The Tale of the Teller of Tales is a novel of high adventure, low comedy, and disturbing metaphysical insights. “The power of my fables is legendary—if I may be permitted to say so. They have reformed the criminal, healed the sick, and righted the mentally unbalanced. Why, just last year did I not bring the implacable Blackhouse Ripper to tears of repentance on the eve of his execution, so that he begged to be led to the gallows forthwith? I have fables for every occasion, and this is no exception, believe me.” So boasts the Fabulist to the King of Uaxala, who has summoned him to that distant unknown land to improve the character of the Prince. But the Prince has stories of his own to tell, and the Fabulist and his Manservant are drawn into astonishing adventures, including (but not limited to): Cold-blooded revenge; an infinite labyrinth; startling philosophical speculations and disputes that actually move the plot forward; torture by unbearably exquisite caresses; death-duels aboard a pirate ship; an uncharted island inhabited solely by comely young women; gunpowder tattoos; gyascuti farsed with grebes farsed with capons farsed with wrens; imprisonment in a tower; The Excursus of Hermes Trismegistus, as well as the Chema of Chemes; polygamous marriage and jealous wives; potions of invisibility and immobility; a barber of blood.