It all began with a little black seed - the seed of a watermelon.

Yahya, the self-styled 'Melon King', presented it to Tahir Shah, urging him to plant it in the courtyard garden of his home, the Caliph's House.

The seed was duly planted, watered, and tended lovingly.

Eventually it began to grow...

First sprouting into a little green shoot, then into the beginnings of a plant, and at last giving birth to a watermelon.

As the fruit grew and grew, the Melon King imparted a line of secret advice: Tell stories to the melon... stories about melons.

Uncertain what stories to recount, Shah took to his desk and wrote a manuscript of tales to be told to the melon - a manuscript which, with time, became this book.

In all probability the only book of stories ever written in awe and devotion to a melon, Tales Told to a Melon is a work of the purest imagination...

...and affection for the finest melon that ever lived.