De Ruiter Dick (Comp)

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Hindu Folk Tales From Ancient Ceylon

In this book you will find a colourful collection of folk tales which have been told within living memory in the country and villages of ancient Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) before the British rule. The tales are not as much about the whole Hindu pantheon of deities but they do find their origin in the ancient Hindu tradition and as such have developed in Ceylon in its own unique way. They were first recorded by British colonists and missionaries in the beginning of the 20th century. Often in a typical fairy-like atmosphere with mighty kings handsome princes magicians and many talking animals they give the reader an abundance of impressions which are so characteristic of Hindu lives in the ancient Far East. These age-old narratives brood over a time when already highly developed civilisations existed in this part of the world. These tales have a striking resemblance to our Western fairy-tales from Grimm but are suffused with a delicious golden eastern sauce of mysterious fantasy images!