Khubi Nmeh, an Ancient and Unknown Book of Advice

The historical development of children's literature in Persian Literature shows that from ancient times some texts were written with children in mind in which advice and counsel were presented. An example is Andarz zarbd Mahr Sapandn, another one is Pos Dnenshan Kmag. In the literature of after Islam, Children have a place either as the subject of whole books or are mentioned in some books; for example one can point to Qbus Nmeh of Onsor al-Ma'li, Nasb al-sabyn of Abu Nasr Farhi, Bahrestn of Jami and Gulestn-e Sadi.In the Qajar period more and more attention was paid to children's literature and different genres became popular. There were also translations from western literature and rewriting of ancient stories such as Kalileh va Damneh, Marzbn Nmeh and textbooks and books of advice.In this paper an ancient and unknown advice book entitled Khubi Nmeh is introduced for the first time. This book is of importance for three reasons; first it is one of early advice books for children in modern times. Secondly it is written by a great master of mysticism of the last century and it is lucid and simple to read, yet has a depth of meaning. Third, this book was written in an unknown village—Gonabad—which was far from the capital and major cities.