Oral tradition Indian story
A story about a wise king and a difficult riddle.
Story
Wise King Vikram solves a near impossible riddle.
Why we chose it
King Vikram Solves a Riddle was one of the stories in our original audio stories collection. These stories are particularly suitable for learning to re-tell.
Where it came from
King Vikram is a legendary king who was supposed to have lived in Ujjain in central India around a thousand years ago. He appears in many Indian folktales. He is a kind of Indian equivalent of King Arthur, and is held in high esteem for his wisdom, fairness and grace.
Associated stories
There is a very famous set of 25 stories called Vikram and the Betal (Vampire/Ghoul) sometimes known as The King and The Corpse. The Betal attaches itself to the king’s back and asks him a riddle story, if he answers correctly he is free. The king does, and survives the night, but the vampire returns the next night with a fresh story riddle!
Oral tradition Indian story