London
David Nutt, 270–271, Strand
1897
[vi]
Warning
To the Studious or Scientific Reader
I hope no one will imagine this to be a scientific book. It is meantto amuse children; and if it succeeds in this, its aim will be hit.Thus the stories here given, although grounded upon the great Buddhistcollection named below, have been ruthlessly altered wherever thiswould better suit them for the purpose in view; and probably some ofthem Buddha himself would fail to recognise.
My thanks are due to the Syndics of the Cambridge University Pressfor permitting the use of their translation of the JātakaBook;1 from which comes the groundwork of the stories, andoccasionally a phrase or a versicle is borrowed. To this work I referall scholars, folk-lorists and scientific persons generally: warningthem that if they plunge deeper into these pages, they will be horriblyshocked. [ix]
1 TheJātaka; or Stories of the Buddha’s former Births.Translated from the Pāli by various hands, under the editorship ofProfessor E. B. Cowell. Vol. I., translated by R. Chalmers, B.A.(1895). Vol. II., translated by W. H. D. Rouse, M.A. (1895). Vol. III.,translated by H. T. Francis, M.A., and R. A. Neil, M.A. (1897). Vol.IV., in preparation. All the stories but two come from the secondvolume of this work.