World Tales, subtitled "The Extraordinary Coincidence of Stories Told in All Times, in All Places" is a book of 65 folk tales collected by Idries Shah from around the world, mostly from literary sources. Some of the tales are very common, others are less well known.
Content Each story is preceded by a short introduction by the author, giving a brief history of the tale's literary mutations, or remarking on the strange similarities that versions exhibit across great geographical or historical distances.For example, asking, with reference to the story of Childe Rowland: "How can it be that the same story is found in Scotland and also in pre-Columbian America?" The collection has had a broad appeal. For instance Canadian poet P. K. Page cited it as the book she would give to a child, and author and storyteller Norah Dooley: "This is the book that turned my interest as an adult to folklore and inspired me to take up storytelling." and has become a widely used sourcebook of tales., and
Whilst Shah mentions many of the ancient and modern interpretations that have been placed on the tales, along with some of the theories of cross-cultural transmission, he himself interprets them little, writing in the introduction:
The value that Shah put on folklore of this kind is clear, not only from the many volumes of tales that he published but also from books published by his children. The title alone of one of his daughter Saira Shah's books, The Storyteller's Daughter, gives some indication, while his son Tahir Shah's book In Arabian Nights, itself an exploration of the power of the folktale, recalls:
Original illustrated edition
The book was first published in large format by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich with each tale illustrated. Originally Shah asked Ivan Tyrrell to find illustrations for the tales by the likes of Arthur Rackham, Kay Nielsen and Edmund Dulac. Tyrrell instead suggested commissioning new work, Shah agreed to this and the idea was put to, and approved by, the publisher, William Jovanovich. Thirty seven artistsDavid Aicken, Wayne Anderson, Philip Argent, Peter Brookes, Fred Carver, Doranna, Roy Ellsworth, Brian Froud, Tim Gill, Peter Goodfellow, Melvyn Grant, Lynda Gray, Colin Hadley, Ivan Hissey, Ken Laidlaw, Roger Langton, Carol Lawson, Janina Lech, Alan Lee, James Marsh, Chris McEwan, Tony Meeuwissen, Martin Newton, David O'Connor, Joe Petagno, Sue Porter, Peter Richardson, Carolyn Scrace, Caroline Smith, Mike Terry, Alan Tunbridge, Ivan Tyrrell, George Underwood, Malcolm Walker, Mai Watts, Juan Wijngaard and Ray Winder contributed. This edition is no longer in print; the Octagon Press edition is text only.
Agnes Perkins, writing in the Children's Literature Association Quarterly cited this "lavish" edition of World Tales as an example of books that bridge the gap between illustrated books of folktales published for the juvenile market which pay little attention to sources or to authenticity of tone and language and which supply none of the working tools developed for folklore scholarship which might lead readers to further study of tales from the oral tradition, and collections by folklorists concerned primarily with local variants and the unusual persistence of motifs which ignore questions of the value of the stories from a literary standpoint.
Examples of stories Title Origin The tale Illustrator in large format edition Tales of a Parrot India From Parrot Tales (the Persian Tutinama by Nakhshabi), split into three linked tales. Shah's version is taken from an oral narrative collected by the great Italian folklorist Giuseppe Pitrè, though the telling seems to link to a Sanskrit source, the Śukasaptati. Sue Porter Dick Whittington England The familiar pantomime story of Richard Whittington Ken Laidlaw Don't Count Your Chickens Spain The fable behind the proverb, one of many variants of the fable The milkmaid and her pailThe version presented is from the Tales of Count Lucanor, chapter 28 "Of what happened to a woman called Truhana" Aesop also has a version The Milk Woman and Her Pail James Marsh The Hawk and the Nightingale Greece Recorded by Hesiod in his Works and Days. Regarded by many as the earliest fable attributable to a literary work: "The poem also contains the earliest known fable in Greek literature" number 4 in the Perry Index. Ray Winder Cecino the Tiny Tuscany A variant of Tom ThumbA number of variants are given on the site surlalunefairytales.com, including an almost identical telling, The Little Chick Pea Chris McEwen Her Lover's Heart India The ancient story of Raja Rasalu.Given in less readable form in archive.org, along with mention of some of the variants, including the account of a certain Madam Butler of Hackney Boarding School, and the ninth story of the fourth day of Boccaccio's Dacameron which concerns the troubadour Guillaume de Cabestang. David O'Connor The New Hand USA Similar to the Brothers Grimm's The Old Man Made Young AgainThe Old Man Made Young Again, Tale 147. and to unofficial legends of Jesus current in Palestine,Shah gives a similar tale, Isa and the Doubters, in his Tales of the Dervishes. this one takes place in Alabama. Mai Watts The Mastermaid Norway From Norwegian Folktales collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, translated by George Webbe Dasent. Peter RichardsonThe Ass in PantherskinIndiaOriginates with the Panchatantra, dating at the latest form 500 A.D. and perhaps as old as 100 B.C.Philip Argent
List of stories
Tales of a Parrot, illustrated by Sue Porter Dick Whittington, illustrated by Ken Laidlaw Don't Count Your chickens, illustrated by James Marsh The Hawk and the Nightingale, illustrated by Ray Winder Cenino the Tiny Her Lover's Heart The New Hand The Mastermaid The Hermit The Maiden Wiser than the Tsar The Travelling Companion The Riddles The Grateful Animals and the Ungrateful Man The Value of a Treasure Hoard Patient Griselda How Evil Produces Evil The Ghoul and the Youth of Ispahan The Pilgrim from Paradise The Blind Ones & the Matter of the Elephant Anpu and Bata God Is Stronger The Happiest Man in the World The Gorgon's Head The Brahmin's Wife and the Mongoose The Magic Bag Catherine's Fate The Desolate Island Gazelle Horn Tom Tit Tot The Silent Couple Childe Rowland The Tale of Mushkil Gusha The Food of Paradise The Lamb with the Golden Fleece The Man with the Wen The Skilful Brothers The Algonquin Cinderella The Kindly Ghost The Ass in Panther Skin The Water of Life The Serpent The Wonderful Lamp Who Was the Most Generous? Cupid and Psyche The Royal Detectives Conflict of the Magicians False Witnesses The Cobbler who Became an Astrologer The Two Travellers The Fisherman and His Wife Impossible Judgement Hudden and Dudden and Donald O'Neary Riquet with the Tuft The Lost Camel The Beggar and the Gazelle The Apple on the Boy's Head The Boots of Hunain The Three Caskets The Land Where Time Stood Still The Man Turned into a Mule The Fox and the Hedgehog The Bird Maiden The Slowest May Win the Race The Three Imposters Occasion
Reviews
See also The Idries Shah Foundation
References
External links The Idries Shah Foundation web page on World Tales