Old Deccan Days or Hindoo Fairy Legends — Kirin Narayan

A long-lost collection of Indian fairy tales transcribed by the daughter of the British governor of Bombay.

In the cold months of 1865, young Mary Frere and her father, Bartle Frere, British governor of Bombay, set out in a caravan across the Deccan province of south central India. During their journey Mary transcribed 24 popular Hindu folktales told to her by her nursemaid. That collection of tales, which she published as Old Deccan Days, not only became the first Indian folklore collection in English, it established a new genre of writing about British India.

These marvelously imaginative tales from the Indian oral tradition are peopled with beautiful, smart, outspoken women; restless, adventuresome men; gods who take on human form; and animals who know the secrets of human destinies. Evil magicians cast spells on humans, changing them to plants, and demonic, ogre-like Rakshases savor human flesh.

• Includes Mary Frere's original introduction to the first published edition

• Updated by folklorist Kirin Narayan with an introduction discussing the oral tradition, the British Colonial period, and the relationship between Frere and her nursemaid, Anna DeSouza