For the first time ever, a tale from the Persian Book of Kings springs to life in this stunningly produced and ingeniously crafted pop up book. Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King retells the myth of the misguided Prince Zahhak who is easily swayed by the devil to murder his father and usurp the thrown. Cursed with monstrous snakes that grow out of the king's shoulders, the Serpent King grows infamous throughout the land for his treachery and oppression. He rules for one thousand years before a noble and valiant Feraydun gains the strength and army to defeat the unjust King. The fantastic world of Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King literally pops off the page with intricately crafted spreads, two pop-up folds per page, and complex construction that will delight readers young and old with every turn of the page.

The Epic of Kings, Hero Tales of Ancient Persia Firdausi - The Epic of Kings, Hero Tales of Ancient Persia (The Shahnameh) is an epic poem by the Persian poet Firdausi, written between 966 and 1010 AD. Telling the past of the Persian empire, using a mix of the mythical and historical, it is regarded as a literary masterpiece. Not only important to the Persian culture, it is also important to modern day followers of the Zoroastrianism religion. It is said that the poem was Firdausi's efforts to preserve the memory of Persia's golden days, following the fall of the Sassanid empire. The poem contains, among others, mentions of the romance of Zal and Rudba, Alexander the Great, the wars with Afrsyb, and the romance of Bijan and Manijeh.

“How do we recognize the moment our future has been written for us? In To Keep the Sun Alive, as the Islamic Revolution looms just outside the gate of an Iranian family orchard, Rabeah Ghaffari has built a world so lush, so precise that you will find yourself rewriting history if only to imagine it could still exist.”—Mira Jacob, author of The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing "[A] tenderhearted début novel . . . A wide–ranging narrative, showing the enduring ramifications of filial and political violence." —The New Yorker The year is 1979. The Iranian Revolution is just around the corner. In the northeastern city of Naishapur, a retired judge and his wife, Bibi–Khanoom, continue to run their ancient family orchard, growing apples, plums, peaches, and sour cherries. The days here are marked by long, elaborate lunches on the terrace where the judge and his wife mediate disputes between aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews that foreshadow the looming national crisis to come. Will the monarchy survive the revolutionary tide gathering across the country? Will the judge’s brother, a powerful cleric, take political control of the town or remain only a religious leader? And yet, life goes on. Bibi–Khanoom’s grandniece secretly falls in love with the judge’s grandnephew and dreams of a career on the stage. His other grandnephew withers away on opium dreams. A widowed father longs for a life in Europe. A strained marriage slowly unravels. The orchard trees bloom and fruit as the streets in the capital grow violent. And a once–in–a–lifetime solar eclipse, set to occur on one of the holiest days of year, finally causes the family—and the country—to break. Told through a host of unforgettable characters, ranging from servants and young children to intimate friends, To Keep the Sun Alive reveals the personal behind the political, reminding us of the human lives that animate historical events.

For the first time ever, a tale from the Persian Book of Kings springs to life in this stunningly produced and ingeniously crafted pop up book. Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King retells the myth of the misguided Prince Zahhak who is easily swayed by the devil to murder his father and usurp the thrown. Cursed with monstrous snakes that grow out of the king's shoulders, the Serpent King grows infamous throughout the land for his treachery and oppression. He rules for one thousand years before a noble and valiant Feraydun gains the strength and army to defeat the unjust King. The fantastic world of Zahhak: The Legend of the Serpent King literally pops off the page with intricately crafted spreads, two pop-up folds per page, and complex construction that will delight readers young and old with every turn of the page.

A new translation of the late-tenth-century Persian epic follows its story of pre-Islamic Iran's mythic time of Creation through the seventh-century Arab invasion, tracing ancient Persia's incorporation into an expanding Islamic empire. 15,000 first printing.

As the legend goes , the foreign Prince Zahhak is swayed by the devil to murder his crowned father and usurp the thrown. Soon after, the crowned Zahhak is duped again by the devil whose seemingly respectful kisses turn into monstrous snakes that grow out of the king's shoulders. The Serpent King grows infamous through out the land for his treachery and oppression of the known world. He rules for one thousand years before a noble and valiant young Iranian man named Feraydun gains the strength and army to defeat the unjust King.