Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon gathers a vivid treasury of Sinhalese oral tradition, where village life, royal ambition, and the supernatural meet in stories of wit, hardship, magic, and fate. Collected and translated by H. Parker, these tales range from origin legends and animal fables to rags-to-royalty adventures, demon lore, and comic warnings about greed, jealousy, and pride. A forest basket-mender helps found Kandy after witnessing a mysterious jackal and hare, while a neglected girl repeatedly outwits a king, cures his injury, and wins recognition through courage and disguise. Elsewhere, a quick-thinking daughter saves her father from deadly royal challenges, answers impossible riddles, and turns the tables on a boastful monarch; in another tale, a carpenter's son surpasses a prince and enters a world of hidden wonders and perilous deception. Alongside these human dramas are magical pills, wish-fulfillment gone wrong, and a dark prophecy linking a princess to a rākshasa, creating a lively, imaginative portrait of Ceylonese folklore. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Parker, H.

H. Parker, usually known as H. Henry Parker, was a British writer and folklorist whose work reflects a deep curiosity about the stories, customs, and beliefs of Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon. Living at a time when colonial scholarship was shaping how local traditions were recorded and interpreted, Parker devoted himself to collecting and preserving oral material that might otherwise have been lost. His most notable achievements lie in his careful gathering of folk narratives, legends, and traditional lore, presenting them with an eye for both cultural detail and narrative charm. Through this work, he helped bring attention to the richness of village storytelling and the ways in which tales carry memory, imagination, and social values across generations. The enduring themes in Parker’s writing include the power of oral tradition, the meeting of everyday life and the supernatural, and the importance of preserving cultural heritage. These concerns remain highly relevant today, as readers continue to value voices and traditions that reveal how communities understand themselves and their world. Parker’s legacy lies in his role as a preserver of folk culture, offering modern readers a window into a living tradition and reminding us that local stories can illuminate universal human experiences. His work will especially appeal to readers interested in folklore, cultural history, anthropology, and the art of traditional storytelling.