Magic Horse

Urdu / English

Idries Shah, Julie Freeman

$19.95

Paperback

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Urdu

Hoopoe Books
09 November 2016

Series: Teaching Stories

"(Bilingual English-Urdu edition) This is the story of two brothers: one skilled in the practical arts and the other, Prince Tambal, considered by most people to be only a dreamer. Their father, the king, announces a competition to produce ""interesting and useful devices."" The entry produced by a woodcarver appears to be only a simple wooden horse of little value, but when Tambal looks more closely, he discovers that it's able to magically travel to whatever place is in its rider's mind. With the help of this magic horse, Tambal comes to learn a great many things and, eventually, to know his heart's desire. Julie Freeman's beautiful illustrations capture the magic of this tale, with the images and text inset in rich borders of oriental patterns. The Magic Horse is one of an illustrated series of Sufi teaching stories from the Middle East and Central Asia that were collected and adapted for children by Idries Shah, and that have captivated hearts and minds for more than a thousand years. The stories are designed to help children learn to examine their assumptions and to think for themselves. In the Sufi tradition, there is a continuum between the children's story, the entertainment or folklore story and the instructional or instrumental story. A story can help children deal with difficult situations and give them something to hold on to, but it can also stimulate a deeper understanding in adults. Through the instrumental function of this rich body of material, readers of all ages can learn to develop the capacity to be more flexible and to understand many more things about themselves and about life."

By: Idries Shah
Illustrated by: Julie Freeman
Imprint: Hoopoe Books
Dimensions: Height: 279mm, Width: 216mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 150g
ISBN: 9781942698760
ISBN 10: 1942698763
Series: Teaching Stories
Pages: 40
Publication Date: 09 November 2016
Recommended Age: From 8 to 12 years
Audience: Children/juvenile , English as a second language
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Idries Shah spent much of his life collecting and publishing Sufi classical narratives and teaching stories from oral and written sources in the Middle East and Central Asia. The tales he retold especially for children are published by Hoopoe Books in beautifully illustrated editions and have been widely commended - by Western educators and psychologists, the U.S. Library of Congress, National Public Radio and other media - for their unique ability to foster social-emotional development, thinking skills and perception in children and adults alike. Told for centuries, these stories express universal themes from the cultures that produced them, showing how much we have in common and can learn from each other. As noted by reviewers, such stories are more than just entertaining; familiarity with them provokes flexibility of thought, since each one contains levels of meaning that unfold in accordance with an individual's experience and understanding.

Reviews for Magic Horse (Urdu / English)

The tale of the two brothers and their journeys is illustrated with jewel-toned, delicate paintings featuring the costumes, tools, buildings, and animals of the Moslem East. ... The two brothers do not represent good and evil as happens so often in Western tales, but instead merely the choice of two different paths. - School Library Journal (U.S.) ... one of the hundreds of Sufi tales collected by Idries Shah from eastern oral and written literature. ... beautifully illustrated by Julie Freeman, who perfectly captures the magic of this ancient Sufi folk tale. - Midwest Book Review (U.S.) These teaching stories can be experienced on many levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them; an adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way. Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within. - All Things Considered, National Public Radio (U.S.) They [teaching stories] suggest ways of looking at difficulties that can help children solve problems calmly while, at the same time, giving them fresh perspectives on these difficulties that help them develop their cognitive abilities - psychologist Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., in his lecture Teaching Stories and the Brain given at the U.S. Library of Congress Through repeated readings, these stories provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. Beautifully illustrated. - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.) Shah's versatile and multilayered tales provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. - Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature These stories ... are not moralistic fables or parables, which aim to indoctrinate, nor are they written only to amuse. Rather, they are carefully designed to show effective ways of defining and responding to common life experiences. - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.), writing in Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.) These enchanting stories Shah has collected have a richness and depth not often encountered in children's literature, and their effect on minds young and old can be almost magical. - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.) Shah has collected hundreds of Sufi tales, many of which are teaching tales or instructional stories. In this tradition, the line between stories for children and those for adults is not as clear as it seems to be in Western cultures, and the lessons are important for all generations. - School Library Journal (U.S.) ... these are vibrant, engaging, universal stories.... - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.) ... a series of children's books that have captivated the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. The books are tales from a rich tradition of story telling from Central Asia and the Middle East. Stories told and retold to children, by campfire and candlelight, for more than a thousand years. - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.)