The Devil Goes Down to Arabia

Nights 681-695

After the last couple weeks, I was worried that I was tiring of the Nights. But there was some good stuff here! My enthusiasm for the Nights has been restored. We can thank al-Asma’i, who the index says was a real-life expert on the Arabic language and compiler of Arabian poetry. He was favored by the now-familiar Harun al-Rashid.

He appears in one story to judge the poetry among three sisters. It’s a much more wholesome “Judgment of Paris.” (Night 687, p. 744). In the next story, another real-life character appears: the musician Ishaq al-Mausili who has a sort of “Devil Goes Down to Georgia” moment where he learns beautiful music from someone who turns out to be Abu Murra, the devil (Night 688, p. 778). 

Another favorite from this week is a bit more bawdy. It features al-Hajjaj, who we’ve seen before. In this story, he catches his young wife singing to herself about how much she dislikes him. He divorces her and mocks her as no longer a virgin: “the dog has licked the bowl” (Night 682, p. 763). But she gets the last laugh when she becomes the caliph’s wife and humiliates al-Hajjaj by making him parade around barefoot.

There are several other stories that I found okay but unremarkable. One final remarkable story was about two men who became indebted to each other and helped each other out (Night 683, p. 764). It’s almost like a biblical parable in its message about aiding those in need.