Drawing from Eastern and Western literatures, Heinrich Zimmer presents a
selection of stories linked together by their common concern for the
problem of our eternal conflict with the forces of evil. Beginning with
a tale from the Arabian Nights, this theme unfolds in legends from Irish
paganism, medieval Christianity, the Arthurian cycle, and early
Hinduism. In the retelling of these tales, Zimmer discloses the meanings
within their seemingly unrelated symbols and suggests the philosophical
wholeness of this assortment of myth.