Kalilah and Dimnah: Fables from the Ancient East.

Title

en_US Kalilah and Dimnah: Fables from the Ancient East.

Description

en_US This is a hardbound book (hard cover)

en_US This book has a dust jacket (book cover)

en_US First edition

en_US Hassan Tehranchia

Creator

en_US Tehranchian, Hassan

Contributor

en_US Ur, Anatole

Date

2016-01-25T16:07:43Z

en_US 1994-01

en_US 1985

Date Available

2016-01-25T16:07:43Z

Date Issued

en_US 1985

Abstract

en_US What a nice find on New Year's Day! Lively tempera paintings are often nicely suggestive (note the bones on 27) but sometimes miss important details (the lions are not holding the hares on 31). Among the best is that illustrating the proverb He who makes his bed of fire and uses a snake as a cushion will not enjoy a tranquil sleep (36). Another triumph is the two-page spread about burning the talking tree (60-61). This version has the regular stories in the tradition but often adds significant differences. Thus the monkey's tail, not his penis, is pinned in the carpenter's log not by wedges but by nails (13). The raven uses a ring, not a necklace, to get revenge on the snake (29). The second fish's escape is unexplained (35). The camel's offering of himself is not introduced to the king as voluntary (48). The judge is not taken in by the talking tree (63), and the thief does not pay with his life. Kalilah agrees that the lion has been too generous to Shanzibah (24). The lion at first wants Shanzibah simply to move away (38). There is no reference to a feast for the lion's mother (42). Dimnah has second thoughts and even regrets after the killing (74). He is finally convicted and starved to death after Kalilah has died depressed (79). This edition has a predilection for lists, e.g., of the things that wise men try to do or of the things that hurt the state. I do not find the stories told as well as Ramsay Wood tells them, but the art is very helpful to someone learning these stories.

Identifier

en_US 517555662

en_US 1820 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/77386

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US Harmony Books

en_US NY

Subject

en_US PN989.I5 B4 1985

en_US Bidpai

en_US Title Page Scanned

Type

en_US Book, Whole