- Now with an all-new biographical sketch about the author.THE TALMAGE PARABLES is a collection of four short stories, or parables, that James E. Talmage wrote based upon his life experiences. These parables were initially published in the church's Improvement Era in 1914, three years after Elder Talmage was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.These four parables have been compiled and published as Elder Talmage's 5th book of eight in the James E. Talmage series. This publication includes the parables of THE OWL EXPRESS, TWO LAMPS, THE UNWISE BEE, and THE TREASURE VAULT.THE TALMAGE PARABLES will make a very nice edition to your LDS library.