Folk Tales from Tibet

In presenting these little stories to the public, it may perhaps be of interest if I describe how I came by them.
During two years spent in Tibet, at Gyantse, Lhasa, and elsewhere, I have made many friends amongst all classes of Tibetans-high and low, rich and poor-and have conversed with all sorts of persons upon all sorts of topics. In the course of my wanderings I learned that there exists amongst this fascinating and littleknown people a wealth of folk-lore, hitherto inaccessible to the outside world, and I made efforts to collect as many of their stories as I could.
For certain special reasons this quest proved more difficult than I had anticipated. In the first place, I found that many of the best known stories had been imported bodily from India or China, and possess but little of that local colouring which is one of the chief charmsof folk-lore. Secondly, some of the very best and most characteristic stories are unfit for publication in such a book as this. And, thirdly, human nature being much the same all the world over, it was not always possible to find a suitable raconteur in a suitable mood for story-telling. A story told by a nervous or reluctant narrator loses half its charm. A good story must be natural, and necessitates sympathy on the part both of teller and of hearer. Armed diplomatic missions and an official position, apart from all questions of difference of language and nationality, do not tend to elicit the ideal sentiments necessary for the establishment of complete mutual confidence.