The Tales of Dwipa

The Tales of Dwipa is a retelling of the Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection of five interrelated animal stories. The stories provide valuable life lessons and wisdom. Prajwala Dixit combines these popular childhood tales with her Canadian heritage in a Newfoundland and Labrador setting thereby providing a unique twist to the classic Indian fables.

The book begins with Mima sitting on the branches of Mara, a large old tree, as she waits for her friends, Neena, the Newfoundland dog, and Lok, the Labrador retriever. They live on the island of Dwipa; all the animals speak to one another and to humans.

As Mima finds herself at the edge of Nadi, the largest river in Dwipa, “The Tale of Three Fishes” begins. The Usuras, an evil spirit, are in Nadi, they never cross Nadi and generally stay hidden in the deep forests of Dwipa. They try to capture the fish, but Mima volunteers to guide the fish to a pond near her home; however not all the fish believe an Usura is coming. Only half the fish leave with Mima, and they say the pond is different from Nadi. The water feels different, and there are different animals there, but they settle in and adapt to their new environment, with adaptation being the moral of the story. Clearly stating the story’s moral is consistent with the original Panchatantra, and doing so helps readers understand the value and wisdom in the actions of the characters.

The transition between each tale feels clunky, forced and quite confusing. The characters suddenly change conversations even though the previous tale is not quite complete. There are headings at the beginning of each tale indicating a change. The second story is “The Tale of the Hare and the Wolf”. The hare tricks an old wolf out of eating him, and, while there wasn't an explicit moral or life lesson indicated at the end of this tale, the animals chanted ‘mind over might’ at the end of the hare’s tale. This lesson is vague; it would be difficult for many children to understand its meaning without further explanation.

In the third story, “The Tale of the Small and the Strong”, a herd of caribou befriend a group of voles after they battle and escape from the Usuras. The caribou are forced from their land and find refuge in a new meadow where they meet the voles. The language in this story becomes difficult to understand as the voles speak with a Newfoundland dialect, and the words and terms are not included in the glossary at the end of the book. Consequently, readers are left to figure out the specific terms meanings themselves. The moral of this story was clearly explained: even though everyone may look different or speak differently, strengths come in different shapes and sizes. Consequently, one should never underestimate anyone, a beautiful sentiment and important for all readers.

In the final story, “The Tale of the Orca and the Chipmunk”, Timi the orca has always felt different from the rest of their pod, and they want to know more about Dwipa. They don’t want to hunt and kill other animals, and Timi chose to survive on vegetation only. Eventually, Timi swims to the shores of Dwipa and meets Alli the chipmunk. When the pair meet, author Dixit mentions Timi’s preferred pronouns. However, there was no follow up on the use of pronouns or gender identity, and later Timi ‘comes out’ to their parents, saying they are vegetarian and not ashamed and they are best friends with a chipmunk. This was a weak attempt at addressing and incorporating pronouns, gender identity and sharing that identity with other people. Dixit could have explained the terms appropriately for the audience and gender diversity a little more specifically. Readers may be more confused especially since the moral of the story was leaning towards lying to friends and the negative outcomes related to doing that.

The illustrations by Duncan Major in a watercolour style bring the tales to life; readers get an idea of what the usuras look like, the scary wolf and the scale of the orca and the chipmunk. If only there were more illustrations as they added an air of wonder and whimsy to the more serious nature of the tales.

The stories of the Panchatantra have been retold over and over for hundreds of years. Ultimately Prajwala Dixit missed the opportunity to retell these tales with a modern take on the classic morals and wisdom within the tales.