Animal Fables of the Courtly Mediterranean

The work begins with a collection of diverse prefatory material including the epigram naming Eugenios of Panormos (Palermo) in connection with the work, and Eugenios's own introduction, in which he defends the contents, saying that one should be willingto acquire knowledge no matter what its source and practice an allegorical interpretation of the work. In the Eugenian recension three prologues follow, translated from Arabic, which have originated during the long course of the work's transmission and development from its Indian sources. The reader encounters the prologues in the following order: the account of Perzou?e's (Borzuya's) journey to India (Prologue A), the introduction to the work by Ibn al-Muqaffa? (Prologue B), and Perzou?e's autobiography(Prologue C). The main text of the Eugenian recension of Stephanites and Ichnelates, as it is published here, is divided into fifteen chapters of unequal length and bears the hallmarks of the fluid transmission of the work--