# The Baitâl Pachchisi; Or, The Twenty-Five Tales of a Sprite

_Translated From the Hindi Text of Dr. Duncan Forbes_

By John T. Platts and others.

"The Baitâl Pachchisi; Or, The Twenty-Five Tales of a Sprite" by John T. Platts et al. is a collection of tales originally written in Sanskrit, with its oldest recension found in an 11th-century compilation. Legendary King Vikramāditya must capture a sprite who inhabits dead bodies and hangs from a tree. Each time the king seizes the creature, it tells a story ending with a riddle. If Vikrama answers correctly, the sprite escapes; if he stays silent knowing the answer, his head will shatter. This cycle repeats twenty-four times before a final revelation changes everything. (Summary by Project Gutenberg, written by machine.)

- Language: English
- Editor: Duncan Forbes
- Subjects: Tales -- India; Vampires -- India -- Folklore

[Read it](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/books/gutenberg/54697/read)
[Plain text](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/api/books/gutenberg/54697/text)

## Audiobooks of it

- [Baitâl Pachchisi; Or, The Twenty-Five Tales of a Sprite](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/books/librivox/18388) by Duncan Forbes (4 h 37 min, English)

From Project Gutenberg. Public domain in the United States.