Lies and liars have always been an important theme in fairy tales and every tradition has got it’s own takes on the morality of lies. There are countless portrays of liars in fairy and folk tales. Therefore fairy tales provide us with a lot of insight into the world’s cultures. There are so many tales that…
Tag: Henry Altemus
The King and the Fisherman (A Book of Persian Fairy Tales, 1906) By Henry Altemus
THE countries washed by the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates were once ruled by a certain King who was passionately fond of fish. He was seated one day with Sherem, his wife, in the royal gardens that stretch down to the banks of the Tigris, at the point where it is spanned by the wonderful…
The King’s Treasure (A Book of Persian Fairy Tales, 1906) By Henry Altemus
Accurately relating how a marked advance in material and political prosperity accrued to Abdul Karim, and the part played by a monarch whose philosophy included the immediate advancement of a worthy subject. A LABORING man named Abdul Karim, with his wife, Zeeba—”the beautiful one”—lived in a sheltered valley, surrounded by hills, the sides of which…
The Son of the Soap Seller (A Book of Persian Fairy Tales, 1906) By Henry Altemus
THERE once dwelt a poor but worthy man named Abdullah in Meshed, the Holy City, the place of pilgrimage, whose beautiful mosque with the golden dome is the glory of the kingdom of Persia. He barely managed to get a living by the sale of soap. All day long, from sunrise to sunset, he tramped…
The Cat and the Mouse (A Book of Persian Fairy Tales, 1906) By Henry Altemus
ACCORDING to the decree of Heaven, there once lived in the Persian city of Kerman a cat like unto a dragon—a longsighted cat who hunted like a lion; a cat with fascinating eyes and long whiskers and sharp teeth. Its body was like a drum, its beautiful fur like ermine skin. Nobody was happier than…