INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
The Sinhalese beliefs, customs and stories in the present collection were contributed by the writer to the Indian Antiquary fourteen years ago in a series of articles under the title of “Glimpses of Sinhalese Social Life”; they are now offered, amplified and rearranged, to the student of folklore in Ceylon, as a basis for further research. The writer has adopted the scheme of classification in the Folklore Society’s Hand Book of Folklore.
ARTHUR A. PERERA.