is an Old Castilian collection of tales from 1251, translated from the Arabic text by the order of the future King Alfonso X while he was still a prince. The Arabic text is itself an 8th-century translation by Ibn al-Muqaffa' of a Middle Persian version of the Sanskrit from about 2nd-century BCE.Juan Manuel Cacho Blecua y María Jesús Lacarra, «Introducción», ed. lit. de Calila e Dimna, Madrid, Castalia (Clásicos Castalia, 133), 1984, pág. 10.
It is linked with the wisdom manuals of prince's education through the eastern method of questions and answers between the king and a philosopher that leads to exemplary tales or exempla told by and featuring animals: an ox, a lion and two jackals called Calila and Dimna, which are who tell the majority of the tales. This structure is used in Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor.
Authorship This story has arrived to us through two manuscripts named as A and B. In the last part of the first one (from the first third of the 15th century) it is said that the book "was translated from Arabic to Latin, later it was Romanised by order of don Alfonso in 1261".fue sacado de arábigo en latin, et romançado por mandato del infante don Alfonso [...] era de mill e dozientos e noventa y nueve años However, as the Spanish version is very near the Arabic one, a translation to Latin can be discarded. The fact that Alfonso is called "infante" (he was crowned in 1252) leads to set the date of composition in 1251 what would convert the book into the first prose-fiction work written in the Iberian Peninsula.
Structure The main structure of the work is the narrative frame (the conversation between the king Dabshalem and the alguacil-philosopher Burduben). It has three parts clearly differentiated: The introduction by Al-Muqaffa, an apology of knowledge and its practice nature. Bercebuey's story (two chapters): His trip to India searching for knowledge. Contemptu mundi. Calila e Dimna's story. In it we can distinguish two parts: From chapter III to VI, the nearest part to Panchatantra. Other, which encompasses the rest of the chapters and that follows simple organisative schemes and with Oriental parallelisms.
Summary The King Dabschelim is visited by the philosopher Bidpai who tells him a collection of stories with important morals for a King. The stories are in response to requests of parables from Dabschelim and they follow a Russian doll format, with stories interwoven within the stories.
Story One - The person who infiltrates a friendship to break it up and its consequences
Main Story - The Lion and the Ox
The Ox, Shatrabah, was abandoned by his master due to being stuck in a mud pit and was left to be watched by a servant. However, the servant grew tired of waiting and also abandoned Shatrabah and told his master that the ox had died. Nevertheless, Shatrabah managed to free himself and make his way to a lush pasture where he lived in peace. But the solitude took its toll on Shatrabah and he would moo loudly in despair and loneliness. The sounds of his wails reached the ears of the lion king who ruled the area.
The lion had a court of many animals and predators but had never heard the wailing of an ox. From the lion's court were two doormen jackals, the brothers Kalila and Dimnah. Dimnah was an ambitious jackal and wanted to earn the favour of the king and become his most trusted member of the court. Kalila tried to dissuade Dimnah of his plans but was rebuffed by Dimnah's ambition. Dimnah managed to gain entry into the court with his silvertongue, which impressed the lion king and so, he rose rapidly in rank and quickly became the lion's closest advisor.
Upon hearing the wails of Shatrabah, the lion became anxious and wary of venturing outside, as his scouts had reported on the marvellous beast, with its huge horns and menacing frame (as Shatrabah had put on weight while grazing in the lush meadow), who was the source of the noise. Dimnah was concerned with the king's abandonment of his daily patrol and duties, so he approached the king and calmed him down. Dimnah then went and confronted Shatrabah and painted the picture of the fierce lion king and his court of predators to the ox. Shatrabah was in awe and fear of the king described to him and obeyed Dimnah's claim of a summons from the king and went back with Dimnah.
However, on arrival the ox and the lion struck up a friendship and as days passed, their bond grew and Shatrabah took Dimnah's place as the main confidant of the king. As the days passed, a fierce jealousy consumed Dimnah and he became set on taking down Shatrabah. He confided in his brother Kalila, who warned him against his plans but to no avail. Dimnah first approached the lion and told him that Shatrabah was plotting against him and was planning to usurp the power for himself. The king was skeptical of Dimnah's claims of treason, due to his knowledge of the meek nature of his ox friend. But Dimnah persisted and convinced the lion of Shatrabah's planned treachery and Dimnah advised the lion that the only way to resolve the treason was to punish the ox by death.
The lion decided to confront Shatrabah about these plans and then exile him. Dimnah, knowing the plan would be unravelled if they were allowed to talk, told the lion that if Shatrabah's limbs were trembling and if he was moving his horns as if preparing to charge, then there was no doubt regarding his treason. Dimnah then quickly went to Shatrabah and told him of the lion's plan to kill him and feast on his flesh with his court. But Shatrabah was skeptical of Dimnah's claims as he knew of no crime that he had committed which could have resulted in such a punishment. But he was convinced that the evil members of the lion's court had turned the king against him and that only Dimnah stood by his side. Shatrabah reasoned that the lion's carnivorous nature had won out and that a herbivore like himself had held no place in such a court in the first place. Spurred by Dimnah's whisperings, Shatrabah prepared himself to engage the lion in combat to save his life. Dimnah told the ox that if the lion approaches you with his chest out and mouth open, then know he has come to kill you. Dimnah then went to his brother and told him of his near success before scampering off to witness the showdown.
When the lion confronted the ox, they each saw the other exactly as Dimnah had described and so launched themselves at each other. Shatrabah was killed and the lion was left heavily wounded. Kalila severely scolded his brother for his actions and warned him of the fatal consequences of his deception if he was to be uncovered. The lion king while licking his wounds regretted killing his friend Shatrabah and started to become suspicious of Dimnah.
Meanwhile, a leopard from amongst the closest members of the king's court was prowling in the dark, when he came upon Kalila admonishing Dimnah for his deception and he overheard the whole thing. The leopard immediately went to the lion's mother and upon swearing her to secrecy told her of Dimnah's dastardly scheme. The mother visited her son the next day and saw how his remorse was eating him up and she scolded him for acting without proper investigation. While she was there Dimnah paid a visit to the king and got in a spat with the lion's mother who accused him of treachery and scheming against the king. Dimnah attempted to save the situation with his eloquence but only managed to get thrown into prison.
While in prison, he was visited by his brother Kalila who reminded him of his earlier warnings to not carry out his plot. However, unbeknown to them both a cheetah lay imprisoned with Dimnah, and he overheard the whole confession and was willing to testify against Dimnah in the judge's court. When the court case came, the judge asked for witnesses and warned them all of the punishment in the hereafter if they hid their testimony. The leader of the pigs tried to defame Dimnah, but Dimnah skilfully talked his way out and managed to avoid any further scandal.
During Dimnah's spell in prison, Kalila fell ill out of grief and guilt and died. A fellow jackal Rawzbah visited Dimnah in prison and informed him of his brother's passing, to which Dimnah was very bereaved. The lion pressured his mother into revealing the source of her information regarding Dimnah's plan. She summoned the leopard who testified against Dimnah, as did the imprisoned cheetah, which was enough for the judge to pass the death sentence. And so Dimnah was mercilessly executed.
Sub-story One - The Man and the Wolf - Told by the master to his servant upon learning of the ox's “demise”.
A man was travelling in the wild when he saw a threatening wolf, so in order to escape he ran but came to a ravine with a river preventing safe passage to the village on the other side. Faced with death at the hands of the wolf, the man took his chances and jumped in the river in an attempt to swim across. The current was too strong, and he was being pulled away, when a group of villagers saw him and came to his aid. After being saved and taken to the village he decided to rest for a while in an empty hut on the outskirts of the village, however to his surprise he entered upon a group of bandits distributing their loot. In fear of his life, he quickly took off and ran into an alley where he leant against a wall to catch his breath. The wall then fell on him and he died.
Sub-story two - The Monkey and the Carpenter - Told by Kalila to Dimnah to discourage him from his plans to get involved with the royal court.
A carpenter had a pet monkey who watched him work all day. The monkey dreamed of using the hammer and pegs of the carpenter, and so one day when the carpenter went for a break, he seized the opportunity. The monkey grabbed the hammer and went to hammer a peg into the piece of wood, but unwittingly his tail had got caught in the gap without him noticing, so when the hammer came down the peg was driven into the monkey's tail, and he fell unconscious from the pain. However, when the carpenter returned to find the monkey's handiwork, the monkey became victim of an even more painful punishment for his foolishness.
Sub-story three and four are part of the main story
Sub-story five - The crow and the serpent - Told by Dimnah to Kalila, defending his ability to take on the mighty ox with wit despite his small frame.
There was a crow who lived in a tree with a serpent who lived at the bottom in his burrow. However, the snake would eat the eggs of the crow. In revenge, the crow intended to claw out the snake's eyes, but he was discouraged by a jackal who told him to play smart. The jackal advised the crow to steal the jewelry of a human and make a show of throwing it into the snake's burrow. When the crow did this, the humans followed the crow to the burrow and upon finding the snake killed it and retrieved the jewelry, thus relieving the crow of the snake.
Sub-story of sub-story five - The toad and the crab - Told by the jackal to the crow as a warning that sometimes plans fail and have bad endings.