Italian and Chinese painters come, but though Jehan finds their art beautiful, she cannot find her smile. Then the hoopoe brings a young Prsian. The Persian brings fortha sandlewood scraper from his bag and asks Jehan to help him smooth the wall. Persian windows, Jehan's turbaned father, and the gaudily crested hoopoe evoke the locale. A simple fairy tale about a young girl, Jehan, who loses her smile.
Gloom falls over the city of Baghdad.
Jugglers, fire-eaters amd artists from Italy and China all come to try to help the girl find her smile. Finally, a young man arrives from Persia with a small leather pouch that contains the tool to regain her smile. The pictures are bright and charming. The tale originates with Jallal al-Din Rimi, the mystical Turkish poet and storyteller who founded the order of the Whirling Dervish.