Fatima the Spinner and the Tent: English-Urdu Edition (Teaching Stories)

Evocative colours and drawings illustrate this story. Fatima goes with her father, a successful spinner, on a sea voyage to the Islands of the Middle Sea. He has business there. She dreams of finding a handsome husband.They are ship wrecked. Fatima finds herself on a sea shore near Alexandria, alone. This is the first of three disasters. Each time Fatima manages to settle herself, learning a new skill in the process, catastrophe overtakes her. Wrecked a final time, she finds herself in China before the Chinese Emperor, who asks if she can make a tent. In her forced wandering, her sojourns in new countries with new people, Fatima has learnt rope making, cloth making and mast making. She thinks of all the tents she has seen on her travels and makes The Chinese Emperor a tent. The Emperor offers her, her heart's fulfilment. She chooses to remain in China; marries a handsome prince and is happy ever after with her children near her. Her horrible experiences have produced her happiness. Fatima realises this. Interesting, that she must go from place to place to find the skills that are useful to her; that the experiences are so seemingly disruptive. Fatima is brave too. Every time her hopes fall, she is positive in her changed circumstances and takes advantage of what is on offer. That is a a skill in itself; a skill anybody would like to learn, the earlier the better.

Fatima, the heroine of this tale, comes from a prosperous and secure family. But her fate turns out to be different from what one might expect, given these circumstances. At each challenging and unexpected station along her journey through a wide world of differing languages and cultures, she suffers loss and upset, but also learns something useful as well. What does it all add up to? Read this story aloud to children and you will all be amazed at how things turn out in the end for Fatima. Beautiful illustrations by Natasha Delmar highlight the wonder of the wide world as seen by Fatima. Another "teaching story" by master teller Idries Shah, this tale asks to be shared many times, to allow its lessons to seep into the listeners' souls. With hammer, nails, leather, and string, one may be able to make a pair of shoes, if.... (this edition in English and Urdu)

absolutely beautiful illustrations! takes you to a world of its own

I have been refreshing my Urdu reading skills and this book has been helpful. The story is engaging and the illustrations are beautiful. It was fun to test my translating against the English text. Some words I had to look up but overall I found it perfect for an intermediate Urdu learner. I plan to buy the rest in the series ( Idries Shah).