The Boy and the Filberts is a fable related to greed and appears as Aarne-Thompson type 68A. [1] The story is credited to Aesop but there is no evidence to support this. It is not included in either the Perry Index or in Laura Gibbs' inclusive collection (2002). [2]
The Greek Stoic philosopher Epictetus briefly mentioned the fable in his Discourses as an analogy of man's getting less as a result of believing he needs more. [3] The earliest English appearance of the story is in a translation of Antoine Houdar de la Motte's One Hundred New Court Fables (1721), where it is credited to Epictetus and illustrates the proposition that one should 'be contented with the middle state'. [4] A boy puts his hand into a pitcher of figs and filberts and grasps so many that he cannot withdraw his fist through the narrow opening. When he bursts into tears of frustration, a bystander advises him to take only half the quantity.
The story was given further currency by appearing in Robert Dodsley's Select fables of Esop and other fabulists (1765) with the moral that 'the surest way to gain our ends is to moderate our desires'. [5] It was retold in verse in Old Friends in a New Dress, a popular collection written specially for children by Richard Scrafton Sharpe, originally published in 1807. The moral drawn there is that learning comes only with application - 'True wisdom is not learned at once'. [6] The fable was attributed to Aesop in later 19th century collections and also found its way to the United States. [7]
The tale resembles the traditional story of how to catch a monkey. Idries Shah recounts the fable as a teaching story in his Tales of the Dervishes , where cherries in a jar are used to trap the animal. The emphasis in this tale is on the irony and economy of the trap: "The monkey was free, but he was captured. The hunter had used the cherry and the bottle, but he still had them." [8] Shah credits the story to Khwaja Ali Ramitani, who died in 1306.
English accounts of a similar practice began to circulate in Victorian times. It involved placing some food in a coconut or other container which would then trap the animal, since it would not unclench its fist. From this tradition originates the modern idiom of 'a monkey trap', used of a clever trap of any sort that owes its success to the ineptitude or gullibility of the victim. It also underlies the Brazilian proverb Macaco velho não mete a mão em cumbuca (An old monkey will not stick his hand into a jar), with the meaning that an experienced hand cannot be bamboozled. [9]
Nasreddin or Nasreddin Hodja (1208–1285) is a character in the folklore of the Muslim world from the Balkans to China, and a hero of humorous short stories and satirical anecdotes. There are frequent statements about his existence in real life and even archaeological evidence in specific places, for example, a tombstone in the city of Akşehir, Turkey. At the moment, there is no confirmed information or serious grounds to talk about the specific date or place of Nasreddin's birth, so the question of the reality of his existence remains open.
A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have human characters. A parable is a type of metaphorical analogy.
Idries Shah, also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghan author, thinker and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Shah wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller who lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.
A teaching story is a narrative that has been deliberately created as a vehicle for the transmission of wisdom. The practice has been used in a number of religious and other traditions, though writer Idries Shah's use of it was in the context of Sufi teaching and learning, within which this body of material has been described as the "most valuable of the treasures in the human heritage". The range of teaching stories is enormous, including anecdotes, accounts of meetings between teachers and pupils, biographies, myths, fairy tales, fables and jokes. Such stories frequently have a long life beyond the initial teaching situation and have contributed vastly to the world's store of folklore and literature.
Amina Shah, later known as Amina Maxwell-Hudson, was a British anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, and was for many years the Chairperson of the College of Storytellers. She was the sister of the Sufi writers Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah, and the daughter of Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah Scottish woman. Her nephew is the travel writer and documentary filmmaker Tahir Shah; her nieces, Safia Shah and the writer and documentary filmmaker Saira Shah.
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 current, others are less well known.
The Tiger, the Brahmin and the Jackal is a popular Indian folklore with a long history and many variants. The earliest record of the folklore was included in the Panchatantra, which dates the story between 200 BCE and 300 CE.
A Perfumed Scorpion is a non-fiction book by the Sufist writer, Idries Shah, that was first published by Octagon Press in 1978, the same year that he published two other major works: Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way and The Hundred Tales of Wisdom. It has since been republished by The Idries Shah Foundation.
The Hundred Tales of Wisdom is a translation from the Persian by Idries Shah of the "Life, Teachings and Miracles of Jalaludin Rumi" from Aflaki's Munaqib, together with certain important stories from Rumi’s own works, traditionally known by that title. It was published by Octagon Press in 1978.
Tales of the Dervishes by Idries Shah was first published in 1967, and re-published and made available online for free by The Idries Shah Foundation in October 2016.
Wisdom of the Idiots is a book of Sufi teaching stories by the writer Idries Shah first published by the Octagon Press in 1969. A paperback edition was published in 1991. ISF Publishing, sponsored by The Idries Shah Foundation, published a paperback edition on 2015, followed by the ebook version and audiobook.
Octagon Press was a cross-cultural publishing house based in London, UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufi teacher, Idries Shah to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas. The company ceased trading in 2014.
The Milkmaid and Her Pail is a folktale of Aarne-Thompson-Uther type 1430 about interrupted daydreams of wealth and fame. Ancient tales of this type exist in the East but Western variants are not found before the Middle Ages. It was only in the 18th century that the story about the daydreaming milkmaid began to be attributed to Aesop, although it was included in none of the main collections and does not appear in the Perry Index. In more recent times, the fable has been variously treated by artists and set by musicians.
The Lion, the Bear and the Fox is one of Aesop's Fables that is numbered 147 in the Perry Index. There are similar story types of both eastern and western origin in which two disputants lose the object of their dispute to a third.
Caravan of Dreams is a book by Idries Shah first published in 1968 by Octagon Press as part of his presentation of traditional Eastern teachings and Sufi ideas for contemporary society. New editions of the book were published in 2015 by The Idries Shah Foundation.
The Frog and the Mouse is one of Aesop's Fables and exists in several versions. It is numbered 384 in the Perry Index. There are also Eastern versions of uncertain origin which are classified as Aarne-Thompson type 278, concerning unnatural relationships. The stories make the point that the treacherous are destroyed by their own actions.
The Ape and the Fox is a fable credited to Aesop and is numbered 81 in the Perry Index. However, the story goes back before Aesop’s time and an alternative variant may even be of Asian origin.
The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin is a book by the writer Idries Shah, It consists of jokes and anecdotes involving the wise fool of Middle Eastern folklore, Mulla Nasrudin. Published by Octagon Press in 1966, the book was re-released in paperback, ebook and audiobook editions by The Idries Shah Foundation in 2014 and 2015.
The man and the lion (disputing) is one of Aesop’s Fables and is numbered 284 in the Perry Index. An alternative title is The lion and the statue. The story’s moral is that the source of evidence should be examined before it is accepted.