This three-volume English translation by Ratan Kumar Chattopadhyay called Selections from Galpaguchchha is a collection of sixty-one of Tagore’s short stories broadly grouped under the themes of parting of ways, the relationship between men and women, and the power within the woman, respectively.

Volume 3, the last in this series, is studded with gems such as ‘Hungry Stones’, ‘The Wife’s Letter’, ‘The Story of a Muslim Woman’, ‘Hidden Treasure’ and ’At Dead of Night’. The theme of ‘Hungry Stones’ is a tale hovering between dream and reality involving palace intrigue and unrequited love, and in ‘The Wife’s Letter’, Mrinal breaks free from the stifling marital ties of fifteen years in what is an indictment of existing gender relations. A traditional Hindu girl out of gratitude for her elderly Muslim protector embraces his religion and falls in love with his son in ‘The Story of a Muslim Woman’.

Translator’s Preface vii
1 Hungry Stones
(Kshudhita Pashaan)
2 Hidden Treasure
(Guptadhan)
3 The Editor
(Sampadak)
4 The Gift of Sight
(Drishtidan)
5 Elder Sister
(Didi)
6 At Dead of Night
(Nishithe)
7 A Problem Solved
(Samasyapuran)
8 Atonement
(Prayashchitta)
9 The Inscrutable Woman
(Aparichita)
10 The Royal Mark
(Rajtika)
11 The Wife’s Letter
(Streer Patra)Galpaguchchha
vi
12 An Unapproved Story
(Namanjur Galpo)
13 House Number One
(Poila Nambar)
14 In Quest of a Bride
(Patra o Patri)
15 The Laboratory
(Laboratory)
16 Throttling Progress
(Pragatisanghar)
17 Sunday
(Rabibar)
18 The Story of a Muslim Woman
(Mussalmanir Galpa)
19 The Epilogue
(Shesh Katha)
Glossary