Shridatta

The Kathasaritsagara (The ocean of stories) of Somadeva is really an abridged version of that great treasure-the Brihatkatha. No version of the Brihatkatha has come to us, though we have many poems and plays in Sanskrit which draw on it for themes. The Kathasaritsagara, however, preserves, though in a very terse form, this great heritage. It abounds in tales of romance and adventure in wondrous worlds up in the sky, or in the bowels of the earth, or on the bed of the ocean, peopled by persons and semi-divine beings who deal in magic as an everyday commodity.
The story of Shridatta (a gift of Shri, that is Lakshmi) is adapted from one such tale. Shridatta is a universal favourite as one would expect a gift from the Goddess Lakshmi to be.