8 h 27 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 27 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Step into a Bengal of haunted trees, cunning foxes, and snakes that change their shape.
In Folk-Tales of Bengal, Lal Behari Day gathers fairy tales rooted in Bengali oral tradition. These are stories passed from elder to child and shared by village storytellers. Magic, humor, bravery, and wisdom meet in a world where heroic peasants and divine intervention belong beside the fears and hopes of daily life.
First published in 1883, the collection preserves stories that offer a glimpse of how generations of Bengalis understand justice, nature, and life’s mysteries. Follow their strange encounters and discover more than enchantment. Beneath the wonders lies a moral world, shaped by the questions and values that people carry from one generation to the next.
What you’ll discover
- Magic close to home Explore tales where haunted trees and shape-shifting snakes bring wonder into the world of village storytelling.
- Cunning and courage Meet cunning foxes and heroic peasants in stories alive with humor, bravery, and unexpected possibilities.
- Wisdom within the wonder Look beneath the magic to explore ideas of justice and the values woven through these tales.
- Nature touched by mystery Discover stories that express reverence for nature while making room for fear, hope, and enchantment.
- Stories passed between generations Enter a storytelling tradition carried from elder to child, with wisdom and wonder held together.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy fairy tales from other lands, clever tricksters, magic pots and talking birds, or the sound of a living oral tradition written down.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A secret told to a rival costs a life
- A jewel from a serpent leads to a lost wife
- Gifts from gods and demons test the poor
- Two brothers and a wife are scattered by luck
- Bad luck is outlasted by loyal partners
- Wishes and pride shape a merchant's family
- Cleverness saves a prince and tests two thieves
- Ghosts and spirits are tricked or befriended
- Birds, jewels and a jackal make fortunes
- Skulls, bones and a bald wife teach the law of tales
Who’s who
- Dalim KumarA prince whose life is bound to a gold necklace, and who lives by night and lies dead by day.
- The Duo queenA jealous stepmother who learns the secret of the prince's life and wants the king's love for herself.
- The minister's sonA loyal friend who pretends to be the madcap Phakir Chand and risks his life to protect a prince.
- Sahasra DalThe half-demon son of a Rakshasi, who proves a true friend and protector to his half-brother.
- Champa DalThe younger brother, a Brahman's son, who fights seven hundred Rakshasas and wants only to find his lost wife.
- SribatsaA wise man whom the god of bad luck curses for three years, and who wants to keep his wife safe.
- ChintamaniSribatsa's devoted wife, who refuses to leave his side and prays to the goddess of fortune for help.
- The hiramanA clever talking parrot who sells itself to the king and plans his quest for the most beautiful lady.
Formats and delivery
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- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Folk-Tales of Bengal
by Lal Behari Day · 1883
A prince dies every morning and wakes every night, and one bold bride sets out to free him.
Easy read5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What if a prince died every morning and came back to life every night, while his own father mourned a corpse? Lal Behari Day, a Bengali teacher and writer who died in 1892, set down twenty-two tales in English and dated his preface in 1883.
Folk-Tales of Bengal at a glance
- Reading time
- About 30 min25 min fast, 35 min slow
- Length
- 6,950 words22 chapters
- Pages
- 207 pages313 in large print
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1883by Lal Behari Day
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A secret told to a rival costs a life
A king and his queen Suo have no children. A holy beggar promises Suo a son named Dalim Kumar, and warns that the boy's life lies in a gold necklace inside the heart of a boal fish in the palace pond.
The boy loves pigeons, and they keep flying into the rooms of the Duo queen, who hates him. She holds them back until he promises to learn his secret from his mother. After hearing his secret, she hides dry hemp stalks under her bed to crack like bones and claims to be gravely ill. A physician in league with her says the cure lies in the fish. When it is caught, the queen puts on the necklace and the boy dies.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1883
- Language
- English
- Level
- Easy read
Cite this edition
Day, Lal Behari. Folk-Tales of Bengal. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/folk-tales-of-bengal.
Day, L. B. (2026). Folk-tales of Bengal. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/folk-tales-of-bengal (Original work published 1883)
Day, Lal Behari. Folk-Tales of Bengal. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/folk-tales-of-bengal.
@book{day2026folktales,
author = {Day, Lal Behari},
title = {Folk-Tales of Bengal},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/folk-tales-of-bengal},
note = {First published 1883}
}
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What is Folk-Tales of Bengal about?
It is a collection of twenty-two folk tales that Lal Behari Day heard from Bengali storytellers and translated into English. The stories feature princes, Rakshasas, ghosts, magic objects, talking animals and clever tricksters.
What is the Natiya thorn rhyme at the end of every tale?
It is a traditional closing formula about a thorn, a cow, a cowherd, a daughter-in-law, a child and an ant, ending with koot. Day says he does not know what it means and suggests it may be playful nonsense.
Where did Lal Behari Day get these stories?
He heard them in Bengali from a Bengali Christian woman, two old Brahmans, a barber and a servant. He remembered Sambhu's mother from childhood but needed new tellers, and translated each tale into English himself.
The author
Lal Behari Day
1824–1892 · Bengali folklorist and missionary
Lal Behari Day was a Bengali writer, journalist, and Christian minister of nineteenth-century India, best remembered for Folk-Tales of Bengal, a beloved collection that preserved the village stories of Bengal for readers around the world.
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