The tale of the Trader and the jinn(1001 Nights)

The tale of the Trader and the Jinn is the first story told by Sheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights.
The story
There was once a very wealthy Trader. One day he went on a journey alone to buy and sell goods. One the way he got hungry and sat by a tree to eat, he ate some dates and threw away the seeds. Then suddenly an enormous Jinn carrying a sword came shouting he said "Come let me slay you like you have slain my son." the trader gets scared and asks how he could have killed the Jinn's son, The Jinn replies that the seeds he threw had hit his son in the chest killing him. Then the trader says "O, Great Jinn please let me go to tell my fate to my wife and children." After the trader swears in the name of Allah the Jinn lets him go. After telling his fate to his loved ones he returns to the spot waiting for the Jinn. Then a Sheikh who had a gazelle with him comes and greet the trader and asks him what he is doing in the Jinn haunted place, the trader tell him his story and the sheikh doesn't believe him and stops there to see if this was true. Then a second Sheikh comes who had two dogs with him and greets the other two asking the same question and getting the same answer, he too waits to see if the tale was true. Then a third sheikh with a female donkey comes and he too waits to see if the tale of the trader is true. Then the Jinn comes to slay the trader and the 3 sheikhs start weeping for him. The first sheikh says "O, great Jinn I will tell you the tale of me and this gazelle, if you find it interesting then spare one third of this man's life." The jinn agrees and the first sheikh begins his tale.
The tale of the first sheikh
The sheikh says that the gazelle used to be his wife and that she was skilled in magic arts. As she didn't had any children the sheikh had taken a concubine who bore him a beautiful boy, but the sheikh's wife was jealous of them so when one day the sheikh was away on business she turned the concubine and her son into a cow and a calf and mixed them with the rest of the herd. The sheikh's wife told her husband that the 2 had died of disease. Then on a festival the sheikh told the herd keeper to bring a fat cow for sacrifice and he brings out the cow who was actually the sheikh's concubine, but the concubine starts to weep and lie on the sheikh's legs so the sheikh tells the herd keeper to take it away and bring a fat calf. The herd keeper brings the calf who was actually the sheikh's son and he does the same so the sheikh out of pity tells the herd keeper to take both the cow and the calf to his house. The herd keeper kills the cow and takes the calf to his home there his daughter (who is also skilled in magic) tells him that the calf is actually the sheikh's son. The herd keeper calls the sheikh, and the herd keeper's daughter restores the sheikh's son to his true form and turns the sheikh's wife into a gazelle and marries the sheikh's son.
After hearing this story the jinn agrees to spare a third of the trader's life. Then the second sheikh asks that if he tells him the tale of himself and his 2 dogs then would he spare another third of the trader's life, the jinn agrees and the Second Sheikh tells his tale.
The tale of the second sheikh
The sheikh tells the jinn that the dogs were actually his brothers and that he was the eldest of them. Once the three brothers decide to go on a business voyage. They land in a foreign land and trade there. Once they meet a very beautiful girl who asks the sheikh for a favour. The sheikh agrees and the girl asks him to marry her. The sheikh agrees but the sheikh's brothers grow jealous. While returning to their ship, they throw the sheikh and his wife into the sea, but the sheikh's wife lifts her husband and takes him away. When the sheikh regains consciousness, he finds himself in his house and his wife is standing in front oh him with two dogs. She tells him that she is actually a female jinn and had fallen in love with him. When his brothers threw them into the sea, she took him to his house and asked her sister, who was an even powerful jinn, to turn the sheikh's brothers into dogs. The sheikh asks his wife to turn them into their true form, but his wife tells him that only her sister can do that and only after 10 years have passed. The sheikh tells him that as 10 years have passed, he was going to his sister-in-law so that her brothers can return to there true forms.
Hearing this tale, the jinn agrees to spare another third of the sheikh's life. Then the third sheikh asks if he will spare the remaining third of the merchant's life if he tells him the story of himself and the female donkey.
The tale of the third sheikh
The third sheikh tells him that the donkey was his wife and that one day he had caught her cheating on him, and his wife turned him into a dog. The sheikh in the form of a dog went outside and a butcher took him to his own house, there the butcher's daughter tells the butcher that the dog is actually a man and turns the sheikh into his true form and gives him a bowl of water and tells him that he can turn his wife into whatever form he likes with it. The sheikh goes to his home sprinkles the water on his wife and turns her into a donkey.
The jinn asks the donkey if the story was true and the donkey nods her head so the jinn spares the trader's life.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu