The term ‘Hitopadesha’ is a combination of two Sanskrit terms, ‘Hita’ (welfare/ benefit) and ‘Upadesha’ (counsel). As the term suggests, The Hitopadesha is a collection of tales that gives good counsel. Hitopadesa was presumably written by Narayan Pandit and is an independent treatment of the Vishnu Sarman's Panchatantra (3rd century BC) which it resembles in form. In Hitopadesha, Vishnu Sarman is depicted as a Sage who undertakes to give good counsel to the sons of Sudarsana, the king of Patali...
Apr 24, 2026•4 hr 56 min
A dragon who flies out of a magical book; one whose purr quiets a fussy baby; another who eats an entire pack of tame hunting-hippopotomuses: These eight dragon tales are filled with the imaginative wit of children's author Edith Nesbit. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden) Genre(s): Children's Fiction, Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales Language: English Keyword(s): literature (1959), children (1119), fantasy (321)...
Apr 23, 2026•4 hr 7 min
In this selection... the aim has been to bring within moderate compass a collection of these songs of the people which should fairly represent the range, the descriptive felicity, the dramatic power, and the genuine poetic feeling of a body of verse which is still, it is to be feared, unfamiliar to a large number of those to whom it would bring refreshment and delight. (Summary from introduction) Genre(s): Poetry Language: English Keyword(s): English (121), LibiVox (35), Ballads (16), Scottish (...
Apr 22, 2026•2 hr 34 min
Bonaparte in Egypt and the Egyptians of To-day(Pt.2) Knowing the Egyptian as I know him, I cannot but think that he is greatly misunderstood, even by those who are sincerely anxious to befriend him. His faults and his failings are to be found at large in almost any of the scores of books that have of late years been written about him and his country; but, though not a few have given him credit for some of his more salient good points, yet none that I have seen have shown any just appreciation of...
Apr 21, 2026•6 hr 8 min•Ep. 2
Bonaparte in Egypt and the Egyptians of To-day (Pt.1 ) Knowing the Egyptian as I know him, I cannot but think that he is greatly misunderstood, even by those who are sincerely anxious to befriend him. His faults and his failings are to be found at large in almost any of the scores of books that have of late years been written about him and his country; but, though not a few have given him credit for some of his more salient good points, yet none that I have seen have shown any just appreciation ...
Apr 20, 2026•4 hr•Ep. 1
The Blue Fairy Book (Pt.2) Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book (1889) was a beautifully produced and illustrated edition of fairy tales that has become a classic. This was followed by many other collections of fairy tales, collectively known as Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. (Wikipedia) Genre(s): Animals & Nature, Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales Language: English Keyword(s): fiction (1613), short stories (730) Group: Andrew Lang's Fairy Books...
Apr 19, 2026•6 hr 23 min•Ep. 2
The Blue Fairy Book (Pt.1) Andrew Lang's Blue Fairy Book (1889) was a beautifully produced and illustrated edition of fairy tales that has become a classic. This was followed by many other collections of fairy tales, collectively known as Andrew Lang's Fairy Books. (Wikipedia) Genre(s): Animals & Nature, Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales Language: English Keyword(s): fiction (1613), short stories (730) Group: Andrew Lang's Fairy Books...
Apr 18, 2026•7 hr 44 min•Ep. 1
Bleak House (version 3) Pt.6 The Chancery Court had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including administration of estates, the guardianship of orphans, and disputed property disbursement. In Dickens’ time, some cases could take years to be settled, changing the lives of those involved. Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointe...
Apr 17, 2026•2 hr 36 min•Ep. 6
Bleak House (version 3) Pt.5 The Chancery Court had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including administration of estates, the guardianship of orphans, and disputed property disbursement. In Dickens’ time, some cases could take years to be settled, changing the lives of those involved. Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointe...
Apr 16, 2026•7 hr 14 min•Ep. 5
Bleak House (version 3) Pt.4 The Chancery Court had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including administration of estates, the guardianship of orphans, and disputed property disbursement. In Dickens’ time, some cases could take years to be settled, changing the lives of those involved. Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointe...
Apr 15, 2026•7 hr 23 min•Ep. 4
Bleak House (version 3) Pt.3 The Chancery Court had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including administration of estates, the guardianship of orphans, and disputed property disbursement. In Dickens’ time, some cases could take years to be settled, changing the lives of those involved. Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointe...
Apr 14, 2026•7 hr 10 min•Ep. 3
Bleak House (version 3) Pt.2 The Chancery Court had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including administration of estates, the guardianship of orphans, and disputed property disbursement. In Dickens’ time, some cases could take years to be settled, changing the lives of those involved. Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointe...
Apr 13, 2026•7 hr 35 min•Ep. 2
Bleak House (version 3) Pt1 The Chancery Court had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including administration of estates, the guardianship of orphans, and disputed property disbursement. In Dickens’ time, some cases could take years to be settled, changing the lives of those involved. Esther Summerson, a young woman raised in a tough and unloving atmosphere, is unexpectedly requested to be a companion to two teenage orphans, Richard Carstone and Ada Clare, for whom the court has appointed...
Apr 12, 2026•7 hr 24 min•Ep. 1
The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish is, all at once, a satire, a treatise on natural philosophy, a work of proto-science fiction, and a defiant venture into a scientific world where women were not usually allowed. It tells the tale of a young Lady who is kidnapped by a man that tries to sail away with her. Through divine interference, however, the ship is tossed into a storm and everyone but the Lady perishes. Blown up to the North Pole, she inadvertently passes into to another world, the Bl...
Apr 11, 2026•4 hr 3 min
The Blackfeet were hunters, travelling from place to place on foot. They used implements of stone, wood, or bone, wore clothing made of skins, and lived in tents covered by hides. Dogs, their only tame animals, were used as beasts of burden to carry small packs and drag light loads. The stories here told come down to us from very ancient times. Grandfathers have told them to their grandchildren, and these again to their grandchildren, and so from mouth to mouth, through many generations, they ha...
Apr 10, 2026•4 hr 21 min
This is not the copyrighted work by Norman Coombs currently on Project Gutenberg but a collection of non-fiction, fiction, poetry, drama, and speeches found on Project Gutenberg that are by or about African Americans. Subjects range from late 18th Century epistolary conversations between black Baptist preachers to 1930s testimony by ex-slaves. (Summary by BellonaTimes) Genre(s): History, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology) Language: English Keyword(s): slavery (149), America (94), black ...
Apr 09, 2026•5 hr 51 min
The Black Robe (Part 2) The church has lost out on a valuable piece of land through wars and transfers. Father Benwell is determined to reclaim that property by the conversion of the owner, Lewis Romayne. Enter beautiful Stella, who captures the heart of Romayne. Should Stella capture the love and devotion of Romayne, Father Benwell's scheme would fail, and that is something that he can not allow. Complicating things is the fact that both Romayne and Stella are hiding their own terrible secrets....
Apr 08, 2026•5 hr 33 min•Ep. 2
The Black Robe (Part 1) The church has lost out on a valuable piece of land through wars and transfers. Father Benwell is determined to reclaim that property by the conversion of the owner, Lewis Romayne. Enter beautiful Stella, who captures the heart of Romayne. Should Stella capture the love and devotion of Romayne, Father Benwell's scheme would fail, and that is something that he can not allow. Complicating things is the fact that both Romayne and Stella are hiding their own terrible secrets....
Apr 07, 2026•6 hr 46 min•Ep. 1
Birdseye Views of Far Lands is an interesting, wholesome presentation of something that a keen-eyed, alert traveler with the faculty of making contrasts with all classes of people in all sorts of places, in such a sympathetic way as to win their esteem and confidence, has been able to pick up as he has roamed over the face of the earth for a quarter of a century. The book is not a geography, a history, a treatise on sociology or political economy. It is a Human Interest book which appeals to the...
Apr 06, 2026•6 hr 23 min
Probably no other American writer has a greater sympathy with, and a keener enjoyment of, country life in all its phases—farming, camping, fishing, walking—than has John Burroughs. His books are redolent of the soil, and have such "freshness and primal sweetness," that we need not be told that the pleasure he gets from his walks and excursions is by no means over when he steps inside his doors again. As he tells us on more than one occasion, he finds he can get much more out of his outdoor exper...
Apr 05, 2026•5 hr 31 min
I first read this little book when I was in the fifth grade, and now more than fifty years later, I still find it fascinating. Ernest Thompson Seton was a man with a concern for nature her creatures and an excellent story teller. I could almost feel Wahb, the great grizzly’s pain and frustration as he tried to avoid contact with humans and just be left alone to carry out his bear business. Listening to this audio book will be an hour and a half well spent. Summary by Mike Vendetti, Narrator. Gen...
Apr 04, 2026•1 hr 32 min
Bill Nye was a famous American humor columnist in the middle 1800's. He said "We can never be a nation of snobs so long as we are willing to poke fun at ourselves." And he did exactly that in hundreds of newspaper columns that were later collected into books. This is a selection of just 35 of the most humorous, wry and downright funny cogitations of his, written of course in the somewhat convoluted style common in the 19th century which just adds to their flavor in my opinion. The selection proc...
Apr 03, 2026•3 hr 34 min
The Bent Twig (Part 3) Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879 - 1958) Semi-autobiographical series of incidents in the life of an intellectual American family in the late 19th - early 20th Century as seen by favored daughter, Sylvia Marshall. Her father is an economics professor in a Midwestern state university and she is following in his inquisitive footsteps. Canfield writes this in a matter-of-fact manner with Tarkingtonesque good humor. ( Summary by BellonaTimes ) Genre(s): General Fiction, Humo...
Mar 06, 2026•3 hr 45 min•Ep. 3
The Bent Twig (Part 2) Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879 - 1958) Semi-autobiographical series of incidents in the life of an intellectual American family in the late 19th - early 20th Century as seen by favored daughter, Sylvia Marshall. Her father is an economics professor in a Midwestern state university and she is following in his inquisitive footsteps. Canfield writes this in a matter-of-fact manner with Tarkingtonesque good humor. ( Summary by BellonaTimes ) Genre(s): General Fiction, Humoro...
Mar 05, 2026•7 hr 19 min•Ep. 5
The Bent Twig (Part 1) Dorothy Canfield Fisher (1879 - 1958) Semi-autobiographical series of incidents in the life of an intellectual American family in the late 19th - early 20th Century as seen by favored daughter, Sylvia Marshall. Her father is an economics professor in a Midwestern state university and she is following in his inquisitive footsteps. Canfield writes this in a matter-of-fact manner with Tarkingtonesque good humor. ( Summary by BellonaTimes ) Genre(s): General Fiction, Humorous ...
Mar 04, 2026•7 hr 9 min•Ep. 1
The Belton Estate (Part 2 Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882) Clara Amedroz is the virtuous, intelligent, and quick-witted heroine of this novel. Like all women of her time, she has few options other than to marry. She is lucky enough to have two eligible suitors, and chooses the more urbane and worldly of the two. Alas, however, she realizes fairly quickly that Captain Aylmer is not a nice person. Throughout much of the novel we find her trying hard not to recognize that Will Belton - the suitor ...
Mar 03, 2026•8 hr 7 min•Ep. 2
The Belton Estate (Part 1) Anthony Trollope (1815 - 1882) Clara Amedroz is the virtuous, intelligent, and quick-witted heroine of this novel. Like all women of her time, she has few options other than to marry. She is lucky enough to have two eligible suitors, and chooses the more urbane and worldly of the two. Alas, however, she realizes fairly quickly that Captain Aylmer is not a nice person. Throughout much of the novel we find her trying hard not to recognize that Will Belton - the suitor sh...
Mar 02, 2026•8 hr 2 min•Ep. 1
The Bells and Other Poems Edgar Allan Poe (1809 - 1849) This is a collection of the most famous poems by Edgar Allan Poe. It includes all of his most famous poems, such as the Bells and Annabel Lee, but also some minor and less well-known poems. Readers may wish to refer to the online text for 28 beautiful colour illustrations by Edmund Dulac. - Summary by Carolin Genre(s): Poetry Language: English Keyword(s): poetry , poem , bells , tamerlan , dulac...
Mar 01, 2026•2 hr 13 min
Beasts and Super-Beasts Saki (1870 - 1916) Support Us: https://libri-vox.org/donate. Saki (December 18, 1870 – November 14, 1916) was the pen name of British author Hector Hugh Munro. Saki's world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end. (Summary from Wikipedia) Genre(s): Short Stories Language: English Keyword(s): humor , animals Support Us...
Feb 28, 2026•6 hr 49 min
Support Us: https://libri-vox.org/donate.The Bat Mary Roberts Rinehart (1876 - 1958) , Stephen Vincent Benét (1898 - 1943) et al. The novelization of the play of the same name that had an initial run of 867 shows on Broadway and has been performed all over the world and been made into three movies over a span from 1926 to 1959. An intricate mystery, with a wide cast of characters. (Summary and read by Alan Winterrowd) Genre(s): Detective Fiction Language: English Support Us: ...
Feb 27, 2026•6 hr 40 min
