A Survey of Relationship between Time and Suspension in the Story of the King and the Maid

The development of new narrative techniques in the past two centuries has led to the growing progress in narratology. In this field, "Time" is one important element. The French scholar, Gerard Genet, has discussed it in terms of three categories: "Order", "Continuity", and "Frequency". Exploring elements of narrative and the rules governing them will help to better understand their internal relations and mechanisms. The present article, in Genet's framework, shows that how in Mathnavi-I manavi, Mowlana as a classic narrator, uses all poetic-narrative potentials of "Time" in telling the story of "the King and the Maid".In the shift from the Real Time to the Narrative Time, Mowlana makes appropriate use of disturbing the linear order of the plot Time, and detailed, repeated description of some events. In this way, he creates a specific kind of Time that is directly and significantly related to developing a sense of suspension in the readers.