Kalila and Demna

the

title Kalila and Dimna, 32.

These tales, though originally Buddhist, became great favourites among the Arabs, and as the Arabs were gradually brought into contact with Europeans and penetrated into the south of Europe, they brought the stories with them.

and we soon afterwards find them translated into Western tongues.

whilst their mercantile pursuits took them much amongst the followers of the Prophet, and the comparative nearness of their religious beliefs led to a freer intercourse than was usually possible between Christians and Muslims.

They were naturally attracted by a kind of literature such as this, oriental in morality, amusing in style, and perfectly free from Christian legend and from Christian dogma.

it was also the kind of literature which travellers would most easily become acquainted with and we need not therefore be surprised to hear that a jew named simeon seth about ten eighty a d made the first translation into a european language viz into modern greek Another Jew, about 1250, made a translation of a slightly different recension of the Kalila and Dimna into Hebrew, and a third, John of Capua, turned this Hebrew version into Latin between 1263 and 1278.

At about the same time as the Hebrew version, another was made direct from the Arabic into Spanish, and a fifth into Latin, and from these five versions, translations were afterwards made into German, Italian, French, and English.

Abu Bakr and Omar believe it, and that is enough.

You know, there's a very famous book actually called Kalila wa Dimna.

I don't know if you're familiar with it.

I think it's translation from Persian or from Indian culture, in which the author wrote an entire book of wisdom by narrating stories on the mouth and the tongues of animals.

When I think about this, I return to an old image, the lion and the kingdom.

In stories such as Kalila wa Dimna, animals become a way for us to examine ourselves, our judgment, our ambition, our use of power.

The lion stands as a king, but being king does not automatically make the lion just.

That is the question the image raises for me.