Chapter I: Preface

In offering these few Indian tales to the public, I cannot refrain from adding a few words at the beginning to express to Pandit Natesa Sastri my gratitude for the great assistance he has given me in collecting them, assistance without which they would never have seen the light in the shape of a complete volume. When I began writing down these tales, my only means of collecting them was through my native servants, who used to get them from the old women in the bazaars; but the fables they brought me were as full of corruptions and foreign adaptions as the miscellaneous ingredients that find their way into a dish of their own curry and rice, and had it not been for Mr. Sastri's timely aid, my small work would have gone forth to the world laden with inaccuracies.

Mr. Sastri not only corrected the errors of my own tales, but allowed me to add to them many that he had himself collected, and that had already been published, either in small volumes or in numbers of The Indian Antiquary. For this reason I have left several notes which Mr. Cowper Temple, Mr. Clowston, and others had added to the tales that had already been printed, as they were too valuable to dispense with, and may be of service to students of folklore. In conclusion, I would crave the indulgence of my readers with regard to the style in which the tales are written, which has been left as nearly as possible in the form of a literal translation, in order to lend the Stories a "couleur locale," which is characteristic of the country they spring from.

G. K.

CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

I. The Three Deaf Men 1
II. Why Brahmans cannot eat in the Dark 5
III. The Soothsayer's Son 11
IV. Ranavirasing 36
V. Charity alone Conquers 65
VI. Mr. Won't Give and Mr. Won't Leave 86
VII. Mr. Mighty-of-his-Mouth 93
VIII. The Mother-in-Law became an Ass 102
IX. The Story of Appayya 107
X. The Brahmin Girl that Married a Tiger 119
XI. The Good Husband and the Bad Wife 131
XII. The Good Wife and the Bad Husband 135
XIII. The Lost Camel 140
The Three Calamities 143
The Honest but Rash Hunter 155
The Brahman's Wife and the Mungoose 162
The Faithless Wife and the Ungrateful Blind Man 165
The Wonderful Mango Fruit 171
The Poisoned Food 179
Eating up the Protector 184
XIV. The Monkey with the Tom-Tom 187
XV. Pride goeth before a Fall 190
XVI. Good will grow out of Good 194
XVII. Light makes Prosperity 202
XVIII. Chandralekha and the Eight Robbers 210
XIX. The Conquest of Fate 230
XX. The Brahman Priest who became an Amildar 248
XXI. The Gardener's Cunning Wife 257
XXII. Keep it for the Beggar 262
XXIII. Good Luck to the Lucky One 267
XXIV. Retaliation 274
XXV. The Beggar and the Five Muffins 280
XXVI. The Brahmarakshas and the Hair 285
Notes 290