The Magic Bed: A Book of East Indian Fairy-Tales

'The Magic Bed' is a collection of famous Indian fairy tales of varied authorship. India is undoubtedly the home of the fairy-tale. Of those now in existence, probably one-third of such tales came from India. Gypsies, missionaries, travelers, and traders carried them to other countries where they were told and retold until much of their original form was obliterated, and many of their titles lost. The «Jatakas,» or birth-stories of Buddha, form the earliest collection of fairy-tales in the world. It is from these, and from others told by native nurses, or ayahs, to children in India–where the belief in fairies, gnomes, ogres, and monsters is still widespread–that five stories most likely to interest young people have been selected to form this volume.