9 h 0 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 0 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your only defense against danger is a tale told with exquisite politeness?
Kai Lung is a poor traveling storyteller in an imagined China. He has no riches or warrior's strength, only his skill with words. In Ernest Bramah's linked comic tales, he earns his bread through stories—and uses them to meet danger and win favor. His own troubles frame the tales he tells.
The Wallet of Kai Lung brings clever peasants, proud officials, and spirits into a world where fate and cunning shape people's paths. Strange bargains and charms sit beside everyday village and market life. Through it all, grand courtesy carries a quiet mischief: a speaker can lavish praise on a guest while insulting himself with elaborate ceremony.
What you’ll discover
- Words against danger Follow a storyteller whose tales are tools for facing trouble and winning favor.
- Courtesy with a sting Enjoy the dry comedy of flowery praise, humble phrases, and elaborate self-insults.
- Fate meets cunning Watch clever people face forces that set them on paths they cannot see.
- Magic beside the market Enter villages where spirits, charms, and strange bargains belong to ordinary life.
- Tales within tales Discover stories held together by Kai Lung's troubles and his gift for telling.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy dry wit, ornate politeness used as a weapon, and clever tales within tales. It suits anyone who likes satire of officials and money.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A storyteller buys his life with a tale
- Ling the scholar is cheated into command
- A mild man discovers a sword and a lover
- Magic gold, a girl, and a very odd contract
- Clever sums and a gentle fool in the market
- A mandarin turns the rewards upside down
- Kai Lung confesses his own sad story
- A city plots to remove its tyrant
- Three tales of wrong turns and lost stories
- How the book is told and what it laughs at
Who’s who
- Kai LungA poor wandering storyteller who answers every danger with courteous words and a tale chosen to suit his listeners.
- Lin YiA scarred brigand and former clerk who loves elegant speech and holds Kai Lung captive in the forest.
- LingA gentle scholar from an ape-worshipping family who is made a commander of archers and wants only a quiet life with Mian.
- MianA brave young woman with perfect feet, adopted by a magician, who nurses Ling and gives him a dangerous parting gift.
- Chang-ch'unA rich Canton speculator who buys a share in Ling's strange body and wants to profit from it.
- WangA greedy attendant bound by contract to follow Ling and enforce rules that Ling never heard.
- Wang YuThe idle pipe maker of Wu-whei who heckles Kai Lung and grudgingly pays into his bowl.
- Tung FelA mountain-bred organizer who arrives with a puppet box to lead Ching-fow against the Mandarin Ping Siang.
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Il portafoglio di Kai Lung
by Ernest Bramah · 1900
A storyteller with a rope around his ankle must hold a brigand's attention long enough to stay alive.
Challenging2–5 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
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In short
Can a story save your life? Kai Lung, a wandering storyteller, enters a camphor forest at dusk and finds a matchlock pointed at his chest.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A storyteller buys his life with a tale
Kai Lung travels without an escort. He claims that a worthless coat protects a man better than an army of bowmen. In the camphor forest he meets Lin Yi, and the two men trade compliments as if they were guests at a banquet.
Every polite phrase hides a threat, and every threat is answered with a flattering lie. Kai Lung says a richly dressed Mandarin is just down the road, eager to visit the honored Lin Yi. Both men know what the other means, and neither drops the mask.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1900
- Language
- Italiano
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Bramah, Ernest. The Wallet of Kai Lung. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wallet-of-kai-lung.
Bramah, E. (2026). The wallet of Kai Lung. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wallet-of-kai-lung (Original work published 1900)
Bramah, Ernest. The Wallet of Kai Lung. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wallet-of-kai-lung.
@book{bramah2026wallet,
author = {Bramah, Ernest},
title = {The Wallet of Kai Lung},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wallet-of-kai-lung},
note = {First published 1900}
}
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What is The Wallet of Kai Lung about?
It is a collection of comic tales set in an imagined China. A traveling storyteller, Kai Lung, tells them to bandits, villagers and passersby, and they poke fun at officials, examiners, moneymakers and writers.
Who is Kai Lung?
Kai Lung is a poor, wandering storyteller who has a gift for flattering speech. He is captured by the brigand Lin Yi in the opening scene and tells a story to buy time, then keeps telling them.
Is The Wallet of Kai Lung a true story of China?
No. It was first published in 1900 and written by Ernest Bramah, an English author. The China in it is imagined, and the humor aims at institutions that any reader will know, such as examinations and publishers.
The author
Ernest Bramah
1868–1942 · English novelist
Ernest Bramah was an English author born in Manchester in 1868. He later lived in London and died in 1942. He wrote fiction featuring Kai Lung and the blind detective Max Carrados. His books include The Wallet of Kai Lung (1900), Max Carrados (1914), and Kai Lung’s Golden Hours (1922).
More by Ernest Bramah
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