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Beast
Beast
Beast
Ebook218 pages3 hours

Beast

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Meet the Beast -- before there was Beauty

Orasmyn is the prince of Persia and heir to the throne. His religion fills his heart and his mind, and he strives for the knowledge and leadership his father demonstrates. But on the day of the Feast of Sacrifices, Orasmyn makes a foolish choice that results in a fairy's wretched punishment: he is turned into a beast, a curse to be undone only by the love of a woman.

Thus begins Orasmyn's journey through the exotic Middle East and sensuous France as he struggles to learn the way of the beast, while also preserving the mind of the man. This is the story of his search, not only for a woman courageous enough to love him, but also for his own redemption.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 24, 2015
ISBN9781439115459
Author

Donna Jo Napoli

Donna Jo Napoli is a distinguished academic in the field of linguistics and teaches at Swarthmore College. She is also the author of more than eighty books for young readers.

Read more from Donna Jo Napoli

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Reviews for Beast

Rating: 3.56 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

25 ratings22 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A retelling of Beauty and the Beast where the beast is a Persian prince, Beast tells the story from the beast’s point of view. Like in all versions of the story, the beast’s pride is his downfall and he must learn to overcome it in order to be saved. Yes, he must also attain the love of a woman, but without humility that will never happen. I enjoyed this, especially the deep delve into the prince’s thoughts as he becomes and lives life as a lion. Also, since the beast is a Persian prince, the story incorporates elements of Muslim and Persian life into this traditionally Western story, which made for a nice change. Anyone interested in alternate versions of fairy tales will enjoy this book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I really didn't care for this version of Beauty and the Beast. I am not sure exactly what it was that rubbed me the wrong way
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I did not really enjoy this very much which is a shame because Beauty and the Beast was one of my favorite childhood classic fairy tales. This story is told by the Beast. There is a lot of blood and eating of animals and sexual behavior as well. I also felt it was not entirely accurate and felt the author was trying to form my opinions.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is probably the best book about bestiality I've ever read. Probably. Okay, just kidding, it's the only one (so far).

    Yeah, I really don't know what to say for myself here. I'm not a fan of romance novels in the slightest. I grabbed this off my girlfriend's shelf (she hasn't read it) basically on a whim. I wanted to try reading something outside my comfort zone. As an aspiring author I've heard that's a thing I should do.

    And...I liked it. I'm just as surprised as anybody, believe me. I can immediately see the things that would stop other people from liking it though. Let's review them.

    1) It's about bestiality. I mean, the protagonist bones two female lions in the first third of it and then tries to start a romance with a human woman while he's still very much a freaking lion. It is what it is. Obviously this makes some people very uncomfortable. Some of the reviews here are are so full of outrage about this that I just can't help but laugh. Is it really any weirder than being in a serial killer's head while reading Dexter? Sure, it's an odd choice to turn into a whole novel, but it's a take on Beauty and the Beast, so it's not like the bestiality was the primary inspiration. Also it was done well, so that's really all that matters. She paints a vivid picture of what a man getting accustomed to a lion's body would feel like, and I was pretty impressed by that. Getting to be in a character's head, especially in first-person viewpoint, while they are in the body of an animal is kind of a rare thing I hadn't come across anywhere but short stories before.

    If it makes you uncomfortable, don't read it. Or do read it, and also lots of other messed up books, and maybe venture into the darkest reaches of the internet while you're at it because you are super sheltered and need to desensitize yourself if you ask me. I, honestly, just found it kind of funny. I mean, how can you not? He turns into a lion and pretty much the first thing he does is bone not one, but two female lions! TWO! He emptied those lion nuts post-haste. He didn't even get a chance to eat anything first.

    2) The author likes to use specific cultural/religious terminology and define it in the same sentence. This happens most often at the very beginning, and it's a little much. It definitely gets better the further in you get though. I mostly skimmed over it, but I also kind of liked it at the same time. It did a nice job of pulling you into that world, and It made me feel like I was learning something. Since I already have a fondness for this culture and setting maybe I'm biased. But hey, if you find it annoying then you find it annoying. That's all there really is to it, and I totally get it. But, to be fair, the author's afterword mentions that Orasmyn would've written the whole thing in Arabic anyway. I just imagined it was the way somebody chose to translate the story into English from his original text and that made sense to my brain.

    3) Everything is very convenient. The reason the protagonist is turned into a lion, for instance. Some may cry "overly apparent plot device." To me, it just combined with the language of the novel and the setting to make it seem like a lengthy fairy tale, and I love fairy tales more than just about anything. This seemed like a story straight out of Arabian Nights, and that was pretty awesome.

    So, to recap, don't read this book if you: are uncomfortable with bestiality, hate smatterings of unnecessary foreign words, or hate overly convenient plots.

    Do read if you: like fairy tales, or if you like Persian and Indian culture in fiction.

    Simple, right?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Napoli always has a new perspective on fairy tales, and this is no exception. This tale is almost always told from the Beauty's perspective, and telling from the perspective of the beast is only one way the tale becomes more original. When Orasmyn is transformed into a lion, he has to deal with the instincts of his new form. He has to balance out being in the body of a lion with who he is inside- to determine how to hold onto his Muslim beliefs when he has lost so much control. How can he win a woman's love in the body of a lion? Should he even try?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Well, it's well-written, the plot is just something I can't get behind. An honourable, sensitive Persian prince who refuses to hunt because he hates hurting animals is punished for making the wrong decision when it came time for him to sacrifice a camel (it wasn't choosing between whether or not to sacrifice an animal, that wasn't an option - it was *which* camel to sacrifice). The dead camel's spirit then haunts him, promising his father would kill him the next day (this camel sucks at making prophecies, because that didn't really even come close to happening) and later tells him that the curse (him being turned into a lion) couldn't be undone unless a woman loved him...what the fuck does that have to do with his supposed transgression that led to him being punished? As a lion, the prince proceeds to engage in lion orgies (WTF?), contemplates kidnapping a lion cub so he could raise it up to be a mate (WTF?) and then, when he gets to France (long, convoluted, pointless story) he orders a rose thief to bring him his youngest daughter - again, so he can "raise" her to be his mate (he thinks/expects/hopes she's much younger than she actually is). WTF?Essentially, the sensitive, kind, honourable prince is "taught his lesson" by turning him into someone who practices bestiality, contemplated pedophilia, kidnaps children, and kills animals without remorse.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this for the "A Book Already In Your Bookshelf" part of my 2018 reading challenge. A fantastic retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Persian roots. I love the detail in his trials and all that he learns along the way.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very interesting take on how the Beast came to be that way.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book for the first time when I was in middle school, and I remember it being one of the most interesting books I had ever read. I enjoyed the idea of the prince transforming into a lion, and detail of him discovering how to walk and act like a lion. I thought it was all very interesting, especially the overall tone and setting of the story, the description of the scenery and detail in items and elements while reading. It is still a favorite of mine
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast, told from the Beast's perspective. (it's also told in present tense, which I found rather distracting - but overall, it was quite good, although not as good as the other book I've read by Napoli, 'Zel'.)
    Here, the Beast is a young Persian prince. Inadvertently, is crosses a peri, who curses him that his father will kill him the next day. The next day, his father has a lion hunt planned - and the prince realizes that he has physically become a lion.
    He manages to avoid being killed, and hopes that the curse will wear off, but it doesn't - and he learns that his only hope is to have a woman love him for who he is, without knowing that he is under an enchantment. He finds that to be hopeless, so he simply goes in search of a place where he could live as a lion, without the danger inherent in staying in his father's hunting park.
    In an unlikely and quickly-skipped-over journey, he gets from Persia to France, and finds an abandoned castle (which mystifyingly, still has lots of useful stuff in it), and from there, the story-as-we've-heard-it basically ensues...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An all-time favorite for me!!! This is probably one of my more favorite "Beauty & the Beast" retelling and I include it in my core collection of fairytales and their spinoffs. The author does a good job of taking two cultures to weave together while the story is so realistic you can almost believe that this is really the way it happened. You find so much feelings going through you and then you read the end, which is not really an end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5

    To this day, reading this book again has left me with the strangest of feelings. This is the kind of book that appears as one thing, then starts off in the most unexpected of settings. By the end, though, it turns around to find you on the edge of your seat and cheering once that last page comes. It is a book that rewards you if you stick to the journey that it's taking you on, which is one of sometimes tedious self discovery, but also unusual circumstance.

    Our main character, Prince Orasmyn, is the "Beast" of the story, and unlike the popular Disney movie, this book is told entirely from his point of view. In this way, it gives us the unusual chance to look at the "Beauty and the Beast" tale from another angle completely because we are allowed to see what led up to the curse put on the Prince that turned him into the "Beast". The telling is innovative, rooted in the Persian culture flawlessly, and has a tale 5% of magic and 95% charm and struggle. The book starts off in the center of Persia, and as such, is a book that is teeming with culture and not afraid of itself at all. It guides you through everything by the hand, making it easy for you to understand what's going on and taking you step by step through what struck me as a cultural change of dramatic effect. I know very little of Persian culture or their religious beliefs, but even if everything seemed strange to me, I was able to get into the book fairly easily. Not to mention, just because the environment is unusual, it didn't detract from the interest of the story whatsoever. Odd though the various situations were, they were suspenseful, strange, and still intriguing.

    While many people may be turned away by a book that has such an odd beginning, and may lose hope of any of these "Beauty and the Beast" vibes by the time the middle of the book hits, the very best part is once you get over that middle mountain. But this style of book does end up with me needing to give the warning: This is a book primarily of self-discovery as opposed to a direct romance. The romantic aspects, while present, come as a much later spice to this meal. It's there and it only intensifies the beauty of the story, but it is not what you should be counting on seeing from beginning to end. More, the romance aspect of this book comes as a reward as Prince Orasmyn grows more and more. As far as I'm concerned, that's what made the book so engaging in the first place and what makes the payoff at the end so worthwhile. To travel with this Prince who truly thinks he knows all and can suffer no consequences until he learns naturally about the world and how to survive makes for an interesting journey. When love and possible freedom from the curse cast on him come, it makes all of the small, gradual changes inside of him that much more beautiful.

    I think that's the final word I can say about this book. The subtlety and rewards at the end are what make it all the more enjoyable a read. While some people may find the build-up boring or dull, the few who don't mind a bit of adventuring while they wait for the gradual romantic moments to come will find this book worthwhile.


    Final Recommendation

    Taking that into mind, I would call this one a library book for most, especially those interested solely in the romantic aspects. Trying it out to see if it's up your alley is a much better idea than spending the money on it if you're not sure. For those who enjoy fairy-tale retellings however, this is a book that will 100% add diversity into your collection. I would definitely recommend you buying it. It's not shy and it's not dainty either. It is openly bold and has a peculiar beauty to it that I'm sure many people would appreciate if they gave it the chance and didn't let themselves get caught off guard by the unusual choice of settings and characters.

    Definitely give this one a shot. You might find it all worth it should you choose to stick with it to the end.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Interesting twist on the classic Beauty & the Beast tale - told from the Beast's POV
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Rating: 3.5 of 5My first experience with Donna Jo Napoli. I found Beast's imagery beautiful and vivid; however, the hunts were too graphic for me (because I'm a big wuss and love animals). It was definitely more character-driven than plot, so don't expect a lot of action. Like a typical fairytale, its ending is abrupt. Most appreciated reading the Beauty and the Beast tale from the POV of the "beast" as I've only ever read from "beauty" POV. Recommended for ages 12 and up, or adults who can't get enough fairytales.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Beast was my first audiobook of 2012, although I’d tried two others before—the public library’s copy of The Night Circus was scratched and their recording of Alexandre Dumas’s The Black Tulip featured a truly awful narrator.Disappointed with my recent string of bad luck, I was browsing the shelves of the YA audio section, saw this, and thought, Why not? I'd tried reading a couple of Napoli’s fairy tale retellings as a preteen, without much success, but this particular title had been bouncing around in the back of my mind for a while. I think I would have read it years ago had I not been toying with the idea of writing a novel with a similar concept: a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” from the Beast's point of view.The premise of the book is fabulous, and I’m not just talking about the Beast-as-narrator idea; setting the story in medieval Persia was also a terrific notion. Unfortunately the execution is somewhat uneven.I was surprised and fascinated by how Napoli chose to portray the prince in the opening chapters. Perhaps due to the Disney movie, I had always thought of the Beast pre-transformation as deeply flawed: vain, selfish, spoiled, even cruel. This is how I would have written him if I ever came around to writing my “Beauty and the Beast” novel. It gives him more room to grow as a character, and the paradox of becoming kinder and less beastly in character while outwardly a beast is a truly beautiful thing. Napoli’s Prince Orasmin is imperfect but not all that bad; his tragic flaw is that he is perhaps not quite as diligent in studying The Koran as he ought to be, which causes him to make a mistake regarding an animal sacrifice. The invites the wrath of a pari (or fairy), who then curses him.I enjoyed the depiction of Persian/Muslim culture in this part of the book (I was previously unaware that one of the names for God in Islam is “The Merciful One”), but I didn't think that the magical cause-and-effect was very clear. Why did one of the pari’s spells work, turning Orasmin into a lion, while her curse dooming him to die at his father’s hands never came true? The explanation Napoli ended up offering sounded more like an excuse, a hallmark of bad fantasy writing.It was at this point of the book that I really started to have problems with the story. Orasmin is now a lion trapped on his father’s hunting grounds, cursed to die at the Shah’s hands—so what does he do but take some off to copulate with a couple of lionesses? The descriptions of leonine sex mad me laugh, but as another reviewer pointed out, they’re also rather disturbing once you remember that Orasmin’s mind and soul are still those of a man. The next third of the book, which is set in India and documents Orasmin’s struggle to live happily as a lion without breaking the pari’s curse, is less ridiculous but basically more of the same.The arrival of Belle on the scene rejuvenates the narrative. She is easily the best of Napoli’s creations, shyer and more frightened than I had seen the character portrayed before, but still strong, feisty, and loving. I also loved the care Orasmin-as-lion took to prepare the castle for her, although the way he imagines her to be a very small girl child who he can rear up to care for him romantically is unnerving to say the least. I was certainly glad when she turned out to be a mature young woman instead. I would have liked for this section of the book featuring the romance to go on longer. While there is a certain minimalist beauty to the ending, my first reaction was “That’s it?”Robert Rodriguez’s reading of the audiobook was average. In the opening chapters I found his delivery a bit stilted, lacking passion and full of odd pauses. He seemed to gain confidence as he went along, though, and there was one moment in particular when his voice deepened and almost sounded like a growl. It was a nice touch.Passable, and recommended to readers who just can’t get enough of “Beauty and the Beast” stories, but Robin McKinley’s Beauty is still to be preferred.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A look at Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is a Persian Prince. He is making an offering of a camel but she is not pure. He decides to go ahead with the sacrifice anyway as all of the preparations have been made and there are no other camels they can use. As a result he is cursed to be killed by his own father and transformed into a lion.He first tries to live as a lion and travels to India. He tries to fit in with a couple of different prides but he doesn’t really understand the laws of the lions. He has his own mind but in a different body. He is chased away on more than one occasion and is lucky to still be alive. From there he travels to France and the story becomes more traditionally Beauty and the Beast when a man finds the castle where he has been living and in exchange for his life he promises to being his youngest daughter to live with the Beast.I wanted to like this but it didn’t really grab me. It was like reading two completely different books that had been sandwiched together. I know it’s a fairy tale, but I still wanted to be able to believe in the story and the characters and I really didn’t. My favourite was the little fox cub who got a very raw deal I felt poor thing. One thing I did like though was all the Persian detail and the glossary at the back of the book. A lot of research clearly went into writing it and it’s a shame it felt so short and glossed over.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've always loved the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, so when I found this retelling I was excited. It is shelved in my local library as Young Adult, and I couldn't agree more with that designation. The story itself is interestingly set in Persia. I found the religious references and the folk lore fun to read. The majority of the story is set in both Persia and India. These were my favorite parts. I was hoping the Beauty part of the story would vary more than it did. But again, we had to travel to France and meet an oh-so-sweet girl who is destined to free the Beast from his curse.I was honestly disappointed with the lack of originality in the end. This did not stop me from enjoying the book for what it was - a retelling of a classic aimed at a younger audience than myself. I will definitely be recommending it to my niece and my own children when they're a bit older.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I can't say that I really enjoyed this book. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, a story that I love, but in this case I didn't find that the retelling improved on the story at all. The premise is intriguing enough: this is Beast's story, starting from before he met Beauty and explaining how and why he came to be a Beast. Unfortunately, I thought the reason for his transformation was unsatisfying, the descriptions of his time as a beast were distasteful, and he was a pretty unlikeable character overall.Beast is set in Persia, and the protagonist is a prince. As his servant is preparing a camel for sacrifice at a religious festival, he notices that the camel has a scar that makes it unfit for this sacrifice. The servant has no alternative camel ready, an oversight that could result in a severe penalty, possibly even death. The prince, who has a good heart and a dislike for the suffering of others, weighs the risks and benefits and decides that the camel should be sacrificed despite the flaw. This will save the servant and help the people, who receive portions of the meat. And, he reasons, God is merciful.It's not entirely clear why this reasoning breaks down. The prince is turned into a beast (a lion, in particular) not by God, but by the angry spirit of the camel. I can't honestly say why the camel was angry, because it wasn't explained what exactly happens to an animal that is sacrificed inappropriately. For whatever reason, though, the prince is punished for his attempt to do good by being turned into a lion, and the curse will only be broken if he wins a woman's love (this part is explained by the camel being female, though again, the logic here isn't entirely clear to me). Needless to say, if the goal is to bring the Beast to life by providing his backstory, the backstory needs to make sense. I wasn't exactly satisfied in this regard.So then the prince is a lion, and does lion things. Although as a man he has never laid eyes on a women other than his mother, his first act as a lion is to mate with some female lions in the palace hunting grounds. This wasn't described in very much detail, but I still could have done without it. I just didn't need to hear about his “thrusting”. Also, note that this is a YA book, or possibly even children's. The prince also spends a lot of his time hunting, which I didn't find very interesting. Basically, I wasn't really into the story until the requisite scene where Belle's father encounters the beast while seeking shelter from the storm; i.e., until Napoli's story converges with the traditional version. Unfortunately, this didn't happen until more than halfway through.I did enjoy the development of the Beast's relationship to Belle, but I couldn't fully like him because of the way he treated her pet fox. This fox was possibly the best character in the story; he was loving, playful, loyal, forgiving, and basically wonderful all around. And the Beast constantly thought things along the lines of “What a stupid animal” or “That foolish fox....”, for no particular reason that I could see. I'm not sure how he changed from someone who seemed so compassionate initially into someone who thought badly about innocent animals; and no matter how well he treated Belle, I think his ideas about the fox were more telling about his personality.So, an initially likeable man is transformed into a beast because he made a religious error while trying to help others; once he's a beast, he becomes less likeable rather than learning any sort of valuable lesson.I've enjoyed other books by Donna Jo Napoli in the past, but I think I'll stick to Robin McKinley for Beauty and the Beast.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I decided to read Beast by Donna Jo Napoli after reading Robin McKinley's retellings of the Beauty and the Beast (Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast ; Rose Daughter).Beast tells the story of Belle and the Beast falling in love under extreme circumstances a castle in France, but the beginning of Napoli's tale starts in Persia with the son of the Shah and his beastly curse being handed down by a djinn.The language is lovely, the Beasts travels from Persia to France a bit heart breaking and the Islamic insights add lots of interest in this retelling.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The class story of Beauty and the Beast told from the Beast's point of view starting from the curse until he finds a women who can love him. The main character is the Beast and he is well developed in his Persian identity and how becoming a lion changes him. The plot is well developed and although is just Orasmyn for about half the book, his struggles with how to remain human while a lion is intriguing. The changing setting from the deserts of Persia to the safari of India to the mountains of France are all well developed and easy to picture as the reader follows Orasmyn on his journey. This is a great view of the story of Beauty and the Beast for the tales lovers, also for slightly more romantic boys since the story is from a male point of view. It is an excellent book for a public library in the teen section for mature middle school readers and high schoolers.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is a story of a Shah's son from Persia who improperly allows a camel to be sacrificed. In revenge, a pari (Persian fairy) turns the man into a lion. The only way to remove the curse is to have a woman fall in love with him. Conveienced that this will never happen, the lion goes to India to live as a lion. Unable to live in a pride, the man must face the reality that his only hope is to find a french woman who loves roses just as much as he does. I didn't particuarly like this book. I felt it was a little long. The writing was good but uneven. The first part of the book is dedicated to the main character living as a lion. I felt this part of the book could have been much shorter. The author feels the need to document every kill. The end feels almost forced, as though the author needed to finish up the story and didn't want to spend too much time on it. It's an okay read, but not what I had expected.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I Love Napoli's books with a fairy tale base. The stories are interesting and the characters great. She doesn't talk down or preach to her audience. I really need to buy some more titles.

Book preview

Beast - Donna Jo Napoli

PART 1

The Curse

CHAPTER ONE

The Camel

The lion-ape lunges from the tree a moment too late;

Bahram Chubina’s arrow has already sealed his fate.

I gasp roughly. Beast and warrior glow white, burning, against the gold ground. The sun glints off the illuminated pages as it glints off the metal mar—snake—that twists around and around from my wrist to my elbow. My fists clench; I am aghast at dying, aghast at killing.

Orasmyn?

I turn, startled.

Mother comes in, her face unveiled — she has not yet left the palace this morning. The pleasure of seeing the dark sliver moons under her eyes, her full cheeks, pulls me at once from the violence on the page to the sweet calm of our lives.

Father, the Shah of all Persia, has promised to find me a suitable wife soon. I will be the first adult male outside the young woman’s family to ever set eyes on her bare face, to ever know her mysteries. Warmth threads up my throat to my cheeks. I stroke my short beard and smile broad to hide my thoughts.

Mother smiles in return. "You’re reading the Shahnameh yet again? She comes to my reading platform and bends over me. Her hair hangs wavy, freed from the braids that hold it tight at night and that she will rebraid before going outside today. It brushes my arm. With a fingertip she traces the spine of the lion-ape. His eyes speak anguish."

Her words touch me with their femininity. Women speak through their eyes from behind the chador—the veil—that shrouds all else. They are accustomed to listening to the eyes of others, even those whose full faces show.

Shall I read to you?

Battle stories. Mother wrinkles her nose. I prefer Islamic verse.

Islamic verse is in Arabic. These are stories in our own strong Persian. And they’re not all battle. Let me read to you of Malika falling in love with Shahpour. Already I am thumbing back through the earlier pages.

Mother squats and catches my hand between hers. Orasmyn, I’ve got a present for you. In my room. A book by Saadi.

The prospect intrigues me, for this great mystic, this Sufi, is known for mixing the spirit of Islam with the culture of Persia. But Mother’s tone irritates. I pull my hand away. I don’t need help in choosing my reading.

We all need help, Orasmyn.

A prince doesn’t.

Mother presses her lips together in a thin line. Then her face softens again. I see you’ve done your prayers. Her finger now runs the part in the middle of my hair that I made during my cleaning ritual, the wudhu, before the prayers that precede sunrise. Why didn’t you come eat with us? she asks. Your father and I will be busy with festival duties most of the day. We had hoped to see you this morning, at least.

Today is the Feast of Sacrifices. Every royal family in every town across Persia has invited the poor to partake of the meat from the animal they will sacrifice this noon. Here in Tabriz there will be a double offering, for my family will add a sacrifice of our own to that of the local royal family. I don’t plan to eat on this festival, I say.

Is that so? Mother looks at me with curiosity. "You’re dressed as a hajji—a pilgrim." Fondly, she brushes the folds of cloth on my back.

I draped this white cloth around me as the sun rose. It is almost a year since I returned from my pilgrimage to Mecca. These days, when I go out, I wear my ordinary tunic under royal robes, though of course I carry prayer beads and wear a white hat always. But today I will stand in white cloth with the other hajjiha, a cloud of purity. I’m assisting at the sacrifice.

Ah. Mother nods. "Then I understand your fasting. But, son, my gentle prince, not every hajji must take part."

I hear the question under her words. As a child I ran from the sacrifices, from the spilling of blood. As an adult, I take no part in the hunts. Mother says I am like the flowers that grow in my treasured gardens, more tender than flesh should be.

Still, today I fight off trepidation. The sacrifice is compassionate; as my father’s heir, I must understand that. The animal dies to commemorate the ancient sacrifice by Ibrahim. Don’t worry about me. I kiss Mother’s hand.

I’ll leave you to prepare, then, she says, straightening up. "At the prayers before the sacrifice, be sure to make your rakatha—your bows —deep and low, and to linger a moment before rising. That way I can pick you out from the other hajjiha and send you my strength." Mother leaves.

Her strength? A prince should rely on no one. But it is too late to protest; she is gone.

I open the rear doors, which give directly out to my private garden for praying, my belaq. We have palaces in many cities, and I have taken part in designing the gardens at three of them. I work with a cohort of servants, planting, pruning, mulching.

My special fragrance garden around the throne room in the central pavilion of our Isfahan palace is continuously in flower. The carpet I stand on now depicts that garden. The border bands hold daisies and pomegranates and heads of lions. This rug makes my feet want to climb. We winter in Isfahan, of course, on the arid plateau almost completely ringed by mountains.

My yellow roses are at our palace in Shiraz. On the first day of spring, we celebrate Naurouz, New Year's, there, surrounded by flowering persimmons. I always beg Father to take us to Shiraz early, even as early as the end of February, so that we can feel the bade gulhaye sourkh —the wind of roses—that blows strong in the afternoon. Processions fill the streets with music and torches for thirty days. I throw coins with lions stamped on them to the people I pass. They throw rose petals in return. All flowers grow in Shiraz, but gulhaye sourkh—roses—are what they throw, because the rose is my favorite, Prince Orasmyn’s favorite.

But Shiraz is too hot in summer. So we return north to Tabriz, the capital, where I tend my most extensive gardens.

I step outside now and pass through my walled belaq out to the public gardens. To the west stands the mosque. To the south and east and north stretches garden. My eyes follow straight pebbled paths interrupted at regular intervals by a series of steps, on and on, until the paths are lost in the trees and the mountains beyond. It is easy to fool myself into thinking the garden continues forever—infinite.

I imagine I feel a wet breeze from the Caspian Sea to the east—though it is more than a days journey away. I emerge from the shadows of the portico and walk along a maddi—a water channel—to the reflecting pool. The people will gather here after the sacrifice to await the cooked meat. The pavilion on the north side will host the men, while that on the south will host the women. Columns hold up the roofs of the pavilions, columns spaced widely, so that one group can easily see what the other does. The voices will be loud and happy.

But right now the pool and garden are mine. The air is faint with white jasmine. Clover and aromatic grasses crush soft under my bare feet. Sour cherry trees fan out in star designs. I step up onto the talar, the platform overlooking the pool, and gaze at the black-and-white limestone colonnades of the palace. The early sun gives an orangish sheen to the stones, almost the color of henna, and an idea comes to me.

Mother said not every hajji must take part in the sacrifice. So nothing should prescribe the participation of those hajjiha who do take part. Joyous moment, I am free to choose what duties I assume.

I race to the animal enclosures beyond the mosque, to the camel-holding pen, hoping no one has beat me to the task. Preparing an animal for sacrifice is just as important a part of the feast as slashing its neck.

Kiyumars is already in the pen, stroking the large she-camel. But no one else is about. I join this servant with a silent nod. We’ve known each other all our lives—we played among the herds of goat and sheep together as children; we tend the gardens of Tabriz side by side as adults—we fall into an easy camaraderie now. Kiyumars puts henna on the head of the camel, turning her the orange color that guided my feet here now. All is well. I rub the camels eyelids with kohl. She is docile, more docile than I’ve known a camel to be. Kiyumars takes a sugar lump from his pouch and puts it in the camel’s mouth. Ah, now I understand her cooperation, for I have a sweet tooth myself.

The necklace shines from the open box nearby. It is made of tiny mirrors set in red silk with gold embroidered leaves. Carefully I lift it with both hands and hold it under the camel’s thick neck. Kiyumars takes one end, and together we fasten the necklace in place. It hangs before her chest like a banner.

Kiyumars dips his hands in the henna again. He turns to the camel, about to rub color into her back, when he gasps.

I look over his shoulder. At first I cannot see it. But now halfway up her single hump a thin line shows, where the hair doesn’t lie perfectly flat. It runs two hands-width long.

Kiyumars looks at me with frightened eyes.

We both know what the scar means. Someone cut fat from this camels hump, a practice of our people for millennia. But now we know, through the teachings of Muhammad, that the Merciful One expressly forbids it: Live animals are never to suffer at the hand of man. An old scar, to be sure. Nevertheless, this camel has been defiled.

She appeared to be the finest camel, my prince. In the name of the Merciful One, this is truth.

Was no other camel brought here yesterday and prepared for sacrifice? I ask, though I can see the holding pen is otherwise empty.

She is the only one, my prince. Kiyumars’ voice shakes. An error regarding sacrifices could call for grave punishment. The local royal family holds to old Persian customs that go against Islam; they would have Kiyumars nailed by his ears to the wall out front of the palace, just as they do to those who break the fast during the monthlong celebration of Ramadhan. I wince at the thought. My hand instinctively takes his upper arm and pulls him close. My chest swells with the need to protect Kiyumars.

But is it written anywhere that a camel who has been violated in this way cannot be sacrificed? I recall no such prohibition, though I have to admit I remember more of the Persian folktales in the Shahnameh than of the Arab holy words in the Qur’an.

I could ask the imam—the prayer leader—just to be sure. But the Feast of Sacrifices is one of the two most important holy days of the lunar year —so the Shah should know the rules that govern it. Likewise, the Shah’s son should know. Consultation would be a sign of weakness.

The answer must lie within me.

Think, Orasmyn.

This camel is imperfect. But all the camels in our herd have some defect or other. They have to. Such is the way of the world. This may be the best camel available, despite her scar.

Kiyumars puts both hands to his cheeks, forgetting the henna in his desperation and turning himself orange. It is my thoughtlessness. Jumail is the only camel prepared for sacrifice. Forgive me, my prince.

Jumail? This is the Arab word for little camel, not the Persian one. This camel clearly belongs to Islam. I reach high and put my hands over her muzzle, trying to pull myself up so I can look into her eyes. The camel stares at me a moment, then blinks and jerks her head away. But she doesn’t bare her teeth. Jumail is ready for sacrifice.

I scan my memory for wisdom from the Qu’ran. The Merciful One forgives our dietary lapses more easily than most other lapses.

Yes, says Kiyumars with hope in his voice.

Now I search my memory for wisdom from our people’s traditions, wisdom my nursemaid Ava taught me. And eating camel meat rekindles faith, I say softly.

The people will be grateful, says Kiyumars. Especially the sick, my prince.

I think of the sick, for whom half the meat of this camel will be salted and set aside. They will chew it all year long for strength no other meat can give. Nothing would be gained by failing to sacrifice this beast.

And I cannot believe the Merciful One would want Kiyumars to suffer for an innocent oversight. Indeed, if animals are not to suffer at the hand of man, how then can humans be allowed such suffering?

I fasten a necklace of bells around the camel, high up and tight, so that it rides in front of the arch of her neck. Then I stand tall before my servant, my friend.

Kiyumars bows to me. When he rises, he smears the camels hump with henna, putting extra on the scar that disappeared with his first swipe. I add a strand of precious stones between the necklace of bells and the necklace of mirrors. After Kiyumars finishes coloring the camel’s back, I spread the fine Kashmir shawl across her. She is ready.

Everything has been done correctly.

Or almost everything.

In an instant I am cold. It is nearly impossible to be cold anywhere in my country in the summer, even at the start of summer, even in Tabriz. Yet I shiver now. It is as though a tiny being flutters around my head, blowing and blowing. It as as though a storm begins.

CHAPTER TWO

The Pari

The bazaar is thronged with the faithful, as always. But this morning they do not barter for cloth or copper vessels, for wool or carpets. And this morning the number of people is multiplied many times, for the women have come out of their homes to stand beside the men, and the zarehun—the farmers—have left the fields to take their place along the sides of the road. All have come out for the procession.

Little boys run before the hajjiha—the pilgrims—picking up small stones and sticks. Normally they use brooms to sweep the streets, but on the Feast of Sacrifices no brooms are allowed, because the broken needles left behind by sweeping might pierce the bare feet of the hajjiha. I am grateful; many times on my pilgrimage I walked for days. But I’ve been home long enough that my feet have grown tender again.

Behind the row of hajjiha comes the ram to be sacrificed by the local royals. Next comes the camel to be sacrificed by the Shah. A gap follows these two animals, a gap in which the bells of their necklaces jingle, happy and light. If they know they are to die, they must be filled with rapture at the prospect. To give ones life for the Merciful One, that is true privilege.

After the gap come the music makers: the men blowing saz — oboes — my favorite instruments, besides the human voice, that is. And one man playing the kerna — a trumpet as tall as he is. And then a row of men on kettledrums. This music isn’t new. We hear it every night and at all festivals. And during the month of Ramadhan, we hear it before each dawn. Familiarity endears it to me. This is the music of my faith. I listen to it from my position far in the front of the procession and it is muted, like the sound of water in a river on the far side of a stand of trees. A smile swells my cheeks, though this is a solemn feast.

I know the Shah comes immediately behind the music makers, flanked by his most loyal servants. When we travel long distances, my father rides in

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