>>>>I found the book quite interesting. Do you happen to know the real name of the author (I assume Malba Tahan is a pseudonym)? I also heard that he lived some time in India or some other eastern country. Do you know any details?

As far as I remember (I don't have that book any more, just got this little story from our local newspaper's saturday edition) Malba Tahan was a pseudonym of a math teacher in the D. Pedro II school (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), many years ago.

Although I don't remember his name, I recall he was married with a very famous brazilian actress (Tônia Carreiro) and had a son with her (another very famous actor - Cecil Thiré). Malba Tahan wrote many very interesting books (with great arab tales, showing their exceptional culture), passed in the orient (middle east).