Padyab Publication in Tehran has published a 4-volume collection of old stories for children.
Edited by Mahmoud Karimpour, the collection is dubbed “Barg-e Derakhtan-e Sabz” (Leaves of Green Trees) after a verse by Sa’di of Shiraz, the eminent 13th century Persian poet, ISNA reported on its Persian website.
The first volume of the collection is named “Kelileh & Demneh,” the Persian name and translation of Panchatantra, an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose compiled by Hindu scholar Pandit Vishnu Sharma around 3rd century BC, based on older oral traditions.
Poet and journalist Hassan Goharpour has abridged Kelileh & Demneh in 24 pages in the first volume. The book is illustrated by Maryam Zabihi and contains three stories: “Reveries of a Simple-Minded Man”, “Fate of the Greedy” and “The Naïve Camel.”
The second volume is “Marzban-Nama” which is simplified by Mohsen Rahbar-Torbati in 24 pages and illustrated by Zabihi.
Marzban-Nama is an early 13th-century prose work in Persian written by translator and author Sa’d al-Din Varavini under the patronage of the vizier Abu’l-Qāsem Hārun, who served Ildegizid Atabak Ozbak, ruler of Arran and Azerbaijan.
The book consists of didactic stories and fables used as illustrations of morality and righteousness. Among them, three are selected for Padyab’s collection: “Donkey-Riding Jackal”, “The Hunting Cat” and “Rooster and Fox.”
Excerpts from Masnavi, the poetry book written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, known as Rumi, are also included in the collection. Masnavi includes six books of poetry with spiritual contents including anecdotes and stories. The present collection has three stories namely “Mr. Morad and the Sweet-Talker”, “Fleeing from Death” and “Elephant in the Dark.”
Masnavi stories of the collection are summarized by Abd-ol-Jalil Karimpour in 16 pages. They are illustrated by Saeedeh Nosratifard.
From among Sa’di’s oeuvre, three stories from Golestan are included. Golestan (Persian for flower garden), a collection of poems and stories, is a landmark of Persian literature written in 1258.
The stories “Salt of the Food”, “Avarice”, and “Classroom” are selected from Golestan and simplified for children in 16 pages by Pegah Sadeqi Qal’e-Shahi. Illustrated by Saeedeh Nosratifard, they are included in the fourth volume of the series named Golestan.
