Caliph or Flautist?

Nights 832-345

This week is a light and charming story about a poor fisherman named Khalifa whose luck turns around after he casts his net into the sea and pulls out some helpful talking apes. It also features Harun al-Rashid prominently and a new slave woman of his, Qut al-Qutub. It’s a comedy: Khalifa doesn’t recognize Harun al-Rashid when they meet and assumes from his features that he’s a flute player. A role reversal follows, where Khalifa beats the caliph. 

In my favorite scene from the story, Khalifa is forced to gamble with fate: he could earn a fortune, he could receive lashes, or he could receive an important post in the caliphate, all the way up to replacing Harun al-Rashid himself! (Night 841, p. 283) It leads to some of the most fun in the Nights so far. 

Of course, it still has all the problems of sex slaves in the caliph’s harem (there is some fun word play on two of their names: Narcissus and Jasmine (Night 843, p. 287), a rare joke that survives translation). But with all the beatings and the sex slaves, it’s not something that I can read with the kids. There is very little in this version of the Nights that is kid-friendly.