Budhani: a Tharu fable refabulatedCEFR A2
31 Jul 2025
Adapted from Sanjib Chaudhary, Global Voices • CC BY 3.0
Photo by Philippe Murray-Pietsch, Unsplash
Budhani is a novella refabulated from an Indigenous Tharu folktale. The story follows a crow that is reborn as a girl in a world dominated by men. It mixes a struggle against legal and social injustice with scenes of love and intimate conversation between a mother and her children.
Prawin Adhikari refabulated the original folktale into a novella. Indu Tharu translated and rewrote the work into the Tharu language. Writing in Tharu made Indu recover many old words, and she learned names from her mother and grandmother. In the tale Budhani meets the male crow Korvin and later fights for her rights.
Difficult words
- novella — a short novel longer than a short story
- refabulate — to tell an old story in a new wayrefabulated
- folktale — a traditional story told by ordinary people
- reborn — born again in a new form
- dominate — to have control or power over othersdominated
- injustice — an unfair action or unfair treatment
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Discussion questions
- Do you know a folktale from your family? Describe it in one sentence.
- Have you learned words from your parents or grandparents? Which words did you learn?
- Can a story show unfair treatment in society? Give a short example.
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