The Old Woman and the Eagle / Ya¿l¿ Kad¿n ve Kartal

(Bilingual English-Turkish edition) In this amusing story, an old woman encounters an eagle for the first time. Perplexed by its unfamiliar appearance, she decides to change it to suit her own ideas of what a bird should look like. Her efforts mirror a common pattern of human thought: altering the unfamiliar to make it acceptable. This tale is specially presented for children by Afghan author Idries Shah, who, for more than 30 years, collected stories from the Sufi tradition and adapted them to contemporary Western culture. Told since ancient times throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, such tales are used to help foster greater mental flexibility and insight in people of all ages. The Old Woman and the Eagle is wonderfully illustrated by Natasha Delmar, who was taught to paint by her father, the celebrated classic Chinese painter Ng Yi-Ching.
(¿ngilizce-Türkçe ¿ki Dilli Bask¿) Bu e¿lenceli hikâyede, yäl¿ bir kad¿n hayat¿nda ilk kez bir kartalla kar¿¿lä¿r. Kartal¿n al¿¿¿lmad¿k görünümü kar¿¿s¿nda bir ku¿un nas¿l görünmesi gerekti¿ine dair kafas¿nda var olan fikirlerden yola ç¿karak kartal¿ de¿i¿tirmeye karar verir. Kad¿n¿n bu çabalar¿ baz¿ insanlarda bulunan ortak bir dü¿ünme modelini yans¿t¿yor: Bilinmedik olan¿ kabul edilebilir hâle gelecek ¿ekilde de¿i¿tirmek. Bu masal, 30 y¿l¿ äk¿n süredir yaz¿l¿ ve sözlü kaynaklardan hikâyeleri bir araya getiren ¿dris ¿ah taraf¿ndan çocuklara özel olarak sunuluyor. Böyle hikâyeler Orta Asya ve Orta Döu'da tüm yälardan insanlar¿n zihinsel esneklik ve içgörülerini geli¿tirmeleri amac¿yla çok eski zamanlardan beri anlat¿l¿r.