The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water – English-French Edition

ISBN: 978-1-946270-28-3 (paperback) $11.90
36 pages

The story of Share the Lion King and his jungle friends has been entertaining and teaching children for many centuries. It can provide them with a tool with which to overcome irrational fears, so often caused by behavior or events that they as yet may not understand.

Idries Shah’s collections of Eastern oral and written literature have established the Sufi teaching story as an educational instrument. The original version of this story was told by the 13th-century Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi.

Ingrid Rodriguez has illustrated this tale, bringing the animals to life with warmth and humor. Her illustrations are full of incidental and small details that make her style distinctive.

Selected by the Michigan Department of Education (U.S.) as part of its statewide R.E.A.D.Y. (Read, Educate and Develop Youth) program designed to make sure children have the necessary prereading skills (language, vocabulary, alphabet) by the time they enter school.

“Children enjoy hearing this story many times, amused at what they recognize to be the lion’s lack of objectivity and his unreasonable fear. With each rereading, the lion’s predicament and his reaction to it become more familiar … [which] provides a base on which the child can come to understand egocentricity and irrationality at successive depths later in life.”
—Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education; Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists

“This memorable tale, which is known to almost every Afghan, can teach children and adults valuable lessons about fear that unfold gradually, as one is ready for them. … Rodriguez’s illustrations are expansive, jovial, and colorful.” —Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education

“A delightful tale from an oral tradition many centuries old, illustrated with warmth, humor and the detail that children love. A thirsty lion, afraid of his own reflection in a pool of water, overcomes his fear while his jungle friends look on.” —Great Lakes Booksellers Association

“My child has been struggling with anxious feelings at bedtime. After the school assembly [where the story The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water had been shared], we practiced a calming breathing technique we’d learnt, and then retold The Lion Who Saw Himself in Water together. I was surprised and relieved when he went to sleep easily for the first time in ages.” —Recounted by a mother in Ipswich, UK, to Ezra Hewing, Head of Education at the mental-health charity Suffolk Mind

“Rodriguez’s illustrations are expansive, jovial, and colorful.” —School Library Journal

Le lion qui se vit dans l’eau – édition bilingue anglais-français

Écrit par Idries Shah
Illustré par Ingrid Rodriguez
Traduction de Hélène Devèze, Sarah Tiefenauer-Linardon, Sarah Wenger
De 3 à 11 ans

ISBN: 978-1-946270-28-3 (broché) $11.90
36 pages

Depuis des siècles, l’histoire de Sher, le Roi Lion, et de ses compagnons de la jungle est une source d’amusement et d’enseignement pour les enfants. Grâce à elle, ils pourront trouver un moyen de surmonter les peurs irrationnelles qui sont souvent causées par des comportements ou des évènements qu’ils ne sont pas encore en mesure de comprendre. 

La littérature écrite et orale venue d’Orient que nous propose Idries Shah consacre l’histoire-enseignement soufi en tant qu’outil éducatif. La version originale de ce conte nous vient de Jalaluddin Rumi, poète soufi du 13e siècle.

« … une leçon d’humilité et d’empathie. Cette histoire raconte comment certaines choses peuvent être mal interprétées. Elle encourage le développement social et affectif. » —Burney, instituteur à Higher Horizons Head Start, Falls Church, VA