The Tale of Mel n City
by IDRIES SHAH
How can a mere melon be crowned a king? All too easily,
anda
i r
Illustrated by Prashant M
it seems, in a city where basic common sense is in short
supply. Its people are willing to accept authority in any
shape or form, and their silly former king has ordered
his own execution – all because he bumped his head on
an arch and couldn’t find someone else to blame! For
centuries, this hilarious Central Asian teaching-story about
a society where rationality turns in on itself has been a firm
favourite with children. But is it really so far-fetched?
The Tale of Melon City is one of many stories collected by
the late Afghan author and thinker, Idries Shah.
‘These teaching-stories can be experienced on many
levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them, an adult
may analyse them in a more sophisticated way. Both may
eventually benefit from the lessons within.’ ALL THINGS
CONSIDERED, NPR
‘Shah has collected hundreds of Sufi tales… In this tradition,
the line between stories for children and those for adults
is not as clear as it seems to be in Western cultures… the
lessons are important for all generations.’ SCHOOL LIBRARY
JOURNAL
‘These stories provoke fresh insight
and more flexible thought in children.
Beautifully illustrated.’
NEA TODAY (The Magazine of the
National Education Association, USA)
The Tale of Mel n City
Text Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah
Illustrations Copyright © Prashant Miranda
Layout and Design: Rachana Shah
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, or photographic, by recording, or any information storage or retrieval
system or method now known or to be invented or adapted, without prior permission obtained in
writing from the publisher, ISF Publishing, except by a reviewer quoting brief passages in a review
written for inclusion in a journal, magazine, newspaper or broadcast.
Please send requests for permission to reprint, reproduce etc. to:
[email protected]
ISBN: 978-1-78479-476-7
Published by The Idries Shah Foundation
8 Belmont Lansdown Road
Bath, Somerset
BA1 5DZ
United Kingdom
Published in association with The Estate of Idries Shah
First published 2024
The Idries Shah Foundation is a UK-registered cultural charity.
For more go to www.idriesshahfoundation.org
The Tale of Melon City
BY IDRIES SHAH
There was once a king so pompous
that he ordered the construction of
a magnificent arch through which he
could ride to impress the people.
In his dreams, he could actually hear their deafening applause.
No expense was spared, and, very soon, the most splendid arch
imaginable stood at the gates of the town.
But when the great moment came, and the king passed under
the edifice, the royal personage did not quite clear the gap.
It appeared that the arch had been built too low.
The royal temper was immediately lost.
Furious, the king ordered that the royal master-builder be hanged.
Gallows were prepared.
But as the royal master-builder approached
the place of execution, he called out that it
was all the fault of the royal masons, who
had done the actual construction work.
Being a fair man, the king summoned the royal masons.
But the royal masons explained that it was really the royal
architects who were to blame, as they had drawn up the
plans for the splendid arch.
So the king summoned the royal architects.
But the royal architects reminded
His Majesty that he had made some
last-minute alterations to the plans.
‘Summon the wisest man in the land,’ said the king, ‘for
this is a very difficult problem, and we need some highly
intelligent counsel.’
The wisest man was carried in, unable to walk on his own
feet, so ancient – and therefore so wise – was he.
‘The Law of the Land,’ quavered the wisest man, ‘states that the
actual culprit must be punished, and that is, in this case, quite
evidently, none other than the arch itself.’
Delighted by this decision, the king ordered that the offending
arch be carried to the scaffold.
But one of the royal councillors pointed out
that the arch had touched the head of the
king and must therefore surely never
be disgraced by the rope of execution.
‘Another very difficult problem,’ said the
king weakly. ‘We’d better ask the wise man.’
Alas, exhausted by his previous exertions, the wise man had breathed his last
and was unable to offer his insight into this latest conundrum.
Hastily stepping in to advise, the judges of the land decreed that the
lower part of the arch, which had not touched the royal head, could
be hanged for the crime of the arch as a whole.
But when the executioner tried to place the lower part of the
arch into the noose, he found that the rope was too short.
The king summoned the royal rope-makers.
But the royal rope-makers explained that it was really
the scaffold that was too high.
They suggested that the royal carpenters were at fault.
‘We’re NOT starting all that again,’ said the king.
‘The crowd is getting impatient,’ said the royal advisers.
‘We must quickly find someone suitable to hang.’
In a surprisingly short time, all the people
in the land were carefully measured.
But only one person was found to be exactly the right size
to fit the gallows.
It was the king himself.
And such was the people’s enthusiasm that the king had
little choice but to give them what they wanted.
‘Thank goodness we found someone,’ said the prime minister
after they had hanged the king. ‘If we hadn’t quickly acted to satisfy
the mob, they would have undoubtedly turned against the crown.’
‘In these troubled times,’ he continued, ‘we’d better act
quickly to restore a monarch to the throne.’
And so he ordered that in line with tradition, the next person
to pass through the city gates should name the new king.
It just so happened that the next person to wander
through the city gates was the local fool.
Unlike the sensible citizens with whom we have become familiar
in this story, the fool was not known for his brilliant reasoning.
When asked to name the next ruler, he immediately said, ‘A melon.’
He didn’t say ‘a melon’ because he thought a melon would make
a particularly good king.
He said it because he was very fond of melons, and being so fond
of melons, he tended to say ‘a melon’ in answer to any question
that he was asked.
And thus it came about that a melon was, with
due ceremony, crowned king of all the land.
Now that was years and years ago.
These days, when anyone asks why the king is a melon, the people say:
‘His Majesty evidently desires to be a melon...
…and it is not for us to question the king.
His Majesty will certainly make his wishes known, should
His Majesty ever wish to be anything other than a melon.’
4
The End
CHILDREN’S BOOKS BY IDRIES SHAH
After a Swim
Speak First and Lose
The Ants and the Pen
The Boy With No Voice and the Men Who Couldn’t Hear
The Fisherman’s Neighbour
The Horrible Dib Dib
The Man, the Tree and the Wolf
The Onion
The Rich Man and the Monkey
The Story of Mushkil Gusha
The Tale of Melon City
The Tale of the Sands
For other children’s books by Idries Shah please visit hoopoebooks.com
