Slave-Girl Lost and Regained: Transformations of a Story

Abstract

A story found in many forms in Arabic has the following basic structure: (1) A man owns a slave-girl. Usually, the man is young and wealthy and the girl both beautiful and accomplished, especially in singing and playing. It is understood that the girl is the man's concubine (as is normal according to traditional Islamic law). (2) The man and the slave-gin love each other. This is not always stated explicitly, but must then be inferred from the rest of the story. (3) The man becomes, destitute. Often this is the man's fault, by spending all his money on his girl. In one version (see nos. 14-15 below in the appendix), it is not his fault but caused by the discontinuation of a regular stipend. (4) The man sells the girl. The initiative may be taken by either. There is a touch of paradox here, for one would expect true lovers to prefer suffering extreme poverty to being separated. Some versions explain it as an act of unselfishness on the part of the man or the girl. (5) The new owner becomes aware of their attachment. (6) He generously returns the slave-girl to her lover. He does not ask his money back and often gives some extras. The sequence (1)-(6) can be further reduced to the following very elementary plot summary: Union/Possession (1+2) Separation/Loss (3+4) Reunion/Repossession (5+6) This is a basic structure of the Relief After Distress genre; it is not surprising that al-Tanukhi (d. 994), author of a collection of stories on this theme, offers many versions. The linking of (re)union with (re)possession and of separation with loss is of course a result of the traditional Muslim system of concubinage. It does not necessarily imply that from a narrative point of view the girl is inferior to the man. On the contrary, morally, intellectually and artistically she is usually the superior partner. Some versions are expanded by complications coming between (4) and (5) or (5) and (6). Exceptionally (see no. 17), a reduced structure is found: a man sells a slave-girl and only afterwards falls in love with her. This may be represented as (1-4-5-6-2). All versions are essentially realistic, without demons, magic or other supernatural elements. The realism is often enhanced by means of details from everyday life, by real place names and names of real-life protagonists, or by providing a chain of authorities for the story. Several clusters of closely related versions can be discerned. The Thousand and One Nights contains two stories of this type (as well as some stories with closely related motifs). Far more versions, some of them virtually identical to those of the Nights, are found in works belonging to polite or elite literary culture, from the ninth century onward. It is likely that the type was around already in the time of al-Madâini (d. ca. 850; see no. 8). The oldest source used here is al-Muhabbar by Muhammad Ibn Habib (d. 860; see no. 2). From a narrative point of view the stories are often rather uninteresting since they lack a human opponent, Fate being the principal adversary. To make up for this, some elaborations enhance the role of Fate, either by introducing the usual unlikely coincidences or by introducing real adversaries, such as is found in the story of al-Hikâyât al-'ajiba (no. 19). An inventory of plot summaries of the versions I have found, with some comments and references, is attached as a lengthy appendix. The authors' sources, often given in the form of a chain of authorities, are omitted here. It is impossible to establish a precise chronological order, and the order in the following presentation is to some extent arbitrary. Mention of historical persons in the story is of course no guarantee for its veracity, and the story may have been invented much later. However, if such persons are relatively obscure, rather than famous, there is a good chance that the story is not much later than the time frame of the person mentioned. …