The three plays here presented have been well chosen, since they exhibit three distinct styles, though only the Inst can strictly be called a "mystery" play. The first and most popular is written round the Buddhist theme of the supreme virtue of charity. 'The Prince, who is unable to resist any demand for alms, gives away a precious magic jewel. For this fault he is banished to the Mount of the Demons, and on the way he parts with all' he can.
li his own—even his children and is wife, The latter, however, is returned to him, for the beggar out to be the god Indra, who wishes to test him. The setond play is rather of the nature of a fairy tale, in which one is led to suspect the influence of Arabia, or at least the Western Asia, since we are brought into the' atmosphere of fairies, genies, and scarves that enable the wearer to fly. The third play is more characteristically Buddhist, and is perhaps of the three the most, national. There. is nothing in it that suggests outside religious maniac. She is continual ly dwelling on the vanity of human life and the supreme comfort of religion, and, having left, first. her hhusband's and then her father's home, retires toa monastery, and finally to the desert, where she is
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.