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Arabic Folktales: The Three Princes of Serendip and Other Stories
This feast of Middle Eastern folklore from an award-winning Iraqi storyteller is paired with vibrant cut-paper art.
The twenty fables and folktales in this illustrated storybook have taken a long journey. Many have roots that stretch across Europe, Asia, and Africa, but when award-winning writer and gatherer of tales Rodaan Al Galidi learned them in his homeland of Iraq, it was as Arabic folktales and as part of the Arabic storytelling tradition. When he migrated to the Netherlands, he shaped twenty of those tales into his debut book for children, which was translated to English by Laura Watkinson. Filled with wisdom about love and acceptance, and warnings against folly, these elegantly translated stories of donkeys and roosters, kings, sheikhs, and paupers are exquisitely illustrated by cut-paper artist Geertje Aalders. Beautifully packaged, Arabic Folktales is a rich and varied introduction to the world of Middle Eastern folklore.
The twenty fables and folktales in this illustrated storybook have taken a long journey. Many have roots that stretch across Europe, Asia, and Africa, but when award-winning writer and gatherer of tales Rodaan Al Galidi learned them in his homeland of Iraq, it was as Arabic folktales and as part of the Arabic storytelling tradition. When he migrated to the Netherlands, he shaped twenty of those tales into his debut book for children, which was translated to English by Laura Watkinson. Filled with wisdom about love and acceptance, and warnings against folly, these elegantly translated stories of donkeys and roosters, kings, sheikhs, and paupers are exquisitely illustrated by cut-paper artist Geertje Aalders. Beautifully packaged, Arabic Folktales is a rich and varied introduction to the world of Middle Eastern folklore.
- GenresShort Stories
136 pages, Hardcover
Published March 3, 2022
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Rodaan Al Galidi
35 books95 followersAl Galidi (eigenlijk Rodhan Al Khalidi) is een schrijver van Irakese afkomst. Hij is geboren in 1971, maar zijn precieze geboortedatum is onbekend, omdat zulke gegevens niet geregistreerd worden en verjaardagen niet gevierd worden in zijn streek van herkomst.
Al Galidi studeerde in Irak af als bouwkundig ingenieur. Na zijn studie vluchtte hij uit Irak om de dienstplicht te ontwijken; zes jaar later, in 1998, kwam hij in Nederland terecht, waar hij asiel aanvroeg. Het asiel werd hem geweigerd en hij is uitgeprocedeerd. Lessen Nederlands mocht hij bijgevolg niet bijwonen. Daarom leerde Al Galidi zich de Nederlandse taal en begon te schrijven. In Vlaanderen wordt hij als schrijver erkend en ontvangt hij een werkbeurs. In 2007 kon Al Galidi genieten van het generaal pardon in Nederland. In 2011 zakte hij voor zijn inburgeringscursus waardoor de IND het recht heeft om zijn verblijfsvergunning te ontnemen.
Onder de naam Rodaan Al Galidi zet hij zijn schrijverschap voort.
ENGLISH
Al Galidi (actually Rodhan Al Khalidi) is a writer of Iraqi origin. He was born in 1971, but his exact date of birth is unknown, because such data is not registered and birthdays are not celebrated in his region of origin.
Al Galidi graduated in Iraq as an architectural engineer. After his studies he fled from Iraq to avoid conscription; six years later, in 1998, he ended up in the Netherlands, where he applied for asylum. The asylum was refused. Therefor he was not allowed to attend Dutch lessons. That is why Al Galidi learned himself the Dutch language and started to write. He is recognized as a writer in Flanders and receives a scholarship. In 2007, Al Galidi was able to enjoy the general pardon in the Netherlands. In 2011 he failed his integration course, which gave the IND the right to withdraw his residence permit.
He continues his writing under the name Rodaan Al Galidi.
(bron: wikipedia.nl)
Rodaan Al Galidi is an award-winning author of poetry and novels for adults. The Three Princes of Serendip is his first book for children. He lives in the Netherlands.
Al Galidi studeerde in Irak af als bouwkundig ingenieur. Na zijn studie vluchtte hij uit Irak om de dienstplicht te ontwijken; zes jaar later, in 1998, kwam hij in Nederland terecht, waar hij asiel aanvroeg. Het asiel werd hem geweigerd en hij is uitgeprocedeerd. Lessen Nederlands mocht hij bijgevolg niet bijwonen. Daarom leerde Al Galidi zich de Nederlandse taal en begon te schrijven. In Vlaanderen wordt hij als schrijver erkend en ontvangt hij een werkbeurs. In 2007 kon Al Galidi genieten van het generaal pardon in Nederland. In 2011 zakte hij voor zijn inburgeringscursus waardoor de IND het recht heeft om zijn verblijfsvergunning te ontnemen.
Onder de naam Rodaan Al Galidi zet hij zijn schrijverschap voort.
ENGLISH
Al Galidi (actually Rodhan Al Khalidi) is a writer of Iraqi origin. He was born in 1971, but his exact date of birth is unknown, because such data is not registered and birthdays are not celebrated in his region of origin.
Al Galidi graduated in Iraq as an architectural engineer. After his studies he fled from Iraq to avoid conscription; six years later, in 1998, he ended up in the Netherlands, where he applied for asylum. The asylum was refused. Therefor he was not allowed to attend Dutch lessons. That is why Al Galidi learned himself the Dutch language and started to write. He is recognized as a writer in Flanders and receives a scholarship. In 2007, Al Galidi was able to enjoy the general pardon in the Netherlands. In 2011 he failed his integration course, which gave the IND the right to withdraw his residence permit.
He continues his writing under the name Rodaan Al Galidi.
(bron: wikipedia.nl)
Rodaan Al Galidi is an award-winning author of poetry and novels for adults. The Three Princes of Serendip is his first book for children. He lives in the Netherlands.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 5, 2022
Arabic Folktales: The Three Princes of Serendip and Other Stories is a middle-grade book filled with 20 short Arabic folktales that have been translated by author Radaan Al Galidi.
The stories are all just a few pages each and contain some amazing artwork to accompany them.
My favourite has to be The Poor Woodcutter though I am not sure that the message that good fortune will come to you when you stop looking for it is entirely convincing!!
A lovely book that has so many wonderful stories that just take a few minutes to read but each has a message to share that will stay with the reader long after they have finished reading it.
The stories are all just a few pages each and contain some amazing artwork to accompany them.
My favourite has to be The Poor Woodcutter though I am not sure that the message that good fortune will come to you when you stop looking for it is entirely convincing!!
A lovely book that has so many wonderful stories that just take a few minutes to read but each has a message to share that will stay with the reader long after they have finished reading it.
December 27, 2024
This is such a brilliant book and collection of Arabic folk tales! The book is a A4ish in size and is filled with thick matt pages of text and some of the most beautiful pictures I’ve seen! This hardback contains twenty folk tales which the author has heard and retold from his time living in Iraq and each tale is both interesting and fun to read with many carrying a moral to them too.
This collection begins with a brief introduction by the author explaining how stories can travel across the world and belong to everyone. I like this introduction and then the following twenty stories which all begin with a beautiful title page filled with these beautiful cut paper illustrations. Each story is quite short, covering just a few pages, with some being as sort as just two pages long. Each story is interesting though and I love how there is such a wide variety of tales from the man who travelled far and wide to seek out treasure, in’ Sindibad’, to the woman who was locked up and wrongfully accused of doing something in ‘The Lost Necklace’. I have to say that I hadn’t heard of any of these stories before, except for one, and it was fascinating to read them not only as they all sound so fun, but many of them carry a good message or show something a bit silly happening too!
Each story is accompanied with lots of very beautiful illustrations. Each illustration is created using coloured paper which has been cut into these beautiful and exquisite shapes. I can’t believe the amount of time it must have taken the illustrator/artist to create all of these images, but each one is mesmerising to look at, with such beautiful detail and colourful images. This book is worth looking at just to look at these images, and I love how each story has its own pictures among the text of the tale but also a whole page of these images at the start, on a title page. My favourite image in the whole book has to be the goats on the tree, although each picture is so beautiful!
Each story in this collection is so good to read, there are many different tales, some of them narrated by a character at the start. My favourite tales have got to be ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’, ‘Death and the Servant’ which I’m sure I’ve heard before but not necessarily as an Arabic folk tale, and ‘The Magic Jugs’ which is by far my most favourite story of all of them due to the brilliant message it carries about how everyone has their own talents and shines in their own way. It’s the perfect story to make anyone feel good about themselves and I can’t help but love a talking inanimate object!
Overall this is such a lovely book of folk tales, it’s just the perfect book to read for anyone interested in folk tales in general or anyone looking for some quick short stories to read which have some great messages behind them too. The hardback has a lovely dust jacket with some shiny gold details but this can be removed to show a beautiful and very different flowery hard cover of the book underneath! A brilliant book I will be re-reading and one which I’d recommend for all children (and adults) to enjoy!
-Thanks to Walker Books for a free copy.
This collection begins with a brief introduction by the author explaining how stories can travel across the world and belong to everyone. I like this introduction and then the following twenty stories which all begin with a beautiful title page filled with these beautiful cut paper illustrations. Each story is quite short, covering just a few pages, with some being as sort as just two pages long. Each story is interesting though and I love how there is such a wide variety of tales from the man who travelled far and wide to seek out treasure, in’ Sindibad’, to the woman who was locked up and wrongfully accused of doing something in ‘The Lost Necklace’. I have to say that I hadn’t heard of any of these stories before, except for one, and it was fascinating to read them not only as they all sound so fun, but many of them carry a good message or show something a bit silly happening too!
Each story is accompanied with lots of very beautiful illustrations. Each illustration is created using coloured paper which has been cut into these beautiful and exquisite shapes. I can’t believe the amount of time it must have taken the illustrator/artist to create all of these images, but each one is mesmerising to look at, with such beautiful detail and colourful images. This book is worth looking at just to look at these images, and I love how each story has its own pictures among the text of the tale but also a whole page of these images at the start, on a title page. My favourite image in the whole book has to be the goats on the tree, although each picture is so beautiful!
Each story in this collection is so good to read, there are many different tales, some of them narrated by a character at the start. My favourite tales have got to be ‘The Three Princes of Serendip’, ‘Death and the Servant’ which I’m sure I’ve heard before but not necessarily as an Arabic folk tale, and ‘The Magic Jugs’ which is by far my most favourite story of all of them due to the brilliant message it carries about how everyone has their own talents and shines in their own way. It’s the perfect story to make anyone feel good about themselves and I can’t help but love a talking inanimate object!
Overall this is such a lovely book of folk tales, it’s just the perfect book to read for anyone interested in folk tales in general or anyone looking for some quick short stories to read which have some great messages behind them too. The hardback has a lovely dust jacket with some shiny gold details but this can be removed to show a beautiful and very different flowery hard cover of the book underneath! A brilliant book I will be re-reading and one which I’d recommend for all children (and adults) to enjoy!
-Thanks to Walker Books for a free copy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews