Christine van Ruymbeke (Ph.D. 1997, ULB Belgium) is the Soudavar Senior Lecturer in Persian Studies at the FAMES in Cambridge (UK). Her research focuses on the masnavis of Nezami of Ganja and on the Persian versions of the Kalila wa-Dimna. Her monograph Science and Poetry in Medieval Persia. The Botany of Nizami’s Khamsa received the 2009 World-prize for the Book of the Year of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

• PREFACELIST OF ANVAR-e SOHAYLI STORIES AND SUB-STORIES and TAXONOMYPART 1: KASHEFI COMPOSES THE ANVAR-e SOHAYLI1. The Author and the Patron1.1 Abject Hosayn, the Preacher known as “The Discloser”1.2 Shining Sohayli, the Patron1.3 “The proper function of the critic is to save [the text] from the artist who created it.” (D.H. Laurence)2. The Contents of Kashefi’s Dibacheh2.1 On how to read the text and on who is supposed to read it2.2 The noble hereditary line 2.2.1 The Anvar’s asnad, 2.2.2 KD as classified data2.2.3 Zopyros, the Wandermotiv of the mutilated hero3. Rewriting Nasrollah Monshi’s KD version, 3.1 Neither Parricide nor Plagiarism 3.2 But: Cannibalism, Mimesis and Appropriation 3.2.1 Traipsing like a Partridge4. The Subject Matter of the AS5. The Table of Contents5.1 “A title must muddle the reader’s ideas, not regiment them.” (U. Eco)5.2 Exit Borzuyeh5.3 The fourteen chapters5.3.1 The Whisperer holds the pedagogical centre-stage in the first chapter5.4 The EnvoiPART 2: BEING PERNICKETY ABOUT “ANIMAL FABLES”1. Fussing about “Fables”1.1 And what about Logos pseudes eikonizoon aletheian? 1.2 The Lion and the Hare (I,13)1.3 Redundant or impertinent pro- and epimythia?2. Nit-picking on Zaban-e vohush?2.1 Homo homine lupus2.2 Characterisation’s lack of significance2.3 The brutes speak!2.4 And what do they say? 3. Animals as unclear emblems3.1 Sophisticated psychological anthropomorphism3.2 Never mistake a jackal for a fox!3.3 Kalileh’s parrhesia vs. Demneh’s rhetoric4. A bevy of human actors4.1 “If I state quite frankly…” (O. Wilde)4.2 Misogynous characterisations?5. Humans and Animals5.1 Plausible human-animal interaction5.2 Improbable vocal contact between man and bird5.3 The metamorphoses of the Mouse-girl (IV,11)6. Why write “animal stories” for a political audience?6.1 Back to the contrapuntal and impertinent pro- and epimythia6.2 The story-telling technique6.3 Animals to say the unsayable?6.4 Frank and oblique speech6.5 Storytelling as a methodology of political theoryPART 3: THE BIGGEST BEES IN KASHEFI’S BONNET: A THEMATIC ANALYSIS1. De Regimine Principum1.1 The “Governance of Princes”1.2 “Praeterea regem non sic Aegyptus et ingens Lydia nec populi Partharum aut Medeis Hydaspes observant”1.3 Regicide most foul!1.4 A rigid class system?1.5 Pigeonholing the professional vizier and the occasional hermit advisor.1.6 The forces of destiny and God’s selection of his instrument2. Seeking Useful Friends and Genuine Comrades2.1 As an Elephant in the Quagmire2.2 The Player’s and the Soother’s parting2.3 Kalileh’s suicide and Demneh’s new friend2.4 The Ring-Dove and the Friends (III)2.4.1 The Mouse, Monsieur Perrichon and the Ben Franklin effect 2.4.2 The Mouse and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.2.4.3 The Two Real Friends (III,7)3. Introducing the Trickster-Rhetorician3.1 Grading the rogues: from soft trickster to sinister murderer3.1.1 The Hare as the archetypal confidence man3.1.2 The Queen’s strategic self-sacrifice3.1.3 The horrendous Zahhak-theme3.2 The virtues of the tongue3.2.1 Kashefian Iago? Demneh’s subversion of rhetoric.Part 4: BUILDING APPRECIATION FOR “TASTELESS BOMBAST”1. Kashefi’s “degenerate style”1.1 Linguistic torture?1.2 More than only “terpsichorean pirouettes of syntax and thought”1.3 Kashefi’s energising metaphor1.3.1 In the oven1.3.2 Wondrous Thoughts on Poetical Tropes1.4 The antimetabola’s cognitive significance2. Prosimetrum2.1 Prosimetrum: partim prosa partim metro componens2.2Like salt in the pot2.3The ancillary intertextual aspect2.4The function of the inclusions2.5Enlightenment in absentia3.The effect of the verse quotations and ‘eqtebas3.1 A pedagogy of recognitionPART 5: TOPICAL WEB; STRUCTURAL MAZE1. The new, double outer frame1.1 “Providing no key to the origin of the book”1.2 Kashefi’s innovative frame-stories1.2.1 The story of the vizier Khojasteh-Ray and the king Homayun-Fal (FS I)1.2.2 The story of the sage Bidpay and the King Dabshalim (FS II)1.2.3 Wrapping up each frame2. The fourteen main stories2.1 Stating the Chapters’ pedagogy2.2 KD/AS’s elusive internal architecture2.3 The stories’ structure as an essential tool for their pedagogical aim3. The embedded sub-stories3.1 The joys of aviation3.2 Thematic criss-crossing3.3 The sub-stories’ relation to the embedding narratives3.4 The sub-story as a miniature main story3.5 Kashefi adds the story of the two Companions Ghanim and Salim (I,2)3.6 Kashefi’s additions to Ebn-e Madin and the Lark (VIII)4. Shiruyeh knew that the first chapter is the book in a nutshellPART 6 THE SKELETON1. A skeleton in the cupboard of Persian literary studies2. Sir William’s Sugarchest3. A Language exercisePART 7 A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT. THE NOBLE HEREDITARY LINE OF KALILEH-DEMNEH VERSIONS AND TRANSLATIONS IN THE PERSIAN TRADITION.1 Concerns, questions and even some exasperation2 The lost Sanskrit text3 Borzuyeh’s lost Middle Persian KD4 The Old Syriac Version5 Ibn al-Muqaffa’‘s Arabic KD6 Bal’ami’s and Rudaki’s opus geminum7 Nasrollah Monshi’s Persian KD prosimetrumPART 8 CONCLUSIONSBIBLIOGRAPHYINDEX