This is a translation of a recently discovered manuscript, containing Sanskrit tales written over 2000 years ago, in which each tale - acted out by a cast of animals and people - is intended to offer an important lesson in life, often one that evolves from the protagonists' various misfortunes. Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890) - soldier, explorer, linguist, anthropologist, literatus - is perhaps best known as co-discoverer (with partner John Hanning Speke), of the source of the Nile, and the first translator into English of the Thousand And One'