PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY
| Altemus'
Illustrated
Fairy Tales Series
The Magic Bed A Book of East Indian Tales The Cat and the Mouse A Book of Persian Tales The Jeweled Sea A Book of Chinese Tales The Magic Jaw Bone A Book of South Sea Islands Tales The Man Elephant A Book of African Tales The Enchanted Castle A Book of Tales from Flower Land Fifty Cents Each Copyright, 1906 By Henry Altemus |
Persia is rich in folk lore. For hundreds and hundreds of years the stories in this book, and many others as well, have been told to the wondering boys and girls of that country, who, as they hear them, picture their native land as one of roses and tulips, where beautiful fairies build their castles in the rosy morn, and black gnomes fly around in the darkness of midnight.
A land, too, where the sun gleams like a fire above the blue mountains, and the water lilies are mirrored in the deep lakes. A land where the eyes of the tigers gleam through the reeds by the riverside, and dark-eyed, sunburned people are quick to love and quick to hate.
The belief in the "Ghool," or "Old Man of the Desert," is still prevalent in Persia, which probably accounts for the popularity of the story of "The Son of the Soap Seller." The other stories selected for this volume are great favorites, but the story of "The Cat and the Mouse" is perhaps the most popular of all.
The frontispiece to this volume is a reduced facsimile of a whole page in a Persian book, showing both the pictures and the reading as they were published in Persia. The other illustrations for "The Cat and the Mouse" are copies of drawings by a Persian artist.
| " | Two friends on one
carpet may with contentment sleep; Two monarchs in one kingdom the peace can never keep. While earth revolves, and little children play, Cats over mice will always hold the sway." |
H. J.