WONDER-TALES OF SOUTH ASIA Translated By Simon Digby,Orient Monographs and Manohar, Rs 600 The name of Simon Digby is somewhat unknown outside a select group of medieval Indian historians. Those that know him admire him for his astounding erudition and for his skill with Indian languages. In many ways, he is the carry over of the 19th century amateur scholar. He is an Orientalist in the true sense of the word and without any of the pejorative values that Edward Said has endowed on the word. He was born in India and educated at Cambridge. He knows Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi and Nepali. In this gem of a book, Digby moves away from his scholarly and academic pursuits to translate from Persian, Urdu, Nepali and Hindi, stories that have an element of wonder in them. Wonder, miracles and the intervention of the divine in the affairs of humans are an intrinsic part of the narrative heritage of India. In our epics and in our folk tales, these elements are always present often to help the underdog, to help and reward the pious and to restore justice. The narrators of these tales never ask their listeners (readers) to believe what is being said. Credibility is taken for granted. The willing suspension of disbelief is the ground rule of the tales. The keynote of the stories is the pleasure they provide to both the reader and the teller. Digby's translations convey this sense of pleasure. He tells us in the preface that he came to these translations through the 'pleasurable old-fashioned exercise in matching the expressions and ways of thought in a number of languages with their equivalents in English.'' What possibly began as an exercise in improving his linguistic proficiency turned out for Digby to be a great source of joy that he has now shared with his readers. Stories with an element of the fantastic and the miraculous have a perennial attraction that runs across regions and cultures. Within India, every region and language has its own fund of wonder tales. Digby's is not a representative selection but this in no way takes away from the charm of the stories. Digby encountered one of the longest cycles of tales - 'The Flower of Bakawali'' - first, many many moons ago, on the steps of Delhi's great mosque, Jama Masjid. On the shadow of those magnificent domes were laid out lithographic prints of these stories in the elegant nastaliq script on cheap brown paper. A new world had opened up for him. The sources of these tales are diverse. Digby sets out their background and offers brief annotations in a note at the end of the book. Here he moves effortlessly from the Vedas to the Puranas to traditions of the Sufis to the Nepali collection in the India Office Library to early 19th century printed Urdu texts. The range of the learning present here, in an ever so understated way, is staggering. A good story well told has an appeal that knows no cultural barriers. Digby asserts no moral right over these tales. He wants them to be read and retold. All he asks is for you to curl up in bed with his book and to enjoy yourself. His book is a magic carpet to a wondrous world.