Shuo Yuan

The Shuo Yuan, variously translated as Garden of Stories, Garden of Persuasions, Garden of Talks, Garden of Eloquence, etc., is a collection of stories and anecdotes from the pre-Qin period (先秦) to the Western Han dynasty. The stories were compiled and annotated by the imperial librarian Liu Xiang (d. 6 ). In many cases, multiple versions of the same story are included, making the book a valuable source for the study of early texts.