Once Upon a Time in Persia

Once Upon a Time in Persia

SAHAR DOUSTAR DANIELA TIENI

First published 2022 by order of the Tate Trustees

by Tate Publishing, a division of Tate Enterprises Ltd, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG www.tate.org.uk/publishing Original Italian edition © Topipittori, 2019 Text © Sahar Doustar, 2019 Illustrations © Daniela Tieni, 2019 Translation by Lingo 24 Ltd, 2022 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, www.cla.co.uk A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84976 829 0 Distributed in the United States and Canada by ABRAMS, New York Library of Congress Control Number applied for Colour reproduction by DL Imaging Ltd, London Printed and bound in China by C&C Offset Printing Co., Ltd

Once Upon a Time in Persia Sahar Doustar Illustrated by Daniela Tieni

O

nce upon a time in Persia, there lived a young woman who had never before seen her reflection in a mirror, and so did not know what she looked like.

One day, a young man fell in love with her and proposed.

The woman accepted and a date was set for the wedding.

On the day of the wedding, a mirror and some candles were brought in.

The bride and groom sat in front of them.

Seeing her reflection for the first time, the woman gave a start, thinking that the groom had chosen another bride.

With a broken heart and in despair, she fled far away.

In desperation, the abandoned groom straddled his horse and set off to search for his bride.

He rode and rode until finally he found her, sitting on the shores of a lake, weeping.

The groom sat down next to her, handed her a handkerchief and asked her: “Why did you leave me?”

To which the bride replied, “You were going to marry another girl.”

Astounded, he asked her, “Which girl?”

“The girl wearing a wedding dress and sitting in front of us.”

The groom burst out laughing.

“That was you! That was your reflection in the mirror.”

“No, that wasn’t me.”

“Of course it was, you look exactly like the figure you saw!”

“I swear that girl has nothing to do with me,” replied the bride.

“I have another form.”

“Which is?”