The Jataka Tales are a collection of ancient stories that have been popular for centuries, particularly with children and particularly in the East, where they originated. They mostly relate to episodes in the Buddha's former lives. They tell of people and animals moved to acts of personal courage and self - sacrifice for the well-being of others.

The stories are somewhat reminiscent of Æsop, and in a similar way, each story has a moral lesson that goes to the heart. A particularly charming volume of Jataka Tales is that compiled by Noor Inayat Khan. It contains exquisite illustrations by Henriëtte Willebeek Le Mair and is written in a clear and graceful style that is a joy to read. However, for those who learn the true story of Noor Inayat Khan that joy is transmuted into inspiration.

Princess Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was a direct descendant of Tipu Sultan, the last Muslim sovereign of South India. Her mother was the Begum Sharada Ameena (a niece of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement). Her father, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, was a renowned Sufi mystic. He had removed with his family to the imperial Russian court at the invitation of the influential Gregory Rasputin. This was on behalf of Tsar Nicholas II, who at that time was desperately seeking spiritual solutions to the problems of his troubled administration.

So it was that Noor was born in the Kremlin on January 2nd 1914. Due to the increasing anarchy that culminated in the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the family had to flee from Moscow and made for France. After many amazing adventures, they settled in Paris. Noor went on to study at the Ecole Normale de Musique and eventually became a writer of children's stories for Paris Radio. The material that was later published as "Twenty Jataka Tales, retold by Noor Inayat Khan"* was compiled by her at this time.

The onset of the Second World War forced the family to flee to England and they resettled in London. Noor was keen to do her part to overthrow Nazism and she enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. She served initially as an Assistant Section Officer, under secondment to the Women's Transport Service. However, as she both knew France well and was fluent in French, the British War Office took a particular interest in her. As a result, she volunteered for the Special Operations Executive.

Noor underwent a period of intensive training with the SOE before becoming the first female secret agent to be infiltrated into enemy occupied France on 16 June 1943. She was given the codename 'Madeleine' and her brief was to provide communications between the Paris Resistance Groups and London.

Unfortunately, within a few weeks of her arrival, the Gestapo began making mass arrests in the Paris district; rounding up anyone even remotely suspected of involvement in the Resistance. It was clear to her controllers in London that her job had become the most dangerous clandestine role in France, so she was given the opportunity to escape to England, but Noor refused to abandon the Resistance and their last communications link with London.

For three and a half crucial months she held on, but the Gestapo were hell bent on catching her and at the last she was betrayed. She was dragged off to the infamous Gestapo Headquarters in the Avenue Foch, where she was "asked to co-operate". Noor refused point blank to give them any information. She was imprisoned in the Headquarters for several weeks, during which time she made two escape attempts. This so enraged her Nazi captors that they demanded she sign a declaration that she would make no further bids for freedom. She refused, so they transported her to Germany for "safe custody" (Noor was the first Allied agent to be sent there).

Noor was imprisoned at Karlsruhe in November 1943 and later at Pforsheim, in a special cell set apart from the main block because her jailors considered her to be a particularly dangerous and un-cooperative prisoner. Nevertheless, she maintained her refusal to give any information about her work or her comrades. On 12 September 1944 she was taken to Dachau Concentration Camp, where Princess Noor was brutally killed by her nazi captors. She was twenty-nine.

For bravely refusing to give any information about her comrades for over a year and finally sacrificing herself in order to protect them, Noor Inayat Khan was posthumously awarded many distinguished honours, including the George Cross, the MBE and the Croix de Guerre.

"Noor Inayat Khan remains, in the minds and hearts of many, an exemplary figure whole life has been their inspiration." -Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order founded in 1910 by Hazrat Inayat Khan.

*Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication data: Khan, Noor Inayat Twenty Jataka Tales / retold by Noor Inayat Khan illustrated by H. Willebeek Le Mair.
Summary: recounts how the Buddha came once as a monkey among the monkeys and gave his life to save them, and nineteen other Jataka stories which recount events in his different lives --- ISBN 0-89281-323-7.