Ah the beauty of the giant, beautiful diamond that sits in the white stone palace of King Balash. He is a wise and trusting ruler who visits the diamond every day to see the light and beauty and generously shares these wonders with his people. All is well until the day a stranger comes to the palace and steals the diamond. Clumsily though, he drops the diamond during his frantic escape and it shatters on the rocks out in the middle of the desert. When the king finds the diamond missing, he directs his people to go out and find it. A young apprentice stumbles upon the shattered diamonds and leads the king back to it.
There the king decides to stay. But if he will not return to the palace, who will protect the country from attack? Who will care for the people? The young apprentice bargains with the king and asks him to give them one year and one day to bring the light back to the palace and make it equal to what the diamond had given them. Joining forces, the artisans and craftsmen of the land design and create a beautiful carpet. When the king sees the beauty of the colors and the art, he returns to his throne. We can own many possessions in our lives and we can seek great wealth, but look at what the beauty of art in all of its forms can give to our hearts and our minds. This is a Persian legend.
32 pages 978-0399224157 Ages 4-8
Keywords: folktale, Persia, Iran, Asia, royalty, king, stealing, overcoming obstacles, apprentice, Fine Arts Curriculum, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, 8 year old
*****
When King Balash's precious diamond is stolen, the grief-stricken king can no longer rule, and the country falls into chaos, until a clever young boy comes up with a scheme to bring the jewel's radiance back into the palace.--from the publisher
