In all the Arabic manuscript traditions of Alf layla wa-layla, “The Tale of the Merchant and the Jinn” (قصة التاجر والجني) is the first story cycle that Shahrazad tells to King Shahriyar. It is a simple cycle, composed of a frametale in which a traveling merchant accidentally kills a jinn with a date pit only to be threatened with death by the jinn’s father. The merchant is subsequently rescued when three old men arrive on the scene and offer to redeem the merchant’s life with stories, provided that the tales be amazing (عجيب). In this way, this cycle sets the stage for developing the theme that narration can save lives and that a story can equal a life.
I was recently re-reading Duncan MacDonald’s pathbreaking essay on the manuscript history of Alf layla, and came across his discussion (and translation) of an extraordinary account from al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Salāma ‘Aṣim al-Kūfī’s Kitāb al-Fākhir, in which the story of the Jahili figure of Khurāfa appears. Because of such stories the man’s proper name became a common noun, khurāfa, meaning fairy tale, superstition, false and foolish speech.
MacDonald asserts that al-Mufaḍḍal’s tale was a source for “The Tale of the Merchant and the Jinn” and exemplifies how the Persian frame tale, Hezār Afsāneh, was transformed into an Arabo-Islamic narrative. Seems plausible to me now after spending more time with it. In any case, it’s a great story in its own right and deserves to be better known. For your enjoyment, here’s my translation of the short tale:
Isma‘il ibn Aban al-Warraq mentioned that Ziyad ibn Abdallah al-Buka’i reported that Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Qasam said:
I asked my father, al-Qasam ibn Abd al-Rahman, about the story of Khurafa and about why so many people talked about him. He said that Khurafa’s tale was amazing and said:
It was recounted to me that Aisha told the Prophet Muhammad, “Tell me the tale of Khurafa.” So the Prophet said:
God have mercy on Khurafa—he was a worthy man. He once told me that he went out one evening on an errand and while he was out, he met up with a three jinn who took him captive. This jinn said, “Let’s spare him!” That jinn said, “Let’s kill him!” And the other said, “Let’s make him our slave!” While they were sitting there, debating his fate, a man happened by.
“Peace upon you!” the man said.
“Upon you be peace,” they answered.
“What are you?” he asked.
“A group of jinn who captured this guy and are discussing what we should do with him.”
“If I told you an amazing story, would you include me in deciding what to do with him?”
“Sure!” they said.
He said:
I was a man once favored by God who generously bestowed upon me much wealth that vanished. Soon I was loaded down with debt. Fleeing my creditors, I departed for other parts.
While walking through the wilderness I became very thirsty. I headed for a well and went to drink from it when suddenly a voice called out from below, “Go away!”
So I went away without drinking. Thirst overtook me, so I went back to the well. The voice cried out, “Go away!”
So I went away without drinking.
Then I returned to the well for a third time and drank, paying no mind to the warnings. Then a voice from in the well said, “By God, if this be a man, then transform him into a woman. If this be a woman, let her become a man.” Suddenly, I was a woman.
I came to a city whose name has been forgotten. There, I was married to a man and gave birth to two boys. Then I longed to go back to my country and home. On my return, I passed by the well from which I’d drunk before. I approached to drink when someone cried out to me as they had the first time. I paid no mind to them, but drank. The voice said, “By God, if this be a man, transform him into a woman. If this be a woman, let her become a man.” I became a man again.
I returned to my hometown and married a woman who gave birth two boys. I have two sons from my loins, and two sons from my belly.
The jinn said, “Praise be to God—that is truly an amazing tale. You may help us decide what to do with him.”
While they deliberated what to do with Khurafa, a raging bull flew by. Suddenly, running in its tracks, there appeared a man with a stick. When he saw them, he came to a halt and asked, “What are you doing?”
They told him what they had told the first man. The new man asked, “If I tell you a fantastical story, would you let me join you in deciding what to do with this guy?”
They said, “Yes!”
And he said:
My paternal uncle was very wealthy and had a beautiful daughter. We, however, were seven brothers, and only one man could betroth her. My uncle owned a calf that he reared. One day, the calf escaped while we were with him and he said, “Whoever brings the calf back to me shall have my daughter!”
I grabbed this stick and committed myself to the deed. I ran off after him when I was still a youth. Now I am an old man, and I still have not caught up to him, nor has he slowed down.
The jinn said, “Praise be to God—that is truly an amazing tale. You may help us decide what to do with him.”
Just then, a man on a mare appeared, and behind him, a youth mounted on a magnificent stallion. The man greeted the party, as the first two men had done, and asked, as they had asked, the same question. The jinn replied as they had replied to the first two men. He asked, “If I tell you an amazing story, would you let me join you in deciding what to do with him?”
They said, “Yes—tell us your story!”
He said, “I had an evil mother.”
Then he addressed the mare he was riding, “Isn’t that so?”
The mare nodded her head in agreement.
“We suspected that she was up to no good with this slave.” And he pointed to the stallion on which the youth was mounted, and said, “Isn’t that right?”
The stallion nodded.
“One day I sent this young servant who’s mounted on this stallion off to care of some business for me. She shut him up with her. He fell asleep. In his sleep he saw her shout and suddenly a huge rat came out.
“Plow!” she told him and he plowed.
“Do it again!” she said and he did.
“Sow!” she ordered him and he planted seed.
“Reap!” she told him and he harvested what he’d sown.
“Thresh!” she commanded, and he did.
“Then she called for handmill and ground a bowlful of porridge.
“My servant woke up in alarm and distress. She told him, “Take this to your master and let him drink it.”
“My servant came to me and told me the story of what happened. So I used my wits against them and had them drink the potion. Then she became a mare and he, in the same way, became a stallion.” The mare nodded her head in agreement and so did the stallion.
The jinn said, “Praise be to God—that is the most amazing thing we’ve ever heard. You’re in the group now.
By unanimous agreement, they decided to let Khurafa go. He came to the Prophet and told him about what had happened.
From: Al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Salāma ‘Aṣim al-Kūfī, Kitāb al-Fākhir (Cairo: Dar al-Farjānī, 1982), 138-140.
A similar version, apparently based on Mufaḍḍal’s account, appears in Aḥmad ibn ‘Abd al-Mu’min al-Sharīshī’s commentary on Ḥarīrī’s maqāmāt: Sharḥ Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī (Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya, 1998), I: 131-132.
D. B. MacDonald, “The Earlier History of the Arabian Nights,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1924), 353-97.
