"Once, a long time ago, in the province of Rajasthan
in India, where the waves of sand blew in the wind
like rippling fields of wheat ripening in the sun,
there stood a royal palace of red sandstone and white marble,
beautiful, lofty, and clear cut in outline
against the unchanging, cloudless sky."

"The sky was dark with black, ominous clouds
that, like wrestlers locked in mortal
combat, endlessly rolled over each other.
The heavens were full of the promise of rain,
yet there was none,
and the earth below lay expectant and waiting."

"The Beautiful Rain Forest is a land of savage and mysterious beauty, of islands rising unexpectedly from hidden rivers, where the sharp cries of bright green parrots punctuate the silence like the strange, screeching voice of the jungle."

"A long time ago, there lived a great sultan in the land of Morocco who had three daughters. Sultan Baba was a shrewd and greedy man, anxious to avoid wars and consolidate his empire with gold and riches. He had cleverly arranged for all three of his daughters to marry princely nobles so that he would have strong political alliances for his kingdom."

"A long time ago, in the time beyond memory, the flounder was a fish like any other fish. He had two eyes, one on either side of his head, but this is the story of why the flounder now has two eyes on one side of his head."

"A long time ago, before the wars, before the famine, before the Partition, the land knew no divisions, the river knew no boundaries, and the sky knew no end. Every day was like the day before; only the seasons changed from spring to monsoon to autumn. The rice paddy (dhan) waved its green shoots in the soft breezes, and the smooth surface of the water standing in the paddy fields was broken only by the occasional jump of a fish."

"Once, a very long time ago, a strange silence had fallen upon the forest. The trees no longer rustled in the wind, the stream no longer gurgled as it tripped over the rocks, and the deer and birds were agitated but silent, in wakeful anticipation. For, you see, the mistress of the forest, Sita, had been carried away in a celestial chariot by Ravana, an evil prince with demonic powers. The lifeless body of Jatayu, the great eagle who had tried to rescue Sita, lay motionless in a clearing in the forest. And although the creatures of the forest mourned his loss, none dared approach the mighty warrior of the sky."