"Mantiqu't-Tair" is one of the masterpieces of Persian literature of which a complete and annotated translation into English is here presented for the first time as "The Speech of the Birds." The text revolves around the decision of the birds of the world to seek out a king. Their debilitating doubts and fears, the knowing counsel of their leader Hoopoe, and their choice of the Simurgh as a king, is in reality an allegory of the spiritual path of Sufism with its demands, its hazards and its infinite rewards. The poem contains many admonitory anecdotes and exemplary stories, including numerous...