARDEN
From the Jewish tradition
Once upon a time there was a wise and just king who proclaimed that no rewards should be bestowed on anyone who had not merited them by services rendered to their country, and that each should be rewarded according to their efforts and achievements.
In the course of time there were born at the court three children, all of royal blood. All three grew up richly endowed with virtue and talent: handsome, amiable, and esteemed by everyone.
The king was very fond of them and was anxious to give them a station in accordance with their merit. One day he called them and said:
‘I would like to set you above all others, for I believe you capable of the highest deeds. But there is a law which I cannot break. I can confer honours and office on no one, save as a reward for services that they have done.
‘You cannot attain high rank, therefore, by remaining at court. I advise you to go out into the world, scour the country far and wide, and try to win, by your exploits, the prize promised you by the law.
‘At my summons, you will then return to court. Until such time, mark well what you do, for according to your merit, such will be your reward.’
The three young men were very loath to quit the court, but the king had ordered it, and they were forced to obey. All three, therefore, took leave of their sovereign, and set off, leaving it to chance to shape their course…
They had sailed a long way when they spied an island which looked fertile and welcoming. They landed and found in the middle of the isle a fair garden full of fruit. As they drew near it, three guards came out to meet them.
The guards permitted them to enter, but each gave a word of advice.
The first guard told them that they must not expect to stay forever in this garden. The time would come when they would be forced to depart. None of those who had lived there before them had ever been allowed to remain forever.
The second guard bade them engrave it upon their memory that they must quit this garden precisely as they had entered it. They were free to enjoy all that they found there, but, on leaving, they were expressly forbidden to carry anything away with them.
The third guard advised them to be moderate in their enjoyments and pleasures, and only do what was virtuous and upright, adding that this conduct would do much towards prolonging their lives.
Having heard this, the youths entered the garden, which was even more beautiful and enchanting than it had seemed from outside. They found an abundance of trees laden with rich fruit, and plants and flowers as pleasing to the smell as to the sight. Nightingales warbled in the branches of huge oaks, myriads of birds delighted the ear with their melodious songs, and running streams diffused freshness and life everywhere.
The three young men were very happy. They ate the delicious fruits, drank the sweet waters, and reposed under the leafy shade of the great trees, listening to the nightingales, while the gentle breeze wafted through the foliage the sweet odour of the flowers.
After a while they parted, and each went his way to the part of the garden that pleased him best.
Fascinated by the beauty of the fruit and the coolness of the waters, the first of the three youths thought only of enjoying what lay nearest at hand. To eat, drink, sleep, lead a merry life, and cast away all care, such was his sole idea. He wholly forgot the counsels of the third guard.
The second of the young men was charmed neither by the fruit nor the flowers. He had found gold, silver, and precious stones in abundance in a corner of the garden. Dazzled by these treasures, he thought only of amassing them, and made his clothes into bags to hold all these riches. Absorbed in this idea, he neither ate, drank, nor slept. As to using the garden and its pleasures, he did not dream of it for a moment, forgetting what the second guard had told him.
The third youth had engraved upon his memory all that the three guards had said, and did not follow his companions’ example. Instead, he made use of the garden and its pleasures, but only so far as was needful to sustain life. He passed his time in studying the place and what it contained.
On beholding the fruits, flowers, and animals with their prodigious diversity, and seeking the property of each plant, he marvelled at the perpetual miracle of nature. And on following the watercourses, so well distributed that, from step to step, and from ridge to ridge, there was not a blade of grass that was not watered, he never tired of contemplating the incredible order that set everything in its place.
What added to his astonishment was that, in this well-regulated garden, no gardener was to be seen. But reflection soon told him that order so perfect could not exist through accident, and that there must surely be a most wise gardener — some invisible master — who ruled this beautiful domain. Each day heightened his admiration; each day increased his desire to know the master of the garden.
Then one day a slave of the king brought them a summons to return at once to court and give an account of their life. The three of them set out for the gate by which they had entered.
But scarcely had he passed it, when the first of the three — who had thought only of pleasure — grew faint from the change of air, and, no longer having the fruit of the garden to sustain him, fell on the ground and expired.
The second one dragged himself slowly along, laden like a pack-mule. The hope of one day enjoying his treasure made him forget his fatigue; but, on reaching the gate of the garden, the guards, astonished at seeing him move so heavily, laid hold of him, and stripped him in an instant of all his spoil. The unhappy youth groaned and wept, for his pains and labour had led to nothing but wretchedness and despair.
The third youth had felt joy on hearing the voice of the messenger, reasoning that on leaving the garden he would doubtless find the master whom he had been unable to see, and could express to him all his gratitude. It was, therefore, with a heart full of hope, and without a thought of what he left behind, that he ran to the garden gate. He was warmly welcomed by the guards, who rejoiced to see the alacrity with which he obeyed the king’s command.
On drawing near the court, the youth who had been stripped of his booty was so weary and miserable that he could scarcely stand. It was in vain that he insisted that he was of royal blood. No one believed him, and the palace servants, indignant that such a beggar should claim relationship with the king, threw him into a dungeon, where he would have full time to expiate his faults and bewail his folly.
The third youth was as royally welcomed as his comrade was harshly treated. All the grandees of the court went out to meet him, embraced him, and accompanied him to the king’s presence to do him honour.
The king rejoiced to see this alert young man, and he asked him what he had done since he saw him last. The youth told the story of all the great and beautiful things he had seen in the delightful garden, and added:
‘I am quite sure that this place has a master of exceeding wisdom; this master cannot be far off, though he takes delight in hiding himself from our sight. And it is my chief desire to express to him the gratitude I have felt at the sight of his works.’
‘Since your time has been so well spent,’ answered the king, ‘I will grant your wish. I am the master of the garden; I rule it from here, and there is not a creature so small, or a blade of grass so humble, that it has not a servant to cherish it and watch its growth.’
On hearing these words, and comprehending this mystery, the youth felt his gratitude for his master glow still brighter. He tasted infinite joy, and dwelt forevermore side by side with him at court, raised to the highest pinnacle of honour.