Edmund Dulac's Orient

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Look to the Rose that blows about us—"Lo,
Laughing," she says, "into the World I blow:
At once the silken Tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw." (XIII.)

I sometimes think that never blows so red
The Rose as where some buried Caesar bled;
That every Hyacinth the Garden wears
Dropt in her Lap from some once lovely Head. (XVIII.)

Of threats of Hell and Hopes of Paradise!
One thing at least is certain—This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies. (LXIII.)

*Translated by Edward Fitzgerald.

Chinese Fairy Tale: The Story of the Bird Feng

The flowers of the paeony
Will they ever bloom?
A day without her
Is like a hundred years.

The Adventures of Prince Camaralzaman and the Princess Badoura; From: Arabian Nights

Princess Badoura, 1913

Camaralzaman Cures Badoura, 1913

She ran forth, and threw herself into the arms of Camaralzaman

Princess Badoura and the King of China, 1913

The King came in haste, and found that which till now he had only pretended, concerning his daughter, apparently came true

Dahnash and Meymooneh, 1913

As she rose up through the clouds there passed one she knew by his tail to be Dahnash

Sinbad the Sailor; From: Arabian Nights

Japanese Fairy Tale: Urashima Tarō (浦島太郎)

Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale