Folk-Tales of Bengal: Life's Secret

Folk Tales of Bengal: Life's Secret (1883) is a collection of stories by Lal Behari Dey. Inspired by the stories told to him by village elders in his boyhood, Lal Behari Dey wrote Folk Tales of Bengal: Life's Secret in order to portray the lives and traditions of Bengali peasants in a positive, human light. Praised by Charles Darwin for his novel Govinda Samanta: Or the History of a Bengal Raiyat, Lal Behari Dey was awarded a substantial prize for his literary achievements by a prominent Bengali zamindar, cementing his reputation as a pioneering figure in Bengali literature. "I have reason to believe that the stories given in this book are a genuine sample of the old old stories told by old Bengali women from age to age through a hundred generations." With this certificate of authenticity, Lal Behari Dey presents the stories of his youth in Bengal, stories of kings and queens, gods and monsters, of rich and poor and everything in between. In "Life's Secret," he tells the tale of Suo, a beautiful queen who has been unable to give birth to a son for her impatient, powerful husband. Just as she is ready to give in to despair, a mysterious healer presents her with a magical drug that will grant her the fertility she seeks. In "Phakir Chand," two young friends on a journey to a foreign land encounter a princess held captive by a terrifying serpent. Saving her, they agree to remain at her palace, but only one of them can take her hand in marriage. Charming, instructive, and often surprising, Folk Tales of Bengal: Life's Secret is an underappreciated masterpiece of Bengali literature from Lal Behari Dey.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

Author: Lal Behari Dey
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mint Editions
Published: 06/08/2021
Series: Mint Editions--Voices from API
Pages: 172
Weight: 0.43lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.40d
ISBN: 9781513283340

About the Author
Dey, Lal Behari: -

Lal Behari Dey (1824-1892) was a Bengali journalist and Christian missionary. Born near Bardhaman, Lal Behari moved to Calcutta with his father in 1834 to study with Reverend Alexander Duff. Over the next decade, he converted to Christianity and studied English, eventually publishing a prizewinning essay titled The Falsity of the Hindu Religion (1842). From 1865 to 1867, he served as a missionary and minister for the Free Church of Scotland before finding work as an English professor in Berhampore and Hooghly. A devoted student of English literature, he published Govinda Samanta: Or the History of a Bengal Raiyat (1874) and Folk Tales of Bengal: Life's Secret (1883), earning a reputation as a leading Bengali novelist and advocate for the poor and oppressed.