Abbott (education, Manchester U.) and Han, retired from teaching English in Burmese universities, first survey folk-tale studies and present a broad functional classification of Burma's tales. Then they present, mostly for the first time in a European language, 101 categorized actual tales, with past and present commentaries on plots and cross-cultural motifs. The tale types are human origin, phenomena, wonder, trickster and simpleton, lay and clerical guidance, and compound. The indices are by authors cited, cultures to which the tales are compared, and selected tale elements. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
