Vikram and the Vampire
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Оглавление
Richard F. Burton. Vikram and the Vampire
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
IN WHICH A MAN DECEIVES A WOMAN
THE VAMPIRE’S SECOND STORY. OF THE RELATIVE VILLANY OF MEN AND WOMEN
THE VAMPIRE’S THIRD STORY. OF A HIGH-MINDED FAMILY
THE VAMPIRE’S FOURTH STORY. OF A WOMAN WHO TOLD THE TRUTH
THE VAMPIRE’S FIFTH STORY. OF THE THIEF WHO LAUGHED AND WEPT
THE VAMPIRE’S SIXTH STORY. IN WHICH THREE MEN DISPUTE ABOUT A WOMAN
THE VAMPIRE’S SEVENTH STORY. SHOWING THE EXCEEDING FOLLY OF MANY WISE FOOLS
THE VAMPIRE’S EIGHTH STORY. OF THE USE AND MISUSE OF MAGIC PILLS
THE VAMPIRE’S NINTH STORY. SHOWING THAT A MAN’S WIFE BELONGS NOT TO HIS BODY BUT TO HIS HEAD
THE VAMPIRE’S TENTH STORY.168. OF THE MARVELLOUS DELICACY OF THREE QUEENS
THE VAMPIRE’S ELEVENTH STORY. WHICH PUZZLES RAJA VIKRAM
CONCLUSION
Отрывок из книги
The sage Bhavabhuti – Eastern teller of these tales – after making his initiatory and propitiatory congé to Ganesha, Lord of Incepts, informs the reader that this book is a string of fine pearls to be hung round the neck of human intelligence; a fragrant flower to be borne on the turban of mental wisdom; a jewel of pure gold, which becomes the brow of all supreme minds; and a handful of powdered rubies, whose tonic effects will appear palpably upon the mental digestion of every patient. Finally, that by aid of the lessons inculcated in the following pages, man will pass happily through this world into the state of absorption, where fables will be no longer required.
He then teaches us how Vikramaditya the Brave became King of Ujjayani.
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‘And how came an anchorite to have a child?’ asked Raja Vikram, incredulously.
‘That is what I am about to tell thee,’ replied the giant. ‘In the good days of thy generous father, Gandharba-Sena, as the court was taking its pleasure in the forest, they saw a devotee, or rather a devotee’s head, protruding from a hole in the ground. The white ants had surrounded his body with a case of earth, and had made their home upon his skin. All kinds of insects and small animals crawled up and down the face, yet not a muscle moved. Wasps had hung their nests to its temples, and scorpions wandered in and out of the matted and clotted hair; yet the hermit felt them not. He spoke to no one; he received no gifts; and had it not been for the opening of his nostrils, as he continually inhaled the pungent smoke of a thorn fire, man would have deemed him dead. Such were his religious austerities.
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