The Marvelous Palace And Other Stories (French: 'Histoires Perfides') is a collection of short stories by French author Pierre Boulle, published in French in 1976 and in English in 1977. The English language edition is translated by Margaret Giovanelli. The collection contains six stories, all thematically related, and presented in the voice of a centenarian story-teller from the Orient.
The collection includes an introduction, in which the narrator introduces the storyteller, who is generally referred to as "Old Man." After the introduction, each of the six short stories is narrated by the Old Man:
- The Royal Pardon
- The Marvelous Palace
- The Laws
- The Limits of Endurance
- Compassion Service
- The Angelic Monsieur Edyh
The stories are all recountings of tales from the Old Man's distant past as a minister of "the Religion of Doubt" in the far off Kingdom of Shandong. Each story presents a brief moral dilemma, usually with a surprise ending.
Famous quotes containing the words marvelous, palace and/or stories:
“Well, I’d certainly say she had marvelous judgment, Albert, if not particularly good taste.”
—L.Q. Jones [Justus Mcqueen] (b. 1936)
“Good places for aphorisms: in fortune cookies, on bumper stickers, and on banners flying over the Palace of Free Advice.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Reporters are not paid to operate in retrospect. Because when news begins to solidify into current events and finally harden into history, it is the stories we didn’t write, the questions we didn’t ask that prove far, far more damaging than the ones we did.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)