Introduction by Richard Bach. Translated by Lewis Galantière and Stuart Gilbert.

    It has become a modern Irish classic, promising to make immortal the Tailor and his irrepressible wife, Ansty. The Tailor never travelled further than Scotland, yet the breadth of the world could not contain the wealth of his humour and fantasy. All human life is here - marriages, inquests, matchmaking, wakes - and always the Tailor, his wife and their black cow.

    They were the first English women to cross the Gobi Desert after twenty years of working as missionaries in the Shansi province of China. This is the kind of travel book which is the result of 13 years of continous travel and thorough knowledge of the region. They describe the Chinese Inns, the monasteries, the archaeological sites, the abandoned cities and the life in the oasis towns. This book brings alive the Gobi Desert and shows how relevant it is still nowadays for those wanting to discover this fascinating part of the world.