Customer Reviews

Folktales of Egypt (Folktales of the World)

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I stopped by on a dedicated hunt for a variety of anthropologic resources and couldn't believe that nobody had reviewed this fine work (I hope that doesn't mean that nobody has read it!). The stories range from Arabic classic archetypes to trickster stories (here attributed to Goha, who is quite the same as Hodja, Djuha, etc.) to modern Cairene "street tales." To whet the prospective reader's interest I will merely sketch the story of the modern youth whose girl friend is so upset over "losing" her virginity over and over again that rather than have her sewn up the third time it happens, he has the doctor install a zipper . . .

El Shamy recorded stories or various Egyptians and has written this book from the transcripts. The stories are fantastic and provide insight into Egyptian, Islamic, and Coptic history, culture, myth, and interaction. The story tellers can be visualized because sometimes El Shamy puts the motions of the story telling in parentheses, otherwise the context wouldn't make sense. The stories are short and I highly recommend them for a relaxing read any time.