The Book of Noodles: Stories of Simpletons

Download or read book The Book of Noodles: Stories of Simpletons written by William Alexander Clouston and published by IndyPublish.com. This book was released on 1888 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Alexander Clouston (1843-1896) was a famous British Folklorist. He contributed to valuable studies combining Eastern traditional literature with Norse and Western Folklore. His works include: The Book of Noodles: Stories of Simpletons; or, Fools and Their Follies (1888), Flowers from a Persian Garden and Other Papers (1890) and Book of Wise Sayings (1893). "LIKE popular tales in general, the original sources of stories of simpletons are for the most part not traceable. The old Greek jests of this class had doubtless been floating about among different peoples long before they were reduced to writing. The only tales and apologues of noodles or stupid folk to which an approximate date can be assigned are those found in the early Buddhist books, especially in the "J? takas, " or Birth-stories, which are said to have been related to his disciples by Gautama, the illustrious founder of Buddhism, as incidents which occurred to himself and others in former births, and were afterwards put into a literary form by his followers. "