For readers tired of everything postmodern, this collection of folk tales reminds us of the primal power fables and oral tradition hold over the imagination. In these thirty-one stories--told by Quechua speakers in highland Peru--we encounter the voice of an indigenous people on the cusp of modernity. These stories overcome stereotypes of what it means to be traditional. Yet they also entertain, instruct, and reassure us that verities exist. Classical...