The Farmer's Wife -- Die Bäuerin

(Bilingual English-German edition / Zweisprachige Ausgabe Englisch-Deutsch) This story tells how a woman loses an apple down a hole in the ground and then makes a series of attempts to retrieve it. Children love chanting the action sequence of this cumulative tale from memory, but when the plot takes a sudden turn that's contrary to all expectations, they also learn important lessons about the nature of problem solving and discovery. The strikingly beautiful illustrations by Rose Mary Santiago invoke the origins of the story - which comes from the Sufi tradition and has been told for hundreds of years in the Middle East and Central Asia - while at the same time lending a uniquely playful atmosphere to this very amusing tale.
Diese Geschichte erzählt, wie eine Frau einen Apfel in einem Erdloch verliert und dann eine Reihe von Versuchen unternimmt, ihn zu bergen. Kinder lieben es, die Action-Sequenz dieser kumulativen Geschichte aus dem Gedächtnis heraus mitzusprechen, aber in dem Moment, wenn die Handlung eine plötzliche Wendung nimmt, die allen Erwartungen widerspricht, lernen sie auch wichtige Lektionen über die Natur der Problemlösung und über Entdeckung. Die auffallend schönen Illustrationen von Rose Mary Santiago beschwören die Ursprünge der Geschichte - die aus der Sufi-Tradition stammt und seit Hunderten von Jahren im Nahen Osten und Zentralasien erzählt wird - und verleihen dieser sehr amüsanten Geschichte eine einzigartig spielerische Atmosphäre.

Idries Shah spent much of his life collecting and publishing Sufi classical narratives and teaching stories from oral and written sources in the Middle East and Central Asia. The tales he retold especially for children are published by Hoopoe Books in beautifully illustrated editions and have been widely commended - by Western educators and psychologists, the U.S. Library of Congress, National Public Radio and other media - for their unique ability to foster social-emotional development, thinking skills and perception in children and adults alike. Told for centuries, these stories express universal themes from the cultures that produced them, showing how much we have in common and can learn from each other. As noted by reviewers, such stories are more than just entertaining; familiarity with them provokes flexibility of thought, since each one contains levels of meaning that unfold in accordance with an individual's experience and understanding.