The Wonderful Nonsense World of Sukumar Ray: Habber-Jabber-Law and Other Stories and Poems

Master of wit and humour, Sukumar Ray is a pioneer of Bengali literature, who has written a plethora of funny stories and nonsense verse. But what entertains readers of Ray’s works are not just his hilarious and puntastic verses but also his characters, most of whom are both ridiculous and fascinating.

In this exquisite book, you will meet and be delighted by some of Ray’s famous and most interesting characters. There is the cat that was a hanky, the raven who is an accountant, two old men who are as bald as eggs and claim to be thirteen years old, the billy goat who loves to bleat long speeches, and the barn owl judge who is always sleepy. Along with them, you will also meet the Ramgoru calf, a curious creature whose motto in life is not to laugh, and the kind-but-short tempered monster who wants to invite you to its home. And who can forget Dashu the Crazy and his school stories of mischief?

Selected and compiled from Ray’s classic works—Abol Tabol, Hojoborolo, and the Pagla Dashu stories—these almost century old, well-loved pieces of literature are guaranteed to send you into side-splitting laughter. Exuberantly translated for the modern reader, they are accompanied by the author’s original illustrations.