Wallet of Kai Lung, The by Ernest Bramah (1868 - 1942)

The Wallet of Kai Lung is a collection of fantasy stories by Ernest Bramah, all but the last of which feature Kai Lung, an itinerant story-teller of ancient China. The collection's importance in the history of fantasy literature was recognized by the anthologization of two of its tales in the celebrated Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. - Summary by Alan Winterrowd (from Wikipedia)