Corpse Stories (Ro dngos grub) Scroll written in dbu med script, Tibet, 20th century, Ink on paper, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00006

Corpse Stories (Ro dngos grub) Scroll written in dbu med script, Tibet, 20th century, Ink on paper, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Tibetan MSS 00006

This handwritten Tibetan scroll contains a story collection which, like many tales-within-tales, begins with a challenge: a prince is tasked with bringing a particular corpse from a remote cemetery in the mountains, but he must not say a word to it. During their return, the corpse begins to tell a story so entrancing that the prince replies -- and, immediately, the corpse escapes. Each time the prince catches the corpse, it tells another story; the prince replies, and the hunt begins again.

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

20th century

Photographer Credit: Jessica Lockhart (photographer), courtesy of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Dimensions: 35.0cm wide by 14 or 15 metres long when fully unrolled

Materials: Ink on paper

Tibetan

Fisher Tibetan MSS 00006

Tibet