Country Canada Publisher Kybele Art Published in English 2009 Published in english 2009 | Language English Publication date 2009 Originally published 2009 Page count 220 | |
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Original title The Bedside Tales of Sultan | ||
The Bedside Tales of Sultan by Murat Güvenç is a collection of fairy tales, fantasies and moral stories that aims to reach children of all ages and adults. The book unfolds through the story of a young Sultan who develops a sleeping disorder and finds salvation listening to fairy tales in order to ease his loneliness and boredom. Along the lines of the Arabian Nights, every night readers listen to a different story which transports them to a new realm.
Synopsis
A young, successful Sultan develops a sleeping disorder all of a sudden. Regardless of what he tries, his sleeping problem doesn’t vanish making him restless, disoriented and nervous. He orders his Vizier to find a solution to keep him occupied during the long, sleepless nights. His Vizier knows that the best way to entertain Sultan is storytelling. He says “My Sultan. The land you chose for the capital has the most skillful storytellers. I’ll gather the best ones in your sultanate and assign them with the task of narrating you one of their tales every night.” With that he starts sending a storyteller to Sultan to tell him a new story every night.
The Bedside Tales of Sultan comprises 15 stories. Some characters are noble people from the royal court – Sultans, Viziers, merchants, judges; some possess magical powers – magicians, sorcerers; some are ordinary people like peasants, gardeners, shoemakers, bakers, tutors. And some tales are built upon pure imagination and we meet with walking clouds, talking fingers, migrating watermelons and fighting letters. Every tale is different but they all have one common characteristic; they are bedside tales that aim to educate us on morals, deepen our imaginations and entertain us.