A king is charged with carrying a corpse from a cremation ground, and the baitâl, a spirit inhabiting the body, tells him a story on each journey, ending with a riddle he must answer. Kings, ministers, Brahmans, lovers and ascetics fill these twenty-five tales, rendered by John Platts from the Hindi text edited by Duncan Forbes as a close, annotated translation for students.
A key Indian story cycle in a faithful version, best suited to readers who enjoy folklore with scholarly notes. Download the free EPUB.