THE THREE PRINCES OF SERENDIP

From a Dutch Iraqi author and storyteller, a collection of folktales that take place in ancient Iraq and Persia.

Characters range from humble to royal and include animals and even magical speaking objects. Familiar themes such as staying true to oneself and finding contentment in one’s circumstances are woven into the tales, sometimes as straightforward adages (“If you are satisfied with what you have, then you are rich”; “we must not listen to others, but to…our own hearts”), other times with complex twists and turns that challenge readers to deduce their own moral before arriving at the ending. Many stories are presented within frames, and the relationship between storyteller and listener changes throughout; sometimes it’s father and son, other times grandmother and grandchild; still others it’s friends. There is a strong undercurrent of humor, as in the tale told by one traveler to another—who falls asleep before the raconteur is finished. Aalders’ vivid, brilliantly colored cut-paper illustrations present insects and vegetables with the same loving level of detail as scenes of the Euphrates, palaces, and expansive deserts. Two stories feature characters who twist Islam into a bitter, untrue faith, to be corrected by a loving God in the end; they are the only explicitly religious characters in the book. Short, witty, and direct, these tales make perfect short bedtime reads or interludes during the day.

Pithy tellings accompanied by sumptuous illustrations make for a delightful collection.