Reading Diary A: Persian Tales

The Wolf and the Goat: This story begins with a goat talking to her four children, Alil, Balil, Ginger Stick, and Black Eyes. She was leaving the house when she warned the children to not let anyone in to the house. She told them she would slip her paw under the door when she came home to show it was red to prove it was her. If the shown paw was black then it was the wolf. The wolf overheard what happened and died his paw red. The mother came home to find all but one of her children stolen and went to find the wolf. Upon meeting they agreed to fight. The Goat took gifts to a man that sharpened her horns while the Wolf took lesser gifts to the dentist to get his teeth sharpened. The dentist, being upset, took the gift and pulled the teeth of the wolf. The goat then tricked the wolf into jumping into the river and killed him by gutting him.

The City of "Nothing in the World": The story starts as a girl falls and scrapes her knee so an old woman gives her eggs to take to a man to get ointment. The remainder of the story seems as if it is about how when people tell a lie the lie continues to grow until it gets to be outrageous.

The boy who became a bulbul: This story is about a boy and his father when they go off to cut thorn branches. The stepmother tells them to make a bet on who could cut down the most branches. The father cheats and cuts his son's head off. The daughter finds out and brings the boy back to life as a bird. The bird then kills the stepmother and gives candy to his sister.

Nim Tanak, or Half-Boy: This story is about how the Mouse got her tail cut off and was sent running around to eight different people when each one would tell her to bring something from someone else for the dead wanted.

Arash the Archer