Tuntuni, The Tailor Bird

Adapted from a Bengali folktale by Betsy Bang
Illustrated by Molly Bang

First published in 1978

About the Story
This is a delightful little folktale from India about a bird that outsmarts the king. My mother found the story, I illustrated it, the book did not sell well at all, and I don’t even have a copy to remind me of what pictures I made. All I can remember is that the bird would sing in triumph, “tun tun-a-tun tun, dayee, dayee!”