A collection of folk and fairy tales from the region lying between East and West, forming a bridge along which a great part of the traffic in ideas as well as in commodities must pass. By their religious and political connection with Byzantium on the one hand, and by their constant intercourse with Persia and Turkey on the other, the Iberians have gained much from both Christendom and Islam, and among them may yet be found lost links in several chains of historical and literary investigations.