TUNTUNI, THE TAILOR BIRD

The first of these two Bengali stories about Tuntuni the tailor bird is a commonplace cumulative tale in which: a barber refuses to take a thorn from the bird's foot; she flies around--from Raja to mouse to cat to stick to fire to ocean to elephant--seeking satisfaction; and at last a mosquito agrees to bite the elephant, setting off a chain (elephant will swallow ocean, ocean will quench fire, etc.) that results in the removal of the thorn. The second story is more fun, with Tuntuni taunting the Raja with saucy rhymes so that whatever he does or orders done he looks like a fool and she comes out unharmed. Consider the first story a warm-up exercise, with all those repeated words and phrases, and enjoy the second.