Lafcadio Hearn 
Stray Leaves From Strange Literature [PDF ebook] 
Stories Reconstructed From the Anvari-Soheili, Baital Mahabharata

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. While engaged upon this little mosaic work of legend and fable, I felt much like one of those merchants told of in Sindbad’s Second Voyage, who were obliged to content themselves with gathering the small jewels adhering to certain meat which eagles brought up from the Valley of Diamonds. I have had to depend altogether upon the labor of translators for my acquisitions; and these seemed too small to deserve separate literary setting. By cutting my little gems according to one pattern, I have doubtless reduced the beauty of some; yet it seemed to me their colors were so weird, their luminosity so elfish, that their intrinsic value could not be wholly destroyed even by so clumsy an artificer as I.