Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6) Part 2
General
Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand and One Nights — Volume 3 (of 6) Part 2
Fairy tales; Tales -- Arab countries
They ask the King to dine at their house
and he goes. Tzitzinæna by clapping her hands thrice procures a royal
feast for him; then, having induced the King to send for his wife, she
tells the whole story of the mother-in-law’s evil doings, and shows the
King that “Sun,” “Moon” and “Star” are his own children. The King’s
mother and the old woman are torn to pieces.
In Albania, as might be expected, our story is orally current in a form
which resembles both the Greek version, as above, and the tale of Arab
Zandyk, more especially the latter; and it may have been derived from
the Turks, though I am not aware that the story has been found in
Turkish. This is an abstract of the second of M. Dozon’s “Contes
Albanais” (Paris, 1881), a most entertaining collection:
ALBANIAN VERSION.
There was a King who had three daughters. When he died, his successor
proclaimed by the crier am order prohibiting the use of lights during
the night of his accession. Having made this announcement, the King
disguised himself and went forth alone. After walking about from place
to place he came to the abode of the daughters of the late King, and
going up close to it he overheard their conversation. This is what the
eldest was saying, “If the King took me for his wife, I would make him a
carpet upon which the whole of his army could be seated and there would
still be room to spare.” Then said the second, “If the King would take
me for his wife, I would make him a tent under which the whole army
could be sheltered, and room would still remain.” Lastly, the youngest
said, “If the King should espouse me, I would bring him a son and a
daughter with a star on their foreheads and a moon on their shoulders.”
The King, who had not lost a word of this conversation, sent for the
sisters on the morrow and married all three.[181] The eldest, as she had
declared, made a carpet on which the whole army was seated, and yet
there was room to spare. The second, in her turn, made a tent under
which all the army found shelter. As to the youngest, after a time, she
grew great, and her confinement approached. The day she was delivered
the King was absent, and on his return he inquired what she had given
birth to. The two elder sisters replied, “A little cat and a little
mouse.” On hearing this the King ordered the mother to be placed upon
the staircase, and commanded every one who entered to spit upon her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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