In The Great Khan’s Tent Episode XVII: The Arabian Nights Part XV

In the Great Khan’s Tent

Welcome back to In The Great Khan’s Tent and our continuing series on the One Thousand and One Nights also known as the Arabian Nights.

To recap, we had begun the story of “The Story of Nur-ud-din Ali and his Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter” where Hasan Badr-ud-din, whose father Nur-ud-din had died after leaving Egypt for Basra, found himself being taken away as he slept to Egypt and winding up in the wedding of his cousin Sitt al-Husn and the humpback groom.

We continue this story with Night XXIII with the events that soon followed after showing the last two dresses of Sitt al-Husn, and the events afterwards where the humpback groom was confronted by the Ifrit. It is interesting to note here that this tale is the first time that Allah and his angels take a direct role with the punishment of the Ifrit, the reasons of which are not clear about nor why such a drastic action would have been taken.

We also encounter the son of Hasan Badr-ud-din and Sitt al-Husn who is described in a mystical way as he grows up. This tale is also the first time where Damascus, the city in Syria, is encountered as much of the tales so far were either in a mystical place or were situated in either Iraq or Egypt. This may be an indication of where this story originated and at what time.