Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance : The Make-Believe Prince; Toddy-Cat the Bold

Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance presents two masterpieces of Bengali literature by Rabindranath Tagore''s nephews, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore. ''The Make-Believe Prince'' is the delightful story of a king, his two wives, a trickster monkey, a witch, and a helper from another world who is not a ''fairy godmother''. ''Toddy-Cat the Bold'' sees a group of brave comrades seek help from a young boy to rescue the son of their leader from the Two-Faced Rakshasa of the forest.

''Fantasy Fictions from the Bengal Renaissance'' presents two masterpieces of Bengali literature by Rabindranath Tagore''s nephews, Abanindranath Tagore and Gaganendranath Tagore. ''The Make-Believe Prince'' is the delightful story of a king, his two wives, a trickster monkey, a witch, and a helper from another world who is not a ''fairy godmother''. Abanindranath deploys traditional children''s rhymes and paints exquisite word-pictures in his unusual original rendering of a tale which has its origins in Bengali folktale materials in various genres. ''Toddy-Cat the Bold'' sees a group of brave comrades seek help from a young boy to rescue the son of their leader from the Two-Faced Rakshasa of the forest, and has another, more numinous helper. Inspired by Lewis Carroll''s Alice books, it presents a comic, exciting, and mysterious journey quite unlike Carroll''s, with many traditional local touches and an unexpected ending.