THE STORY OF THE SECOND ROYAL MENDICANT - A Children’s Story from 1001 Arabian Nights: Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories - Issue 255

By Anon E. Mouse and Narrated by Baba Indaba

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 255
In this 255th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children's Stories series, Baba Indaba narrates the story of “THE STORY OF THE SECOND ROYAL MENDICANT”.

In Issue 253, “THE STORY OF THE PORTER THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD”, three visitors knock on the door of the house of the three beautiful women. They claim to be mendicants and visitors to the city and have become disoriented and lost on their way back to their lodgings. In reality they were the Kaleefeh (King), his Vizier and Jafar, and They are invited in and given refreshments the porter during this time they hear the stories of the porter and of two of the ladies.

After this the lady of the house invites the three mendicants to relate their stories. This they do, and this is the story of the second of the three mendicants:
He said he was not born with only one eye; but his story should serve as a lesson to those who would be admonished. He claims he is a King, and the son of a King he has read the Ḳurán according to the seven readings. He studied the science of the stars, and the writings of the poets and became proficient in all the sciences; so that he surpassed the people of his age. His hand-writing was extolled among all the scribes, and his fame spread among all countries, and among all Kings.

On hearing of him, the King of India requested his father allow him to visit his palace. His father, therefore, prepared six ships, and his party proceeded by sea for the space of a whole month, after which they came to land. Having disembarked the horses which they had with them in the ship, they purchased and loaded ten camels with presents, and commenced our journey.

What happened next you may well ask? He obviously survived the desert, but how? And how did he lose his eye? Why didn’t he return to his father’s kingdom and resume his royal duties? Surely he too would have been a king by now instead of a travelling one-eyed mendicant? What other adventures did he have and how did he feed himself? And there are so many other questions to be answered?
Well the only way to find out is to download and read this story for yourself, or, read it to some of the “little people” in your family.

Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children's stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as "Father of Stories".

Each issue in the Baba Indaba Children’s Books has a "WHERE IN THE WORLD - LOOK IT UP" section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. All the places mentioned can be found using Google maps.

It is our hope that in looking up these place names using Google Maps, that young people will be able to see the images and read about other peoples and cultures from around the world. Through this, it is also our hope that young people will not only increase their understanding of world geography, but also increase their understanding and tolerance of other people and their cultures.

10% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.

INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abela Publishing
• Release date: May 12, 2017
• ISBN: 9788826089799

Book preview

THE STORY OF THE SECOND ROYAL MENDICANT

A Tale from the Arabian Nights

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

Published By

Abela Publishing, London

2017

THE STORY OF THE SECOND ROYAL MENDICANT

Typographical arrangement of this edition

©Abela Publishing 2017

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Abela Publishing,

London, United Kingdom

2017

Baba Indaba Children’s Stories

ISSN 2397-9607

Issue 255

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www.AbelaPublishing.com

An Introduction to Baba Indaba

Baba Indaba, pronounced Baaba Indaaba, lived in Africa a long-long time ago. Indeed, this story was first told by Baba Indaba to the British settlers over 250 years ago in a place on the South East Coast of Africa called Zululand, which is now in a country now called South Africa.

In turn the British settlers wrote these stories down and they were brought back to England on sailing ships. From England they were in turn spread to all corners of the old British Empire, and then to the world.

In olden times the Zulu’s did not have computers, or iPhones, or paper, or even pens and pencils. So, someone was assigned to be the Wenxoxi Indaba (Wensosi Indaaba) – the Storyteller. It was his, or her, job to memorise all the tribe’s history, stories and folklore, which had been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. So, from the time he was a young boy, Baba Indaba had been apprenticed to the tribe’s Wenxoxi Indaba to learn the stories. Every day the Wenxoxi Indaba would narrate the stories and Baba Indaba would have to recite the story back to the Wenxoxi Indaba, word for word. In this manner he learned the stories of the Zulu nation.

In time the Wenxoxi Indaba grew old and when he could no longer see or hear, Baba Indaba became the next in a long line of Wenxoxi Indabas. So fond were the