The Tale of Caliph Stork

When the Caliph of Bagdad finds himself trapped in the body of a stork, only the evil sorcerer with designs on his throne knows the magic word that will restore the Caliph to his human form

Grade 2-4-- Caliph Chasid leads a dull but comfortable existence--until he and his Grand Vizier learn how to transform themselves into storks. Forgetting a warning contained in a magic inscription, they find themselves doomed to storkdom forever. Yet all is not lost: an owl, claiming to be a beautiful princess, agrees to help them if one of the men will agree to marry her. The Caliph is doubtful: "What makes you so sure she's young and beautiful?" he asks his Vizier. "Talk about a bird in the bush." Hort's retelling is accessible and full of sly humor, while Henstra's ink and watercolor pictures magically convey the silly but apt transformation of the Caliph and the Vizier into storks. Unfortunately, the white margins surrounding the pictures are distracting because they break up some of the figures. This Iraqi fairy tale, also found in Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book (Dover, 1965), could serve as a good introduction to the Arabian Nights and to Lang's other Fairy books. --Ruth Smith, Chicago Public Library
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