Having read and enjoyed several of Mitch Albom's other books (Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, and For One More Day), I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this book. Have a Little Faith was moving, intelligent, and profound.

Historical; Persian Sassanid king Shahryar would marry a new virgin every day and have the previous days' wife killed out of anger towards his first wife's unfaithfulness, like this having killed 1,000 women. One day, Scheherazade volunteered to spend the night with the king. Being extremely knowledgeable, intelligent, witty, enchanting, and pleasant, she began telling a story to the king at night and she stopped in the middle of the story as she said that dawn was breaking and there was not enough time. The king decided to keep her for one more day so she could finish her story, and she would begin another one. Like this, the king, captivated by the intense stories, continued to postpone her beheading as Scheherazade told her stories. After 1,001 nights, Scheherazade told the king that she'd told 1,000 stories and she had no more to tell. By that point, the king had fallen in love with her and decided to spare her life and make her his queen.

Represents an amazingly brilliant and cunning storyteller. Biblical; God sent two angels to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, but told the angels to spare Lot and his family. God demanded that Lot and his family flee the city without looking back or stopping, in order to escape to safety. As she fled, Lot's wife, however, turned back to look at the destruction and was punished by God for not obeying instructions and was turned into a pillar of salt. Represents how looking back at one's evil past, despite having known the dangers of doing so, can have a negative effect on one's life. Mythological; in Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter who was very well-known for his beauty. Noticing this, Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, managed to bring Narcissus to a pool of water.

Narcissus was so entranced by the beauty he saw in his own reflection in the pool, that he fell in love with it. Due to his obsession with his beauty, Narcissus couldn't bear leaving the sight of the beautiful image in the water, so he died on the spot. Represents an obsessive fixation and pride in oneself; the term narcissism is derived from this. Historical; white elephants, or albino, are rare but do exist in India, Asia, and Africa. Because they were so rare and beautiful, they were often not put to work and given burdens like normal elephants were. In Siam, which is Thailand today, white elephants were once thought so precious that any white elephant would immediately become property of the King of Siam at birth.

Unfortunately, it was a burden to care for the elephant, especially because it would not yield any profit through labor, unlike other elephants. So, the King would give white elephants as gifts to those he disliked in order to bring upon them burden and struggle to care for the beast. Represents an object that is useless to the owner and may even be an inconvenience or burden to own. Mythological; in Greek legend, Damocles was a courtier of a Greek king, and Damocles would constantly flatter the king by commenting how wonderful and lavish his life was and what an amazing life he'd lived. Kurzweil k2000 pink floyd patches.

The king, annoyed with Damocles' flattery held a banquet at which Damocles was allowed to sit in the king's chair, under a sword hanging from the ceiling by a thread. The king wanted to teach Damocles that along with the privileges of kingship, there were always dangers to be aware of, which kept the king on edge. Represents a situation in which a person is aware of potential danger. Mythological; in Greek mythology, it was foretold that Achilles would die young.

While he was a baby, his mother took him to the river Styx, which was believed to bestow invincibility upon anyone who bathed in it. However, his mother held him by the heel when she dipped him in the river, so his heel was not bathed in the water. In battle later, Achilles was killed by a poisonous arrow that got lodged in his heel, where he was not invincible. Represents a single weakness or flaw (can be fatal) in overall strength. Kb2871389 x64. Literary; from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Shylock, a moneylender, agrees to finance a fleet of ships for Antonio, a merchant.

In the contract, Shylock demands a pound of Antonio's flesh as payment should anything happen to the ships. When the ships are lost at sea, Shylock insists that he have a pound of flesh, as the contract demanded. Antonio is only spared because the contract did not say that Shylock can take Antonio's blood, and there is no way to remove a pound of flesh without blood. Represents someone's insistence on being repaid, even if the repayment will destroy or harm the debtor.