A Review of the Folk Tales of Bengal

Abstract

Lal Behari Dey was a Bengali Indian. He was journalist and converted to Christianity. After his conversion he became a missionary. He wrote profoundly in English and edited several magazines. This paper discusses Lal Behari Dey’s collection of Bengali folktales titled Folk Tales of  Bengal. Four tales are chosen to be analyzed. They are The Indigent Brahman, The Ghost Brahman, A Ghostly Wife and The Story Of A Brahmadaitya. These tales are analysed using Vladimir Propp’s theory of the function of the dramatic personae. The similarities between the stories will also be determined in this reading of the folktales.