ORIENTAL FOLKLORE and LEGENDS - 25 childrens stories from towns and villages along the Silk Route E-Book

Retold by C J Tibbitts

• Herausgeber: Abela Publishing
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

Oriental Folklore and Legend was originally published in a series of Folklore and Legends volumes by W.W. Gibbings between 1891 and 1905. The author/editor was unnamed, but the initials C.J.T. given after the preface are apparently those of one Charles John Tibbitts. The 25 tales in Oriental Folklore and Legend  originate from countries along the fabled Silk Route  from Arabia, Persia, India, Kalmykia, Central Asia and beyond and, as one would expect, they are infused with elements of Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist, and Zoroastrian culture. Because of this rich cultural mix, the tales abound with magicians, viziers, cobblers who become astrologers, adventures by the score, and common men who best both Shahs and Kings. So, we invite you to curl up with this snippet of ancient Central Asian folklore and absorb yourself in Sinbad and Aladdin-like folk tales from yesteryear. The Kalmyk tales are of especial interest, both because of their contents and their oblique history. The extended Scheherazade-like Relations of Ssidi Kur is a märchen-cycle from the people of Buddhist Kalmykia. The Kalmykians migrated from southern Siberia to the northwest shore of the Caspian Sea in the 1600’s. They maintain strong historical connections to Tibet and Mongolia, mainly because Buddhism remains their national religion. During their “deportation” by the Russians [1943 – 1957], Kalmyk folk stories and tales kept alive the people’s hope of nation-hood and eventual repatriation. 10% of the publisher’s profit will be donated to Charities.  

Leseprobe

Oriental

Folklore and Legends

by

Charles John Tibbitts

Originally Published by

W. W. GIBBINGS, LONDON

[1889]

* * * * * * *

Resurrected by

ABELA PUBLISHING, LONDON

[2009]

Oriental Folklore and Legends

Typographical arrangement of this edition

© Abela Publishing 2009

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical ( including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Abela Publishing,

London

United Kingdom

2009

ISBN-13: 978-1-907256-10-3

email [email protected]

www.AbelaPublishing.com/Oriental

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the teachers and storytellers

who keep folklore and history alive

through the telling and re-telling of these tales.

Philanthropy

A percentage of the net from the sale of this book

will be donated to organisations

for the education of the underprivileged.

Acknowledgements

The Publisher acknowledges the

work that Charles Tibbitts did

in compiling this collection

of Oriental Folklore in a time

well before any electronic media was in use.

CONTENTS

PREFATORY NOTE

THE COBBLER ASTROLOGER

THE LEGEND OF THE TERRESTRIAL PARADISE

OF SHEDDÁD, THE SON OF ’A’D

THE TOMB OF NOOSHEERWAN

AMEEN AND THE GHOOL

THE RELATIONS OF SSIDI KUR

THE ADVENTURES OF THE RICH YOUTH

THE ADVENTURES OF THE BEGGAR'S SON

THE ADVENTURES OF MASSANG

THE MAGICIAN WITH THE SWINE'S HEAD

THE HISTORY OF SUNSHINE AND HIS BROTHER

THE WONDERFUL MAN WHO OVERCAME THE

CHAN

THE BIRD-MAN

THE PAINTER AND THE WOOD-CARVER

THE STEALING OF THE HEART

THE MAN AND HIS WIFE

OF THE MAIDEN SSUWARANDARI

THE TWO CATS

LEGEND OF DHURRUMNATH

THE TRAVELLER'S ADVENTURE

THE SEVEN STAGES OF ROOSTEM

THE MAN WHO NEVER LAUGHED

THE FOX AND THE WOLF

THE SHEPHERD AND THE JOGIE

THE PERFIDIOUS VIZIER

PREFATORY NOTE

The East is rich in Folklore, and the lorist is not troubled to discover material, but to select only that which it is best worth his while to preserve. The conditions under which the people live are most favourable to the preservation of the ancient legends, and the cultivation of the powers of narration fits the Oriental to present his stories in a more polished style than is usual in the Western countries. The reader of these tales will observe many points of similarity between them and the popular fictions of the West—similarity of thought and incident—and nothing, perhaps, speaks more eloquently the universal brotherhood of man than this oneness of folk-fiction. At the same time, the Tales of the East are unique, lighted up as they are by a gorgeous extravagance of imagination which never fails to attract and delight.

C. J. T.

THE COBBLER ASTROLOGER

(Persian)

In the great city of Isfahanlived Ahmed the cobbler, an honest and industrious man, whose wish was to pass through life quietly; and he might have done so, had he not married a handsome wife, who, although she had condescended to accept of him as a husband, was far from being contented with his humble sphere of life.

Sittâra, such was the name of Ahmed's wife, was ever forming foolish schemes of riches and grandeur; and though Ahmed never encouraged them, he was too fond a husband to quarrel with what gave her pleasure. An incredulous smile or a shake of the head was his only answer to her often-told day-dreams; and she continued to persuade herself that she was certainly destined to great fortune.

It happened one evening, while in this temper of mind, that she went to the Hemmâm, where she saw a lady retiring dressed in a magnificent robe, covered with jewels, and surrounded by slaves. This was the very condition Sittâra had always longed for, and she eagerly inquired the name of the happy person who had so many attendants and such fine jewels. She learned it was the wife of the chief astrologer to the king. With this information she returned home. Her husband met her at the door, but was received with a frown, nor could all his caresses obtain a smile or a word; for several hours she continued silent, and in apparent misery. At length she said—