Nyagrodha

"Nyagrodha! Command the wind to be still. And in the silence that follows the tree will shake down stories. . . As their train puffs away into the distance, three runaway children—Lily, Vicky and Aman—are led by Makhmal Khan the monkey into the shimmering world of the forest... Deep within its shadows, beyond the last cloud on the horizon, stands Nyagrodha, the ancient banyan. Within its magical labyrinth the children encounter monarchs and mice, dreamers and scholars, paupers and fortune-seekers, braggarts and burglars, foppish fish and bloodsucking bugs, gory battles and incredible flying machines... But none of these can distract them from the dangers that threaten Simha the fierce young king and his friend Jeev, the musical bull. For the story of their tangled lives is very like the childrens' own. Will Aman, Vicky and Lily find their way back home through the maze of stories? Or will treachery destroy the friendship between Simha and Jeev, and leave the forest wounded and bleeding forever? 'This is an upside-down story,' Hanumanta the Langoor warns the children. 'A story that will turn you inside out. Will you hear it unafraid?' "