Resumen

Twenty-Two Goblins is an English version of a famous cycle of ancient Indian tales, published in 1917 and translated from the Sanskrit by Arthur W. Ryder, a professor at the University of California who also translated the Panchatantra and works of Kalidasa. The stories belong to the tradition known in Sanskrit as the Vetala tales, which circulated in many versions and languages over centuries. Ryder gives his own lively renderings and translates many of the characters' names into English.

The cycle is held together by a frame story. A king, honouring a promise to a mysterious holy man, agrees to fetch a corpse hanging from a tree in a cremation ground. The body is inhabited by a goblin, or vetala, which, as the king carries it on his shoulder, tells him a story. Each tale ends with a puzzle about right and wrong: who acted most nobly, who deserves the bride, who is truly to blame. If the king knows the answer and keeps silent, his head will burst; if he speaks, the goblin and the corpse fly back to the tree, and the journey begins again.

The tales mix love, magic, wit and moral argument, and their open-ended riddles invite the reader to answer along with the king. The book suits readers interested in Indian literature and folklore, frame-story collections like the Arabian Nights, and stories built for discussion.

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These 22 stories are told by the Goblin to the King Vikram. King Vikram faces many difficulties in bringing the vetala to the tantric. Each time Vikram tries to capture the vetala, it tells a story that ends with a riddle. If Vikram cannot answer the question correctly, the vampire consents to remain in captivity. If the king answers the question correctly, the vampire would escape and return to his tree. In some variations, the king is required to speak if he knows the answer, else his head will burst.

This work is taken from baital pachisi and one of its oldest recensions is found incorporated in the Kathā-Sarit-Sāgara ("Ocean of the Streams of Story"), a work in Sanskrit compiled in the 11th century by Somadeva. (Wikipedia)