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There was once a sultan who had no children but a single son. When the boy was born, he entrusted him to a wet nurse and placed them beneath a glass dome, where he saw neither woman nor man, only himself and his nurse. Once he began eating solid food, they brought him boneless meat and bread without crust, nothing but the soft crumb and the tender flesh. One day, the servant responsible for him forgot and brought him meat with bones and bread with crust. He looked at it and asked, “What is this?” She replied, “Bread is best with its crust, and meat is best on the bone. You can suck the marrow out.” After he had eaten, he began sucking out the marrow, then struck the glass dome with a bone and broke a piece out of it. He peered out at the street and saw people walking

to and fro, a market, and an auctioneer. He called the servant and asked, “What are those?” “Master,” she replied, “those are people like us.” “I thought I was alone in the world, that there were no other people.” “No, master. There are others.” “Very well. You may go.”

The next morning she brought his breakfast, but he would not eat. She brought his supper, but he would not eat that either. He went up to his bed and lay down. She went and told his mother. His mother came to him and said, “My son, what is wrong? Are you ill? We shall send for the physicians.” “No,” he told her, “I do not want physicians. Call my father at once.” His father came and said, “My son, if you are ill, tell me.”

“First tell me this: if I am a woman, say so, and if I am a man, say so.” “What do you mean by that, my son?” “People come and go in the streets while I sit here shut away.” “My son, we fear someone might hurt you, or you might hurt someone.” “I want to roam about like everyone else. Why should anyone hurt me?

I want to go out and walk about like other people.” “Very well,” his father said. “Go out.” He went out the first day, and again the second. On the third day, fate led him to a stable. He entered, and the grooms welcomed him and crowded around him. “Bring me that horse,” he told them, “and put a saddle on it.” He mounted and rode out, accompanied by one of the grooms. The groom went with him the first day and the second, but on the third he said, “Go away. No one is to come with me. I shall go alone.” He went alone for a day or two, pushing through people without so much as calling, “Make way!” He injured one man and knocked an old woman down. The whole town was in an uproar, and people began saying, “This

son of the sultan never calls, ‘Make way!’ He has become a scourge upon the town.” One day a group of people were talking about him when the old woman he had knocked down came along. She said to them, “You are speaking against the sultan’s son! I shall go straight to his father and complain about you, and he will have your heads cut off.” “We were not speaking against him at all,” they said. “What do you mean? I heard you myself.” Then she said, “Come, make a bargain

with me, and I shall get you out of this trouble.” They bargained with her for ten thousand riyals. “Bring me the money now,” she said. They brought it, and she took them to her house and locked them in a chest. “Rest easy,” she told them. “No one but me knows you are here, and I shall get you out.” She spent the night there, and in the morning she went and sat down in the middle of the road along which he passed. He came along, calling, “Make way, old mother! Make way, old woman!” But she deliberately remained sitting in his path until his horse pushed her aside. “Shame on you, son of the sultan!” she cried. “Have you brought Zin ed-Dour across seven seas on the backs of eagles?” When she said those words, he went home and took to his bed. They brought him breakfast, but he did not eat; they brought him supper, but he did not eat.

The servant went to her mistress and said, “My lady, my master has eaten nothing for three days.” His mother came to him. “My son,” she said, “what is wrong? Are you unwell?” “Mother,” he replied,

“I want every old woman in the town brought to me.” “God bless you,” she said. The old women came, two together, three together, four together, and filed past him. Whenever he saw one he did not recognize, he waved her away. At last only the old woman who had spoken those words remained, and she had not come. “The old woman I want is not here,” he said. “She has not come.” “Master,” they told him, “there is one very old woman. We must send a carriage for her.” He sent one, and they brought her. They took her upstairs, and she sat beside him. They brought her a meal, and he had her eat. When she had finished, he drew his sword. “By God Almighty,” he said, “unless you tell me the truth and explain the words you spoke to me, I shall strike off your head.” “Master,” she said, “there is a distant land, a land of terrors and marvels. In that land dwells Zin ed-Dour. To reach her, one must cross seven seas on the backs of eagles. My son, she is the daughter of a king among the kings of the jinn.” He gave her a share of the riches of this world, and she went home. Then he turned to his mother and said, “I am going on a journey.” “Where will you go?” she asked. “Whoever told you those words has led you astray!” “I must go.” “Let me consult your father first.” She went to his father and said, “Your son is setting out on a journey.” His father came to him. “Do not go,” he said. “You are my only child. Will you leave me all alone?” “I must go.” “Then you shall not go alone. Your cousin, your aunt’s son, the vizier’s son, shall go with you.” He sent for the vizier and said, “Your son must make ready. He is to travel with my son.” “Upon my head and eyes,” the vizier replied. He went to his son and said, “My son, you are to travel with the sultan’s son. Behave sensibly. Do not put on airs; consider yourself his servant, and take care of one another.” When their preparations were complete, they brought the prince his horse, and he put on his weapons.

He mounted his horse, taking a saddlebag full of provisions and filling his pouches with gold mahbubs. They equipped the vizier’s son in the same way; he too took a saddlebag and a share of money. Then they set out, crossing empty wastes and wild country, while the Lord who orders all things ordained and decreed their course. They traveled for ten or fifteen days until they came to a fork in the road. A stone stood there with an inscription: “Whoever takes the right-hand road shall prosper; whoever takes the left-hand road shall lose!” The sultan’s son looked at the vizier’s son and said, “Let us dismount here.” They dismounted, ate, and drank. Then Mohammed, the vizier’s son, turned to Ali, the sultan’s son, and said, “Brother, it seems I must

part from you.” The sultan’s son replied, “Brother, we set out together; let us return together.” “No,” he said. “It is better for us to part.” “Then who shall go right, and who shall go left?” “Let us draw lots.” “Very well, let us draw.” The right-hand road fell to Ali, the sultan’s son, and the left-hand road to Mohammed, the vizier’s son. They set off, one turning right and the other left. Mohammed, the vizier’s son, took the left-hand road.

He traveled for ten or fifteen days until he came to a town. He entered it, stabled his horse at an inn, and rented a room in a lodging house. He found the town full of dissipation: spend without counting, and let the mountains of wealth crumble! Before long his money ran out. He sold his horse, saddle, and weapons—everything. He sold his clothes and was left in nothing but a bath attendant’s wrap. The poor fellow went hungry; one night he had supper, the next he went without. One day he came to a fritter seller’s shop and sat down outside. People were buying fritters while he sat there hungry. The fritter seller thought, “What can be the matter with this man? People come and go, yet he remains sitting in the same place.” He turned to him and asked, “What is your trouble, my son?” “I am a stranger.” “If someone gave you work, would you take it?” “Whoever wishes to do good has no need to ask.” The man employed him in his shop, tending the fire and sweeping, and gave him breakfast and supper. Now let us return to Ali, the sultan’s son. He had taken the right-hand road and traveled through the wilderness for ten days. At last he saw a man with a dead camel before him, tearing at the carcass and eating its raw flesh. The sultan’s son approached and greeted him three times. The creature replied, “Had your greeting not come before you, the mountains would have heard your bones crack!” Ali dismounted and tied his horse to a tree. “What troubles you, father?” he asked. “Hunger and thirst.” “Wait.” Ali, the sultan’s son, drew his dagger, skinned the camel, lit a fire, and began cutting up the meat and roasting it for him until he had eaten his fill. Then he took out a barber’s razor, shaved his head, removed his matted hair, trimmed his nails, and washed his clothes, tending to all his needs. “Where are you going, Ali?” the creature asked. “I am going to Zin ed-Dour, across seven seas on the backs of eagles.” “Whoever told you those words has led you astray and sent you to your death.”

“I am setting out toward the door of my Lord, and whatever the Lord ordains is good.” “Then I shall advise you,” he said. “Go on until you reach my sister. She is one night older than I am, and craftier than I. You will find her living in a tent. If you find her grinding grain with black chickens around her, do not approach; hide yourself. But if you find her grinding with white chickens around her, go up to her, seize her right breast, suckle from it, and say, ‘I am under your protection, as your own child!’” The ghoul gave him seven hairs from his beard and said, “Whenever you are in distress, burn a hair as incense.” Ali, the sultan’s son, walked on and on until he reached the ghoul’s sister at a favorable moment. He crept closer and closer, then sprang toward her breast, seized it, and suckled. She turned and asked, “What brings you here?” “I am under your protection, as your own child!” “Did my brother instruct you?” “Yes, your brother instructed me.” “Then may God keep you safe!”

She entertained him for three days. After the three days she said, “I shall do you a kindness and take you through the ravine ahead. Seven ghouls live there who acknowledge neither God nor any covenant. Whoever they meet, they eat.” She took him with her and led him safely through the ghouls’ ravines. Once she had brought him across, she said, “Go, my son. May God watch over you!” He went on until he came to a town whose walls were adorned with human heads. He entered, left his horse at an inn, and went out to walk through the town. He met a man and asked him, “What are those heads on the wall?” “If you want directions to the markets,” the man replied, “they are over there.” He went to a shopkeeper and asked, “Why are those heads hanging all around the wall?” “Bread costs a kharruba, an ounce of oil costs eight, and I have fine olives, good pickles, and excellent oranges.” Ali fell silent. “This talk is costing heads,” he thought.

He went on and saw a kindly-looking old man. He followed him until the old man reached his door. The old man turned and asked, “What is the matter? Why are you following me?” “I am a stranger and know no one in this town.” “Come in, my son. There is only me and my old wife at home.” He took him inside and welcomed him. Then he said to his wife, “We have a guest. Go and see where you can borrow a little money so that we may give him supper.” Ali heard them talking and said, “What is it, father? If you have no money, I shall give you some.” He reached into his pouch and handed him a purse containing five hundred mahbubs. The old man looked at him and said, “Is a guest to provide his own hospitality?” “It does not matter. You are as a father to me, and I am your son. You have no money; you are poor and earn your living as a barber.” The old man took the money and went shopping. He bought what they needed for supper and laid a table with every kind of food: meat, tomatoes, stew, couscous, stuffed peppers, savory dishes and sweet. They ate, praised God, gave thanks, and passed a peaceful night. Ali stayed with him for three days, giving him a purse of five hundred mahbubs each day. On the third night the old man asked, “What do you seek, my son?” “I want to ask you about the wall. Why is it adorned with human heads?”

“Now you have eaten my bread and salt,” he said. “If I were to drive you out of my house, my kindness would already be in your belly.” He turned to his wife and said, “He is one of our own now.” “Then we shall tell him,” she replied. “Tell me, mother!” Ali said. “Well,” she began, “the sultan has a daughter. Whoever comes to ask for her hand must accept seven conditions. He mixes wheat, barley, beans, chickpeas, and other grain together and tells the suitor, ‘If I come tomorrow morning and do not find every kind sorted into a separate pile, I shall have your head cut off.’” “Tomorrow I shall go and ask for her hand.” The old woman began to weep. “My son, for God’s sake, why would you throw your life away?” “Do not concern yourself with me. Tomorrow I shall go to the sultan.” The next morning he went up to the sultan. The sultan looked at the vizier and asked, “What does this man want?” “Let him come forward and make his complaint. Perhaps he has a grievance.” Ali, the sultan’s son, stepped forward and said, “I have come as a suitor. I wish to marry your daughter.” The vizier turned to him and said, “My son, put this notion out of your head and go away. I fear you will die while you are still so young.” “No, do not fear for me. By God’s power, I shall accomplish the task.”

“Do you know her condition, and do you accept it?” “I accept.” The sultan turned to the vizier and ordered the wheat, barley, beans, chickpeas, and other grain brought in. They put Ali in a room with it and locked him inside. He thought to himself, “Now I am in trouble. What am I to do? Tomorrow I shall die.”

He had not thought of the hairs the ghoul had given him. Then it came back to him, and he remembered. “The ghoul gave me seven hairs and said, ‘Whenever you are in distress, burn a hair as incense.’” He took out one of the hairs and burned it. The ghoul himself appeared and asked, “What do you need, master?” “You can see the state I am in.” “Take out another hair and burn it.”

No sooner had he burned the hair than the room filled with ants. “Come,” the ghoul told them, “sort this grain, each kind separately.” In two hours they had sorted it all. “Master, are you reassured now?” he asked. “They will give you the girl, and you shall marry her. If ever you are in distress again, summon me with the incense.” In the morning they opened the door.

The sultan entered with his vizier and attendants. They found every kind of grain in its own pile. The sultan turned to the vizier. “What is this? Who sorted it for him?” “Master,” the vizier replied, “you have put many men to death for her sake, but God has granted this one good fortune. Since you gave your word and he accepted her condition, you must give her to him. A woman is meant for a man, and a man for a woman.” “Very well,” he said. They began the wedding preparations and proclaimed throughout the town that the wedding would be held that night. He married her; she was delighted with him, and he with her, and he spent the whole

night with her. After the wedding he said to himself, “I came in search of Zin ed-Dour, and this is not she!” He grew downcast. His wife looked at him and asked, “What is wrong, my lord? Are you unwell?” “I came to fulfill my father’s instructions.” “What did your father instruct you to do?” “He told me to bring back Zin ed-Dour.” “Give me your solemn promise before God that, when you return, you will come back to me.” He gave her his solemn promise. “Then I shall advise you,” she said. “Go to my father’s cattle herder. You will find a black bull in his care. Take it to the seashore, slaughter it, skin it, and cut fourteen pieces of meat from it. Hide them, and hide yourself. Do not show your face. Eagles will come and cry, ‘Whoever has done this deed, we shall blind you!’

Keep silent. Do not speak until they have eaten their fill. Once they are satisfied, they will cry, ‘Whoever has done this deed, may God keep you safe!’ Then answer them.” He went to the herdsman, took the black bull, slaughtered and skinned it, and cut fourteen pieces of meat from it. He hid them and concealed himself. The eagles came and began crying, “Whoever has done this deed, we shall blind you! We shall seize you! We shall strip you bare!” He remained silent until they had eaten their fill. Then they began calling, “Whoever has done this deed, may God keep you safe!”

He came out, and when they saw him they said, “Ask for whatever you wish.” “I want to go to Zin ed-Dour, across seven seas on the backs of eagles.” They began asking one another, “Do you know that land?” All of them said, “We do not.” Then one turned and said, “We have an old eagle in his nest. He can no longer fly. Two of us must fly over and bring him.” They brought him and asked, “Do you know the land of Zin ed-Dour, across seven seas on the backs of eagles?” “I know it. I used to tend her gardens and keep watch over her palace.” “Come, let us recite the Fatiha so that he may become young like us.” They recited the Fatiha, and God accepted their prayer and made him young again.

They said to him, “Take Ali, the sultan’s son, on your back. Carry him there to accomplish his purpose, and bring him back.” “God bless you,” he replied. He took Ali onto his back and said, “Come, take some provisions for me in your hands.” “I am ready,” Ali replied. He mounted, and the eagle rose into the sky and carried him across the first sea. Ali gave him a piece of meat. He crossed the second sea, and Ali gave him another. He crossed the third, and Ali gave him the third piece, until at the seventh sea Ali gave him the seventh piece. The eagle set him down on the shore and said, “There is the garden, and there is the palace. Go and accomplish your purpose. I shall wait for you here.” Ali left him and made his way to the palace. When he reached it, he found the door open. He went upstairs and began searching through the palace until he found a bed beneath a mosquito curtain. He lifted the curtain and peered inside, where he saw something black. He stepped closer, opened the curtain, and lifted the black mass. It was a young woman’s hair, spread over her face. When he uncovered her face, he found it shining like a lamp, so beautiful was she. “God!” he said. “Glory be to God for such beauty!”

He proclaimed the oneness of the Creator. Then he thought to himself, “I cannot leave a woman like this, but it would be a sin to take her without a marriage contract.” He took an inkwell and pen from his pouch and wrote out her marriage contract with his own hand. Then he climbed into her bed and lay with her. Afterward he placed the contract beside her head. She remained asleep, for it was her habit to sleep for three months and remain awake for three months. He took off his ring and placed it on her finger, and put her ring on his own. Then he thought, “I need not bring her in person. I have accomplished my purpose. It will be enough to bring them a token: I shall take the ring.” He returned to the eagle that had brought him and climbed onto his back. The eagle carried him across the first sea and said, “Give me a piece of meat, master.” He crossed six seas, and Ali gave him six pieces. But as he was handing him the seventh, it slipped and fell into the sea.

He drew his dagger, cut a piece of flesh from his arm, and gave it to the eagle, who ate it. “Master,” the eagle said, “how delicious that last piece was!” At last he set him down on the shore. The other eagles came and welcomed him joyfully. “Well, master, did you accomplish your purpose?” They asked him, “Did he treat you well?”

“He treated me well and carried me there and back safely.” They looked at his clothes and saw that they were stained with blood. “Are you hurt, my son?” “There is nothing wrong with me.” “Tell us the truth.” “I shall tell you the truth. At the seventh sea I dropped a piece of meat, so I cut a piece from my arm and gave it to him, and he ate it.” They turned to one another and said to the eagle, “You must bring back the flesh you ate.” He brought it back, and they put it in its place, rubbed it with their saliva, and spat upon it until the wound healed. Then Ali returned to his wife.

She was delighted to see him. “What did you do?” she asked. “Did you accomplish your purpose?” “God brings all purposes to fulfillment.” He spent that night beside his wife, and the next morning he went up to the sultan. “You have been away, my son. Have you been well?” After three days the sultan asked him, “What do you intend to do with her? Will you take her or leave her?” “I shall take my wife.” He began gathering his belongings and chests, made his preparations, put his trust in God, and departed. He had gone three miles or more from the town when the sultan regretted letting his daughter go. “Some vagabond comes along,” he said, “a stray rope carried in by the river, and I give him my daughter! I know nothing about him—not whether his father is a bath attendant or a notary.” He turned to the vizier.

“You must catch up with him, kill him, and bring my daughter back.” Ali, the sultan’s son, turned and saw a cloud of dust behind him. His wife looked back and said, “Take care! My father has regretted his decision. He has sent soldiers and horsemen to kill you and take me back.” Ali turned to his servants and said, “Go on ahead.” They went ahead with the women, while he turned back alone to face her father’s troops. The vizier said to him, “Leave the girl and go your way.” Ali looked at him and replied, “She is my wife, and I married her lawfully. I shall not give her up.” “My son, save yourself.”

“There is no one here who will run from you.” They gathered around him, and he charged them, killing five hundred. They fought until nightfall, then stopped the battle so that they could rest. Ali, the sultan’s son, returned to his wife in the mountains and spent the night there. In the morning he mounted his horse and rode out to the troops to fight them.

He said to the soldiers, “The sultan feeds you and clothes you, and you draw your pay. Come, show me your courage! Come forward one at a time.” The horsemen came out to face him one by one, until he had killed two hundred of them. Then the vizier turned to the soldiers and said, “All of you, attack him!” They charged him, and he fought them until nightfall. He returned to his wife dizzy, exhausted, and wounded. She was frightened for him. “This is too much for you,” she said. “God will help me. It is nothing.” As he lay resting, he remembered and thought, “Have I not still got the ghoul’s hairs? Did he not tell me, ‘Whenever you are in distress, burn one of them for me’?” He turned to his wife and said, “Bring me a brazier with glowing coals.”

She brought him a brazier, and he burned one of the hairs. Its smoke was still rising when the ghoul appeared and asked, “What do you wish, master?” “You can see how I am. I am in great distress, in the plight in which you find me now.” “Do not fear for yourself. You have men to stand by you. Tomorrow you need only sit and watch.”

The ghoul stayed as his guest that night. Ali slaughtered four camels for him, for he was a mighty eater. In the morning the troops attacked Ali, the sultan’s son. The ghoul rose, put his trust in God, and began striking them down one after another, picking up one man and using him to batter another. They fought for a time, but when they saw that they were beaten and only a few remained, they fled back to the vizier. “We fled and came back,” they said. “We cannot fight him. He is a ghoul! He strikes us down one after another. He fights without weapons, seizing one man and striking another with him!” Ali, the sultan’s son, took his wife and went on his way. He traveled and traveled until he saw a town ahead. “I shall rest there and catch my breath for a little while,” he said. He entered, rented a house, and settled his servants and wife there. Every morning he went out to buy them food and drink, then wandered through the quarters and alleys. One day, as he was walking about, he passed a fritter seller’s shop and saw Mohammed, the vizier’s son, wearing a bath attendant’s wrap and a rag wound around his head. He went in and said, “I want ten ratls of fritters.” Then he asked the fritter seller, “Have you someone to carry them to my house?”

“I have this poor fellow. If you give him a little something, he will gladly carry them for you.” “Come, take them,” Ali said. He put them on a tray, and Mohammed lifted it and followed him. They went upstairs together, and Ali said, “Put the fritters down, my son.” Ali, the sultan’s son, had recognized Mohammed, the vizier’s son, but Mohammed had not recognized him. Ali looked at him and asked, “Are you not Mohammed, the vizier’s son?” Mohammed looked at him, burst into tears, and fell to the floor. “Do not weep,” Ali said. “Tell me what has happened to you.” “Do not ask what has happened to me.” “Where is your horse? Where is your money? Where are your clothes?” “Gone. I sold them all. I squandered everything.” “Get up, my friend!” Ali sent him to the bathhouse and gave him new clothes. They shaved his head, removed his matted hair, and cleaned him until he came out shining like glass. Then he returned to the house with Ali, the sultan’s son. He spent the night there, and the next morning Ali gave him a horse and weapons. They mounted, put their trust in God, and set out.

They traveled for a month or a month and a half, until their water ran out. They searched for water until at last they came upon a well. Now Mohammed, the vizier’s son, had grown jealous when he saw Ali with a wife and servants. He thought, “How can he return with a wife, servants, and beasts of burden, while I return empty-handed, like some fool?” When they reached the well, they discussed who should go down. Ali said to Mohammed, “You go down and bring us up water so that we and our animals may drink.” “Those are your animals. What have they to do with me? I have only one horse to concern myself with. You have your animals, your servants, and your wife. You go down.” Ali, the sultan’s son, went down and sent up water. They watered the horses, drank, and filled the waterskins. When they had filled them, he said, “Now pull me up.” Mohammed began hauling him up, but when Ali reached the rim of the well, he drew his sword and cut the rope. Ali, the sultan’s son, fell back to the bottom and remained there. Then Mohammed, the vizier’s son, threatened the others. “Whoever refuses to come with me,” he said, “I shall cut off his head.” They traveled on until they reached his own country. The vizier questioned his son. “Where is the sultan’s son?” “How should I know? Perhaps he is working on a building site, or apprenticed to some European craftsman.” The vizier thought to himself, “My son could never have accomplished all this or brought back a king’s daughter. This must be the work of the sultan’s son. I know my own son is good for nothing.” The sultan heard that the vizier’s son had returned and asked, “Where is my son?” Mohammed told him, “We stayed in a town for about a fortnight. He began selling his belongings and spending far too freely, until he was penniless. I tried again and again to stop him, but he would not listen.” The sultan was deeply distressed to hear this about his son. He turned to the vizier and said, “If you hear that my son has come to the town, seize him and slaughter him, and bring me a cup of his blood. He has disgraced me.” Now let us return to Ali, the sultan’s son, in the well. When Mohammed cut the rope and he fell, his horse bolted, and they could not catch it. Ali sat below, miserable and troubled. As he sat there, a female monkey and a male monkey appeared and began quarreling in front of him. The monkeys belonged to the other world. When Ali sided with the male in their quarrel, the female struck him; when he sided with the female, the male struck him. Ali thought, “I had better settle their quarrel quickly, or they will beat me to death.” He turned to the male monkey and said, “O monkey, if you are wise and understanding and know how to reckon your fortune, you would do better to hold fast to a familiar she-monkey and let a skittish gazelle go.” Thus he reconciled him with his wife.

They set him down at the mouth of the well. He found his horse waiting, mounted, and rode back to his father’s town. Meanwhile, the vizier had posted watchmen to tell him as soon as they saw the sultan’s son arrive. On the day he entered the town, one of the watchmen saw him and went to the vizier. “The sultan’s son has returned,” he said. The vizier went out to meet him, welcomed him joyfully, and said, “Welcome back! How have you been?”

He took him up to his palace and entertained him for three days without telling his father. “Even if the sultan orders me to slaughter him,” he thought, “I shall not do it. Whoever does not consider the consequences will find no friend in fortune!” Now let us return to Zin ed-Dour. When she woke from her sleep, she found herself pregnant. What did she say? “Something is amiss with me.”

She waited until her time came and gave birth to a boy. She took the marriage contract Ali had written from beneath her pillow and read it. She found these words written in it: “Accuse no one. No one came to you but Ali, the sultan’s son.” She remained there until the child was three years old. One day he turned to his mother and asked, “Mother, have I no father?” “You have a father, but he is a stranger from another land.” “Then we must go to the land where my father lives.” “God bless you, my son,” she said. She turned the crown upon her head, and seven kings of the jinn appeared. “I want an army fit for a sovereign,” she told them. The army came, and she mounted and traveled in its midst, with banners raised above her, until she reached the town where Ali, the sultan’s son, lived. She pitched tents with golden fittings. The muezzin climbed the minaret to call to prayer and saw troops surrounding the town. He came down trembling and ran to the sultan. “The town is surrounded by soldiers! We could not match them even if every stone became a man.” The sultan told the vizier, “Go and inquire. Find out what this army is doing here. Have they come to kill us, or what do they want?”

The vizier mounted and rode out. He dismounted at the entrance to the royal pavilion and paid his respects as one does before a sovereign. He sat beside her and bowed low. Then he looked at her and said, “Tell me, is all well?” “I want the man who entered my lands and my palace. Bring him to me at once.” “I know nothing of this.” “He is from your country. You must bring him to me now.” “I shall return and inform the ruler of the land.” The vizier mounted and went back to the sultan. “Master,” he said, “this is something we never reckoned with.” “I shall ride out with you,” the sultan replied. They mounted.

When they reached the lines of tents, they dismounted and walked on foot until they came to the royal pavilion. They offered the greetings due to sovereigns, and she seated them beside her. The sultan turned to her and asked, “What is the matter?” “I want the man who entered my palace and my lands. You must bring him to me.”

The sultan told the vizier, “You must find a solution. I raised you to this rank so that you might advise me.” “Master,” he replied, “I shall go into the town and question my son. My son has been traveling. Perhaps he is the one who did this.” The vizier mounted and rode into the town.

He called his son. “My son, did you reach the land of Zin ed-Dour?” “Yes, indeed.” “Come with me, then, so that she may see you.” He mounted and went with him. When they reached the lines of tents, they dismounted and walked on foot to the queen. They paid her the honors due to a sovereign.

He and his father came before her. She looked at the vizier and asked, “Where is the man who entered my land?” “Here he is.” “Where is your token?” she asked Mohammed. “I have no token. I took no token.” “Come, put him in chains and take him to prison, for he is a liar.” Then she turned to the sultan and said, “Search, and bring me the man who entered my palace.

Otherwise I shall tear your town down stone by stone.” The vizier turned to the sultan and said, “Give me a little time. I shall go into the town, think, and see what I can do.” He went down into the town and up to his palace. He entered Ali’s room, bowed over him, and said, “My lord, find a way to save us! We are in terrible trouble!” Ali understood and said, “Come—”

Sit beside me, Father, and I will tell you a true tale. Once there was a sultan who had no children. One day he went out walking and found a little boy abandoned in his swaddling clothes. He was about to pass him by when the vizier turned to him and said, “This abandoned child has been sent to you by God. You would do well to take him as your son, since you have no children.” The sultan picked him up and found him a wet nurse. In time the boy grew up and learned to tell good from evil. But he began passing judgments that pleased neither God nor man. Among them was a challenge he set the vizier. “When water is put over a fire and begins to boil,” he asked, “what is it saying?” “My lord,” the vizier replied, “I am not our master Solomon, who understood every tongue.” The sultan turned to the vizier and said, “What my son has said stands. You must answer his question. If you have not answered him within nine days, I shall have your head.” The vizier resigned himself to his fate and mounted his horse. He rode on and on until he came to an Arab’s tent. He dismounted and saw a young girl. “What are you doing here all alone, my daughter?” he asked. “Where is your mother?”

“My mother has gone to quarrel with God,” she replied. “And where is your father?” “He is setting the oppressor upon the oppressed.” While the vizier was sitting there in the tent, her mother returned, wailing because her son had died. The girl turned to the vizier and said, “Didn’t I tell you my mother was quarrelling with God? God has taken something that was His. We ought not to carry on like this over it. What is gone is gone; nothing we do will bring it back.” As he sat there, her father returned with a hunting hound and a gazelle. The girl looked at the man and said, “Didn’t I tell you my father was setting the oppressor upon the oppressed? The hound is the oppressor, and the gazelle is the oppressed.” Her father fetched a ram from the flock,

slaughtered it and cooked it for supper. “Come and eat with us,” they said to the vizier. “I can neither eat nor drink,” he replied. “Why not?” “The sultan’s son, whom I have treated kindly all his life, has set me a challenge that would never enter even the devil’s head.”

“What sort of challenge?” they asked. “Tell me: when water is put over a fire and boils, what is it saying?” The Arab looked at the vizier and said, “That is easy.” He called his daughter. “Tell him.” She said, “I cry, I cry! From heaven I fell, upon the earth I lay. I gave the wood life, and by it I am burned!” Then the vizier understood: Ali, the sultan’s son, had done good to his son Muhammad, and Muhammad had repaid him with evil. He took him into the camp, brought him to the tent door and stepped forward to announce him. She rose and said, “Are you the one who came into my palace and my country?” “Yes,” he replied. “Show me your token.”

“Here is your ring,” he said. “Yes, that is my ring.” Ali, the sultan’s son, looked at her and said, “Show me the marriage contract.” She took it out and showed it to him, then brought their son. “This is your son and mine, born in lawful wedlock.” The sultan rose and began embracing and kissing his son and his son’s wife. “You are my daughter in this world and the next,” he said. Then Zin ed-Dur turned to the commander of her army and ordered him and his men to return to their own country. They departed. Ali, the sultan’s son, took her home to his country with his father and their retinue. Before marrying her, he told her, “I have one condition: I already have a wife, whom I brought home before you. You are of the jinn; take care not to let jealousy of her enter your heart.” “I shall not be jealous,” she replied. “May she be my sister in this world and the next!” The sultan turned to the vizier. “Have you heard of the wickedness your son has committed? I shall kill him with my own hands.” They brought him and placed him in the execution yard. But Ali, the sultan’s son, rose and stood over the boy to protect him. “Father,” he said, “spare him for my sake, if for no other reason. He has done me evil, and I shall do him good. Each man acts according to his nature.”