Tales of the Punjab

The compilation has been selected carefully with the object of securing a good story in what appears to be its best form; but they have not been doctored in any way, not even in the language. That is neither a transliteration — which would have needed a whole dictionary to be intelligible — nor a version Orientalized to suit English tastes. It is an attempt to translate one colloquialism by another, and thus to preserve the aroma of rough ready with existing side by side with that perfume of pure poesy which every now and again contrasts so strangely with the other. Nothing would have been easier than to alter the style; but to do so would, in the collector’s opinion, have robbed the stories of all human value.

That such has been the deliberate choice may be seen at a glance through the only story which has a
different origin. The Adventures of Raja Rasalu was translated from the rough manuscript of a village
accountant; and, being current in a more or less classical form, it approaches more nearly to the conventional standards of an Indian tale.

The work has been apportioned between the authors in this way. Mrs. F. A. Steel is responsible for the text, and Major R. C. Temple for the annotations and the appendices on Analysis and Survey of Incidents.