Excerpt from Indian Folk Tales: Being Side-Lights on Village Life in Bilaspore, Central Provinces

The readers of this book will soon see that I have followed in intensive method of inquiry. My observations have been confined to the western portion of the Bilaspore district of the Central Provinces, India, in other words, to the Mungeli Tehsil. During a residence of sixteen years, after acquiring the dialect of the people, I have gathered, at first hand, the material which is now made public.

It is generally found that most of the primitive peoples are exceedingly reticent as to their beliefs and practices. In order to gain anything like an accurate understanding of their most inward thoughts it is necessary to reside amongst them for a long while, and watch them when they do not know that they are under observation. According to an English proverb, "It is in sports and journeys that a man is known." So in order to understand the real India the India - of the villages - it is necessary not only to live amongst the peasants of that land from year's end to year's end, through hot and cold and rainy weather, through sunshine and shadow, but also to speak with them in their own dialect, and understand the exact significance of their most common words both in work and play.

I have had the unique opportunity of fulfilling the above requirements with regard to the villages of Bilaspore.

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