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…

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…

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…

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…