Functions of Fantastic Etiology in Farīduddīn ʿAṭṭār Nīšābūrī’s the Conference of the Birds

In literary works, the author, based on the mood of the audience, makes use of various literary devices to incite the power of imagination to validate the beauty of his/her work. Fantastic Etiology, Hosn-e taʿlil (literally meaning “beauty of rationale”) is one the rhetorical devices which poets employ to make the conventional explanations sound unfamiliar to take the reader to the world of imagination. Through a descriptive and analytical method, the present study, examines the functions of fantastic etiology in Farīduddīn ʿAṭṭār Nīšābūrī’s the Conference of the Birds or Manṭeq al-ṭayr. By the presentation and discussion of the examples of fantastic etiology in ʿAṭṭār’s work, the present research determines that although this literary device is not frequently used in the Conference of the Birds, it helps ʿAṭṭār deal with complicated artistic, literary, mystical, social and psychological concepts and to highlight the sophisticated beauty of his work. The result is breaking the ordinary and repetitive world of the readers with an unusual world of imageries.