Gabriel, a twentieth-century storyteller, is abducted while journeying in an unnamed land. He is summoned to narrate to the Princess Scheherazade, who occupies an imaginal world not bounded by time or place. His narration. spans more than two thousand years, told over twenty evenings. It is a many-layered tale, in which poets, painters and players jostle with explorers, sages and scientists, hurtling towards the silver screen and the apprehension of string theory. The last word is given to the birds, who fly through the narrative, calling us to attend to them and to the natural world in which, and against which, all human striving takes place.
