Village Folk-tales of Ceylon

Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon is a lively treasury of Sinhalese legends, animal fables, and village stories shaped by oral tradition, superstition, and everyday rural wit. Its pages range from princes, princesses, yakās, and enchanted maidens to clever jackals, foolish kings, and talking beasts, creating a world where wonder, humor, and moral testing meet local custom and belief. One tale satirizes a fearful Vedarāla who gains fame by "finding" lost goods until a king's tricks expose his fraud; another follows a shape-shifting yaksanī whose beauty brings royal ruin, only for an exiled prince to grow up and restore justice. Elsewhere, a king's repeated attempts to kill an adopted heir backfire, a father and son's dream of wealth collapses in comic impatience, and a wise man survives a royal death-trap by outwitting the king. A quail's stubborn complaint and a village scene shaped by the Evil Eye deepen the collection's sense of superstition, social ritual, and the distinctive imagination of Ceylon's villages. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.