Earlier, another book from this collection, “wonderland” by "Mohammad Ibn Mahmoud Hamedani, author of the 6th century AH, has also been published. He has collected strange stories that he has read, heard, or seen in the form of books and also rewrote them for children and teenagers.

Majid Mullah Mohammadi, who is the chief editor of Poopak monthly, has yet published 200 works in the field of poetry, stories, religious novels and researches for children, teenagers and young people.

The “spring Flower” has 59 funny stories that have been rewritten in simple language for teenagers. “One of the strengths of the book is its humorous theme and it’s one of the few funny ancient books from the Safavid era that it would be charming for children” says the author.

We had a conversation with Majid Molla Mohammadi about the book which you can read below:

What feature of the book prompted you to rewrite it?

This book is great and one of the ancient books written in Arabic in the twelfth century AH. The author was a Shia scientist man named Seyyed Nematullah Jazayeri who was born in Shushtar city in Khuzestan province.  When he was young, He went to Isfahan and became a student of Allameh Mohammad Baqer Majlisi, Allameh Feyz Kashani and several other scientists. During his precious life, he trained many students and wrote numerous books.

It is said that he has left about 35 books, which are in the fields of jurisprudence, hadith, Arabic literature, and more. "Zahr al-Rubaye” is one of these books, and you also can find books about moral and religious anecdotes, Arabic proverbs, stories from the lives of prophets and imams.

Why did you choose this book to rewrite?

The Surah Mehr children's group, led by Hussein Fattahi, intended to rewrite several ancient texts for children and teenagers so I and a group of writers were invited and introduced some ancient texts to be rewritten, and I chose “Qaboosnameh” and “Zahr al-Rubaye” from to recreate. First, I wrote the “Qaboosnameh” and then “Zahr al-Rabi” 'in three months, and it took several years to be published. 

What was it about Zahr al-Rubaye that you found suitable for teenagers?

First of all, I chose this book because of its humorous theme. Ancient Iranian texts such as poetry and fiction are perfect and, our literature is full of great Persian poetry and prose and thousands of sweet anecdotes like “Masnavi” and “Bustan” by “Saadi Shirazi”. 

With the experience of writing Qaboosname, do teenagers show interest in ancient texts?

I think Iranian children will be very interested in ancient books and their history if, out writes recreate them in simple and attractive language.

Have you rewritten the whole Zahr al-Rubaye?

No, only some of them have been recreated. Not all of them were suitable for teenagers.

Source:Tehran Times