This collection of animal tales was highly appreciated by the Assyrians of antiquity. These ancient tales originate in India and were written in Sanskrit under the title of ÒPanchatantraÓ or ÒFive PrinciplesÓ. The purpose of the stories is to teach moral values concerning friendship and harmony and the things that can come between friends and destroy harmony among them. Like other cycles of tales, they have an oral origin and the stories are embedded within stories in order to keep the interest and attention of the hearer/reader. This book presents the text of the later Syriac version.