The Riddle of the Hollow Reed

The Riddle of the Hollow Reed is a childrens story about a traveling dervish who arrives in a city and becomes the catalyst for its transformation. When he arrives, the traveling dervish begins to play his flute to the townspeople, telling them that God created them because He loved them. Although the rulers of the town, not wanting change, scheme against the dervish, the townspeople begin to believe the dervishs message, and the forces of corruption in the town are defeated through the power of the dervishs love. The dervishs teachings of love and unity are symbolized by the beautiful music of his flute. The forces of corruption are symbolized by an assorted cast of characters such as the king, queen, princess, duke, sheriff, and jester of the city. Each corrupt character, at some point, is given the opportunity to play the flute of the dervish. Whenever a corrupt character attempts to play the flute, a particular ribbon with a particular vice comes out of the flute. Finally, the flute is thrown away and is found by a beautiful maiden, who was a student of the dervish. When she plays the flute, a beautiful melody comes out of it, and the maiden is able to help the residents transform their city into a place where people love and care for one another. There are sixteen illustrations that capture key scenes from the story.