Looking at this brief history of folktales writing and their publishing it shows that all books were written in their native languge, so it is clear that they did not reach to other people until they were translated somehow, whether in telling or in writing. Until they were not translated into English language they were limited to their native people. When they were translated into other languages including English they only spread at a magnificent speed. This trend brought these folktales to the other people of the world who know English.

In this age we do not live on the island. We always try to know about other societies and cultures too and as the literature is the mirror of the society, we can know about other societies by reading their literature. Because a society's literature is for that particular society it is written in that language those people know which other people cannot read the only way to read that literature is to read its translation either in some common language (maybe in English) or the best way is to read in one's own language.

Everybody cannot understand everybody's language that is where this translation comes in picture. Translation is not a new thing or a bad thing. Now is the time to translate English language and other language folktales in our own Hindi language so that our Hindi knowing grassroot people can read them.

Need of Translation in Hindi
Survey of the foreign folktales translated in Hindi showed that very few foreign folktale books translated in Hindi are available in the market although many translations are available in English. This situation presents a grave need to translate them in Hindi and to make them available to our Hindi-speaking grassroots people. Here comes the need of translating them in Hindi.

The main purpose of any translation has always been to explain an un-understood language to a person in his known language. Primarily this platform also serves the same purpose. Its purpose is to provide the Hindi translation of as many folktales from as many countries as possible in English. Who does not love to read stories or folktales or fairy tales? Not only children, even housewives, grownups, educated people also like to read them.

They can read these stories themselves for time pass, if not, for educational purpose, and tell them to their children in their leisure time. Apart from this, even researchers can use this materials to refer to in their research projects. And the third last purpose is the preservation of other language literature for future. This collection will work as an Archive of Foreign Folktales in Hindi.

Thinking on this line I took up this project and adapted this material in Hindi from published books, journal literature, magazines, oral sources etc so that it can reach to our common people and they can also enjoy the other countries' folktales.

When I started translating foreign folktales in Hindi I was quite unaware of the fact that it could be so much important for people. During my professional career of librarianship, I got the opportunity of collecting many various folktales from various places. I started this project in 1987 when I read some folktales in the thesis of the students in the school of theology where I was working as a librarian.

After that my ambition rose to collect more and more folktales. In 1990, I came to United States to live with my children. I stayed here for a couple of months. Here I found that public libraries are very good. I borrowed some folktales books and translated them in Hindi. I translated many folktales in that way and stepped on the road of translating folktales in Hindi. Later I collected many folktales.

Collection of the Material

Nigeria
This project started coming up out of the blue when I first started my professional career as a librarian in a Theological College in Nigeria in 1979. The college was a 3-year college preparing Ministers for Church. After I joined it required the submission of a long essay at the end of their course work. After their submission to the College they were sent to me for safekeeping in the library for further use. It was not until 1987 when I came through an essay in which 8-10 folktales were given.

I read them with interest, something different from our own Indian stories, still quite different from English/British stories which our children knew being the children of British colony. After reading them a thought came to my mind that "I am reading these foreign folktales because I am here at this place but how our Indian children will read them if they are not available to them and how they can be made available to them? Besides, most children do not know English, even if they can get them somehow, how they will read them or how their parents will read them? Besides, even those children who are educated in English schools and convents normally know only British, German and French folktales, not of other countries.

This thought opened my eyes and I took that essay to my home. I read those stories several times and finally came to conclusion that I should translate them in Hindi then only I can them make them available to them.

They were only 8-10 at that time. I never thought what I will do of so few stories, but just to start from somewhere I translated them and kept them. That was the seed of this large bunyan tree - my long project. At that time I did not know anything about folktales, as what was a folktale, whether they might be available to me? Are they really available? Can I get them? If yes, then how? Because Nigeria's libraries were very poor. Well, I did not think any further than that I should translate them in Hindi and I did the same and waited for my shiny days.

Ethiopia
In 1989 I moved to Addis Ababa University Library where I worked as a librarian for three years in its Institute of Ethiopian Studies (IES) library. There I had access to many rare books, documents and manuscripts. Here also I collected a few Ethiopian folktales - approximately 40 folktales. The greatest achievement of working there was my awareness of Ethiopian History. During the period of three years I wrote several professional papers which made me the stepping stone of Ethiopian librararianship. I was happy to see that. If I could live there for some more time...

Above all here I translated a book on Queen of Sheba and the King Solomon. Oh, it was such a nice book written in such an interesting style that I brought that book home, read it and immediately started translating it. I could not restrict myself to translate it. It was a madness towards that although I did not know at that time that what I will do of that. In this madness in spite of being a librarian I did not write the book's reference. That was the greatest achievement greatest knowledge of my stay there. Along with it there was some other internal information also of Ethiopia through the travelers' documents.

USA
My journey of translating folktales had begun. Still now I had no clear path before my eyes where I was heading to. Everything was dark ahead. In 1990 I went to USA and stayed there for two months. I found their public libraries very rich and easy to use. I made use of them and I collected many stories of Canada and Africa. Here when I found that my collection was increasing gradually and nicely I thought to make note of their references. I might have collected about 100 stories from there. But still my path was not clear and my manuscripts were piling up higher and higher.

Lesotho
Lesotho is a small landlocked country in South Africa. In the meantime I got an appointment to work with National University of Lesotho, Lesotho, and went there for one year in 1992. Here also I worked in a specialized library - "Institute of Southern African Studies" (ISAS) library and this work gave me some more  opportunities to look into their local literature. Although it was  very little time but still I could collect a few stories from there from Southern African countries.

Scope and Limitations in Translation into Hindi

1. Language of Folktales
Here we will talk only about translation from English to Hindi. Translation of most countries folktales is available in English except Africa but whenever and wherever I could get hold of any African tale in English I translated it. That is why it was easier to translate other countries' folktales in Hindi, but it was very difficult to find such literature for African countries. That is why my more emphasis was on African folktales in English. Fortunately I could find a fairly good size of those tales, but still considering the size of the continent it is nothing.

2. Language Used
Since these stories have not been written as literary tales for literary people, but only for grassroots people, as an alternative make them known due to language and unavailability problems, so only simple and spoken language has been used. This language can be used by the children up to the age of 15 by all people who can read and understand even a little Hindi.

3. Availability of Folktales
This collection has the limitation of availability of a folktale or folktale book. I could use only those folktales which were available to me - through libraries, Internet, manuscripts, journals etc, or I could lay my hands up on.

4. Countries
Many countries' folktales are available in English in plenty, while others were found only scarcely and yet others are just a couple. Attention has been paid to collect the folktales from those countries with scarcely available folktales. Considering the importance and popularity of many well-known folktales and folktale books, their folktales have also not been left out completely. When I started the the collection, there was no planning to collect Indian folktales, but considering India as a multilingual country some of its non-Hindi provinces' folktales which were available in English were also collected. Later I found that this tradition was started pnly by foreigners, naturally from English.

5. Names Etc
As every country has its own naming style, vegetables, fruits, animals, vegetations, idioms, expressions. It is very difficult to understand everything same to same, so whatever foreign names of the people, places and things are unfamiliar to our Hindi-speaking people, and because of their varied pronunciations even by foreigners, their names have been given in English as footnotes. Many names of fruits, vegetable and animals, are just unknown to Indians, have been explained through their pictures wherever it was found possible.

6. Only the Folktales
There are many individual tales translated here as well as many books also. When the complete books are translated they are not cover-to-cover translated, only their faolktales have been translated.

7. In the Last
These folktales have been collected single-handedly working hard searching as many sources as possible plus obscure sources and translating them diligently during many years.

Some Observations

Some observations were made during their translation --

1. Some books have been translated in the same language four times, in four different years.

2. Some tales have been translated by different people with altogether different matter - means something matches with original something doesn't. I know one Indian folktale "All in a Paisa". I have its two versions of this tale.

3. One book has been published under two titles - "Tales of the Punjab" and "Wide Awake Stories". Their inside matter is same. This book has not been translated again