Children

A rich man kept a treasure, a dog, and a fox, in addition to a silver ship model. This was a magic amulet that one of the angels had given him—I do not know who. One day, this amulet was stolen! The Amulet and Ruin: No one found the amulet in any place. He grieved greatly, to the extent that he lay in bed fasting, even from eating food, and approached death. During that time, the dog and the fox were playing in his room, but after some time, when they saw that the man was about to die of hunger, they actually died of hunger. ...

Samr entered upon her father and saw him sitting at a table reading in a book. She approached him, asking: “Father, will you take me to the public park today? The weather is beautiful and the scenery is charming.” Her father looked at his little daughter smilingly and said: “I will take you, O my little sparrow. Wait a little until I finish reading the remaining page.” Samr rejoiced and began to contemplate the things upon the table. She saw white papers and a red wax candle, pens placed in a wooden box, and a small earth globe whose blue surface she was touching, mounted on a metal base. ...

One day there was a great king named Sharīf, and he had two sons. The older was named Rafīq and the younger ʿAdil. When the king died, Rafīq became the new king. The King and the Sorceress: On the first night of his kingship, he requested of the soothsayers to bring him all the sorceresses in the lands and ask them what would happen to his kingdom if the neighboring kingdoms waged war against him and seized its throne. One of the strongest sorceresses of the lands answered and said: “Your people will hate you and strive to kill your elder brother.” All the other sorceresses agreed with her according to their magic. ...

Nabīl the little, son of the skilled fisherman Ḥasan, used to go out every day with his father to watch him, during his work in fishing, to witness what he did in amazement. One morning, Nabīl ascended to the surface of the boat. As soon as the engine started, amidst the blue waters of the sea, the fishermen began to prepare their nets to obtain the largest quantity of fish. ...

In a large city in the lands of India, it is recounted that a man named Sanjam worked in washing, cleaning, and dyeing clothes. The front of his shop was always filled with clean, colorful clothes that he would hang beautifully. He was energetic in his work and never failed a single appointment with his customers. The Potter Hilāl: Working near him was the potter Hilāl, who made jars of clay. But he was lazy and greedy in his selling, so he did not have many customers like his neighbor Sanjam. The potter Hilāl envied his neighbor Sanjam for his work and said to himself: “I will do an evil turn to my neighbor!” ...

Awrā was a very beloved princess in the kingdom. She was distinguished by kindness, gentleness, and beauty. Her parents lived in a beautiful palace that contained everything she desired of things, except one single thing which she had longed for greatly since her childhood: knowing the moon. There were many kings who wished to realize the princess’s dream. They feared they would never be able to realize it, for there was an evil sorceress living in the kingdom. She had worked magic when the princess was a small child, and this magic made the princess fall asleep at night to sleep, distressed by the mere disappearance of the sun. She could never awaken at that time. ...

The colored butterfly perched on a branch in the flourishing garden among roses and beautiful flowers. She moved from flower to flower, from leaf to leaf, proud and joyful at what God had bestowed upon her of beauty and gracefulness. Then she began to speak to herself, saying: “How wonderful my body and its proportion and gracefulness, and how beautiful my colors that resemble all the colors of nature, and how sweet my two soft wings like silk. Without doubt I am the most beautiful thing God the Exalted has created in this garden, and its most wonderful. I am the queen of the garden.” ...

The little girl Salamā lost her doll. She searched for it in the field, among the trees, near the waterway, and in every place, but did not find it. On the way, she asked a sparrow and said: “Did you see my doll, O sparrow?” The sparrow shook its head and flew away. Salamā walked, weeping near a pond when a turtle emerged. She asked her: “Did you see my doll, O turtle?” The turtle said: “Doll, I do not understand anything you ask about.” It dived into the water. ...

Humility is a praiseworthy trait that we should all adorn ourselves with. It is one of the most important morals that bring friends closer to us and make us bound together without any feeling of grudge or resentment—especially since arrogance takes its place when the trait of humility is absent from us. The donkey Kurkūsh lived in the beautiful forest alongside his neighbors the animals, where they lived in adjacent houses. A neighbor has rights over his neighbor: not to be arrogant or proud toward him. But Kurkūsh was not like that. He would walk every day in the forest on the banks of its clear river, strutting in arrogance, saying to all the animals in the forest: “I am better than you all. I have a body with a strong constitution that endures hardships and carries loads without fatigue or boredom.” He would look at them all as he spoke to them, displaying his strength before them. ...

From a very long time ago, when all things were at their beginning—even plants and stars and almost all ancient things were extremely small—there was a school with a special class that all the students loved because it expressed joy better. The students studied colors in that class from the color white to the color black, passing through red and blue and brown and all the remaining colors. They prepared many colors to become more magnificent. ...