Embedded Narrative and Its Thematic Impact in Kalila wa Dimna: A Case Study of “The Chapter of the Lion and the Bull”

Abstract

Abdullah Ibn Al-Muqaffa’s Kalila and Dimna is considered a masterpiece of classical Arabic literature. As an inspiring literary-political fable, it has to be revisited and given what it deserves of research. This study aims to shed light on the frame-story which makes the book interesting and exceptional. The unconventional narrative technique of adopting embedded stories – stories within stories – was the writer’s secret success to convey moral lessons and implicit political messages in a literal and subtle way. It will critically discuss how this technique is one of the major causes of the persistence of Kalila and Diman as a prominent literary text in the world of Educational Literature.
 Key Words: Ibn Al-Muqaffa, Kalila and Dinma, narrative technique, embedded-story