Satyajit Ray, celebrated filmmaker of his time also authored several stories for young readers and a new translation now brings a collection of four tales by the master storyteller.
"The Magic Moonlight Flower and other enchanting stories" is an amalgamation of genres like fantasy, fairy tale, science fiction etc, which reflects the literary talent of Ray who was a prolific writer and illustrator for children and young adult readers.
Translated from Bengali, by Arunava Sinha, the first story tells the tale of Sujan Harbola, the boy who spoke to birds. Ray weaves a story based on the rare gift of mimicry, the art of imitating bird and animal calls, which most urban school children might not even have heard about.
The story weaves fantasy with reality with a simple boy ending up marrying a princess because of his gift. Some of Satyajit Ray's original illustrations have also been reproduced in the book.
In another story "Gangaram's Lucky Stone" Ray celebrates virtues of honesty and the ability to keep one's faith in the goodness of humanity. The Ogre And the Princess and the Magic Moonlight Flower are the other stories in the book.
The last story speaks about how a boy has to obtain a magical flower which can save his father from "miseria", a fatal disease that robs the soul of its will to live.
Ray, was also a publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, graphic designer and film critic. He created immortal fictional characters like Feluda, the sleuth and Professor Shonku, the scientist.
He coedited the Bengali children's magazine "Sandesh" started by his grandfather Upendrakishor Ray.
Arunava Sinha translates classics, modern and contemporary Bengali fiction and non fiction into English and has published 20 translations so far.
The new book has been published by Red Turtle, Rupa's children's imprint.
