Edna Ledgard was raised in Burma by missionary parents, and educated at Mandalay’s American-run mission school for girls. Ledgard remembers the stories of her “Amah,” the young Karen woman who watched over her and her brother and sister when they were small. After her father died, Ledgard found a small English primer he had purchased in Rangoon in 1920. It contained several retellings of familiar and loved Burmese legends, and became the inspiration for this collection. Ledgard now lives in Connecticut.