A Tale of Four Dervishes

by Mir Amman

Paperback, 2007

Status

Available

Call number

891.43933

Tags

Penguin Classics, Penguin black 3, Indian literatures, epic, Hindi-Urdu literature, Urdu literature, Persian literature, Sufism

Genres

Collection

Your library

Publication

Penguin Classics (2007), Paperback, 176 pages

Description

In despair at having no son to succeed him, the King of Turkey leaves his palace to live in seclusion. Soon after, however, he encounters four wandering dervishes - three princes and a rich merchant from Persia, Yemen and China - who have been guided to Turkey by a supernatural force that prophesied their meeting. The five men sit together in the dead of night, each in turn telling the tale of lost love that led him to renounce the world. As their stories within stories unfold, a magnificent world is revealed of courtly intrigue and romance, fairies and djinn, oriental gardens and lavish feasts, adventures and mishaps. A Tale of Four Dervishes(1803) is an exquisite example of Urdu fiction that provides a fascinating glimpse into the customs, beliefs and people of the time.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Gypsy_Boy
Think Thousand Nights and One Night. Five stories that are stories within stories within stories. Although Mir Amman is listed as the author, he's not: he's the 19th century translator widely acknowledged as breathing life back into the 13th-century text. All the elements that you would expect from
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 djinn to impossible romances to lavish feasts and even more lavish settings. Well-done but a little goes a long way. Because the stories contain so many parts and so many characters, by the time I was onto the third story, I lost track of what was who and what was what. But it doesn’t matter….
Show Less

Language

English

Original language

Urdu

Physical description

176 p.; 5.08 inches

ISBN

0140455183 / 9780140455182

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