Bengal Folk Tales
Stories associated with Bengal include princes and demons, ghosts, clever villagers and talking birds. This collection follows published tellings and preserves the particular choices of each version.
The source notes help distinguish a recorded tale from later retelling and interpretation. Some adventures include frightening or tragic events, so choose by the guidance on the story page rather than assuming every tale is a bedtime story.
11 stories are in this collection right now.
Bengal Folk Tales
The Clever Wife
A merchant jokes that his wife should build a well and give him a son while he is away for a year, and she cleverly manages both, outwitting a king.
Bengal Folk Tales
The Boy with the Moon on His Forehead
Twins stolen at birth by jealous queens grow up in a potter’s home, and the boy with a moon on his brow crosses an ocean for a magic flower.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
Life’s Secret
Prince Dalim Kumar’s life is hidden in a necklace inside a fish, and when his jealous stepmother wears it he dies by day and wakes only at night.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Indigent Brahman
The goddess Durga gives a poor Brahman a pot that pours out endless sweets; when a cheat steals it, her second gift is a pot full of demons.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Match-Making Jackal
A jackal invents a rich kingdom to arrange a weaver’s marriage. The deceived princess later builds the wealth for which the jackal claims credit.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Field of Bones
Four friends learn spells that can restore life. After recklessly reviving a tiger, they meet a princess whose lost community gives those skills a different purpose.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 6-8
The Ghost-Brahman
A ghost takes the shape of a poor Brahman and moves into his house, and only a cowherd boy playing at being king can work out how to catch him.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Origin of Opium
A holy man’s pet mouse keeps wishing to be something grander, from cat to elephant to beautiful girl, until her story ends in the first poppy plant.
Bengal Folk Tales
The Boy Whom Seven Mothers Suckled
Seven blinded queens raise one boy in a hillside cave, and he grows strong enough to outwit the demon queen who has been eating the king’s city.
Bengal Folk Tales
The Bald Wife
A cruelly treated wife is kind to a cotton plant, a plantain tree, a bull and a basil plant, and a forest sage rewards her with beauty and riches.
Bengal Folk Tales
Ages 9-12
The Story of a Hiraman
A talking parrot helps a king abduct a distant woman, then joins her in planning an escape after a second king takes her captive.