The Crescent Moon

By Rabindranath Tagore

Translated from the original Bengali by the author

with eight illustrations in colour

London and New York: Macmillan and Company, 1913

TO T. STURGE MOORE

[from a drawing by Nandalall Bose]

CONTENTS

• THE HOME
• ON THE SEASHORE
• THE SOURCE
• BABY'S WAY
• THE UNHEEDED PAGEANT
• SLEEP-STEALER
• THE BEGINNING
• BABY'S WORLD
• WHEN AND WHY
• DEFAMATION
• THE JUDGE
• PLAYTHINGS
• THE ASTRONOMER
• CLOUDS AND WAVES
• THE CHAMPA FLOWER
• FAIRYLAND
• THE LAND OF THE EXILE
• THE RAINY DAY
• PAPER BOATS
• THE SAILOR
• THE FURTHER BANK
• THE FLOWER-SCHOOL
• THE MERCHANT
• SYMPATHY
• VOCATION
• SUPERIOR
• THE LITTLE BIG MAN
• TWELVE O'CLOCK
• AUTHORSHIP
• THE WICKED POSTMAN
• THE HERO
• THE END
• THE RECALL
• THE FIRST JASMINES
• THE BANYAN TREE
• BENEDICTION
• THE GIFT
• MY SONG
• THE CHILD-ANGEL
• THE LAST BARGAIN

LIST OF COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS

• FRONTISPIECE
• THE HOME
• THE BEGINNING
• FAIRYLAND
• PAPER BOATS
• THE MERCHANT
• THE HERO
• BENEDICTION

INDEX OF THE FIRST LINES

• Ah, these jasmines
• Ah, who was it coloured that little frock
• Bless this little heart
• Child, how happy you are sitting in the dust
• Come and hire me
• Day by day I float my paper boats
• I am small because I am a little child
• If baby only wanted to, he could fly
• If I were only a little puppy
• If people came to know where my king's palace is
• I long to go over there
• Imagine, mother
• I only said, "When in the evening"
• I paced alone
• It is time for me to go, mother
• I want to give you something, my child
• I wish I could take a quiet corner
• Mother, I do want to leave off my lessons
• Mother, let us imagine we are travelling
• Mother, the folk who live up in the clouds
• Mother, the light has grown grey
• Mother, your baby is silly
• On the seashore of endless worlds
• O you shaggy-headed banyan tree
• Say of him what you please
• Sullen clouds are gathering
• Supposing I became a champa flower
• The boat of the boatman Madhu
• The night was dark when we went away
• The sleep that flits on baby's eyes
• They clamour and fight
• This song of mine
• When I bring you coloured toys
• When storm clouds
• When the gong sounds ten
• Where have I come from
• Who stole sleep from baby's eyes
• Why are those tears in your eyes, my child
• Why do you sit there on the floor
• You say that father writes a lot of books
...