Of the twenty-six stories contained in this book, of eight of which two versions are given, eleven stories or versions of stories (6, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17 _a_, 18 _a_, 19 _a_, 20 _a_, 23 _a_, 24 _a_) are taken from the oldest canonical texts of the Buddhist Sacred Scriptures. Of these eleven stories, the first nine are said to have been related by Gotama himself, the last two being attributed to the Buddhist sage Kumāra Kassapa. It is highly probable that the tradition embodied in the texts regarding these eleven stories is correct. We may therefore feel quite certain that such remarkable parables as _Brahmadatta and the prince_ (6), _Blind men and elephant_ (13), and _The birds_ (16) were actually related by Gotama himself, in substantially the same form as that in which we now have them. It is not at all unlikely that such a parable as _Brahmadatta and Mallika_ (8) was also related by Gotama, but of this we cannot be certain. The approximate date of these old canonical texts is now well established. Numerous references to the Buddhist Scriptures in the Bhābrā edict of Asoka, about 250 B.C., and in the canonical work _Kathāvatthu_, of about the same date, amply justify the statement that the texts from which these eleven stories are taken are, in their present form, at least three or four centuries anterior to the Christian era. It may interest the reader to know that these texts, originating in North India in the lifetime of Gotama, were handed down by oral tradition for many generations, were reduced to canonical form within a century or two of the death of Gotama, were carried to Ceylon in the third century B.C., were written down for the first time in the first century B.C., and were copied and recopied on palm-leaves by successive generations of scribes until comparatively recent times. The rest of the stories (except 25 and 26) are taken from the _Book of the Buddha’s Previous Existences_ or _Jātaka Book_. This remarkable work, which also originated in North India, relates in mixed prose and verse the experiences of the Future Buddha in each of 550 states of existence previous to his rebirth as Gotama. The received text of this work represents a recension made in Ceylon early in the fifth century A.D., but much of the material is demonstrably many centuries older. For example, the stanzas rank as canonical Scripture, older versions of some of the stories occur in the canonical texts, and many of the stories (including 4 and 7 and 22) are illustrated by Bharahat sculptures of the third century B.C. Stories 25 and 26 are also _Jātaka_ tales, adapted from C. H. Tawney’s translation of the _Kathāsaritsāgara_. * * * * *