Frame story
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A frame story is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into one or more other stories within it. The frame story may also be used to inform readers about aspects of the secondary narrative(s) that may otherwise be hard to understand. This should not be confused with narrative structure. A notable example is The Decameron.
One of the earliest frame stories is in the Odyssey, which begins with Odysseus telling stories to King Alcinous on the island of Scheria. Painting of Odysseus at the Court of Alcinous by Francesco Hayez, 1814-1815
One Thousand and One Nights frames many stories with a single narrator, Shahrazad; embedded within it are further framed sets of tales, such as those of Sindbad the Sailor. Illustration Sindbad the sailor and Ali Baba and the forty thieves by William Strang, 1896
The Return of Rip Van Winkle, painting by John Quidor, 1849
Mahabharata
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The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.
Manuscript illustration of the Battle of Kurukshetra
Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 18th–19th-century painting
Modern depiction of Vyasa narrating the Mahābhārata to Ganesha at the Murudeshwara temple, Karnataka.
Sauti recites the slokas of the Mahabharata.