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
Buying a Dream
Six chiefs rule a single village, and the eldest holds the rest in fear. One night he sets them a strange challenge: dream, and he will buy the finest dream for a high price. But it is the youngest chief — the one who wants nothing from him — who finds himself in real danger when his turn comes, and who discovers that the smallest, humblest things can carry the greatest power.
A traditional tale from the Ainu people of northern Japan.
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The World Story Bank is an initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, gathering the folktales of the world, protecting them, and rewilding them back into modern culture. To hear more and support our work, visit https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank
27 Jun 2026
The Mystic Garden
The Mystic Garden
A just king sends three young men of royal blood out into the world to earn their station, and their voyage brings them to an island garden of extraordinary beauty — where they are welcomed, but given three curious warnings. Each youth finds something different to love among the fruit, the treasures and the order of the place. And when the summons comes to leave, what each chose to do there turns out to have decided everything.
A traditional tale from the Jewish tradition.
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The World Story Bank is an initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, gathering the folktales of the world, protecting them, and rewilding them back into modern culture. To hear more and support our work, visit https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank (https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank)
27 Jun 2026
The Star Wife
The Star Wife
A young warrior, hunting where he has never been before, comes upon a worn circle in the grass — and from the sky descends a basket of dancing women, one of them lovelier than all the rest. He loses his heart in an instant, but winning her, and keeping her, will ask far more of him than cunning. This is a tale of love that reaches between the Earth and the stars, and of what a person will give up to be with the one they love.
A traditional tale from the Sioux people of North America.
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The World Story Bank is an initiative of the Scheherazade Foundation, gathering the folktales of the world, protecting them, and rewilding them back into modern culture. To hear more and support our work, visit https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank (https://www.sf.charity/world-story-bank)
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