Persian Fables for Young and Old
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Authors
Keene, H.G.
Issue Date
1833
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Book, Whole
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Abstract
This is an earlier (first?) version of a book I have in its 1838 printing by the same publisher, apparently unchanged from its form here. Let me offer some of my comments from that printing. Published under the Direction of the Committee of General Literature and Education, Appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. There are thirty-two fables, with nineteen illustrations, in this small (3¾ x 5½) and rather fragile book of 88 pages. Several are new to me: The Wolf and the Fox Who Went to Rob the Garden (27), The Shepherd's Dog (63), and The Fox and the Hyena (74). The Fox and the Ass (39) takes a very surprising turn. Usually the stupid ass lets himself be led a second time by the clever fox back into the trap where the lion lurks. Here he refuses the fox and rather goes back to working for the washerman. Perhaps the best of the illustrations is for The Fox and the Drum (23). The Heron and the Crab is told well and at considerable length (53-62). The Rose and the Clay ends with a curious statement: Let the Christian learn humility and gratitude from this lesson of the Mohammedan (79). The Dervise and the Raven (80) is a good fable I have encountered before. The dervish sees a raven feed a little hawk and takes the event as a pattern for his life. He will let himself be fed by life. After he and his family go hungry, he realizes that he is called to be not the little hawk but the adult raven, laborious and benevolent. The last paragraph expresses the author's hope. A drop in the ocean might become a pearl (88).
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Publisher
John W. Parker West Strand,
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Identifier
4974 (Access ID)