The Caliph and the Poet

From Fifty Famous People, by James Baldwin

This story comes from James Baldwin's 1896 collection Fifty Famous People: A Book of Short Stories. Al Mansur was a real caliph who ruled the Arab empire in the 700s and built the great city of Baghdad. The text reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. The tale shows how a clever ruler tested a poet's honesty—and rewarded him for it.

Band

Yellow · Emerging readers, about 6 to 8

Length

medium · about 521 words in 5 sections · 4 pictures

Source

Fifty Famous People: A Book of Short Stories, James Baldwin · Project Gutenberg

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (8 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Colouring page

Readers are engineered from the original public-domain text with AI under HummingRead’s published canon and Content Philosophy, checked by automated audit and sampled by a person. Pictures are made with AI to HummingRead’s brief for each story. How a reader is made.