Folktales, fairy tales, legends are instantly attractive to any type of personality at any age. The present volume deals a little seriously with the topic and we glimpse the part that folklore can play in the study of anthropology, sociology, ethnology and other disciplines. We learn the methods in which folklore can be dissected structurally through semantics and morphology to arrive at conclusions which are significant to sociologists, anthropologists and ethnologists. It is similar to watching a psychoanalyst probe the intricacies of behaviour from the choice of words and nuances of speech and is extremely interesting. As we go along, we also learn some very interesting tales belonging to the Santals of Rajshahi and the famous Baul songs, some of which are reputed to have influenced Rabindranath Tagore in his vision of life and his literature. This fascinating volume is one of the few in-depth studies on folklore on this subcontinent. About the Author: Born at Charnabipur, Pabna, Bangladesh on 10 September, 1928, Mazharul Islam was a first class first in M. A. at Dacca University in 1951 and holds two doctorates, one in Bengali Literature from Rajshahi University in 1958 and a second in Folklore from Indiana University, USA in 1963. He was also awarded the highest literary prizes of the Bangla Academy in 1967 and the Daud Prize in 1970. Starting his career from Dacca Govt. College, Dr. Islam joined Dacca University and went later to Rajshahi University as Reader, Professor, departmental Chairman and Dean. After the birth of Bangladesh, he became Director-General, Bangla Academy and then Vice-Chancellor, Rajshahi University. A freedom fighter, a true lover of democracy and socialism, a close associate of Sheikh Mujib, he was imprisoned soon after Mujib's assassination in 1975. After his release in 1978, he was invited to become a Visiting Professor (UGC) at Calcutta University from 1979 to 1981 and at Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan from 1981 to 1983. Invited by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, he has now joined it as a Senior Fellow. He has travelled widely and has taught at Chicago and Harvard as a Visiting Professor and participated at various international congresses all over the world. He has been elected Executive Member of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences at the XIth ICAES held at Vancouver, 1983 for the current five year term.