Group 11: “The Story of the Slave-Girl Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan”

Summary: “The Story of the Slave-Girl Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan”

A benevolent king had two viziers. One vizier, Fadl al-Din ibn-Khaqan, was kind and just. The other, Al Mu’in ibn-Sawi, was evil and vicious. When the king desired a wife, he sent Fadl al-Din to find the perfect choice. The brokers provide a young girl, Anis al-Jalis, but instead of falling in love with the king, the girl falls in love with the kind vizier’s son, Nur al-Din. 

Fortunately, the king forgets about Anis al-Jalis, and Nur al-Din lives happily with her for a year. After his father dies, Nur al-Din inherits a fortune and begins to lavishly feast and bestow his friends with gifts until his steward cautions him to cease. Soon, Nur al-Din is destitute, and his friends abandon him. To survive, Nur al-Din sells his possessions and, finally, the beautiful Anis al-Jalis.

The evil vizier bids on Anis al-Jalis, but Nur al-Din’s steward cautions him that the vizier will never pay, so Nur al-Din refuses the sale. He and the evil vizier fight, the vizier is badly cut, and Nur al-Din goes home with Anis al-Jalis. The vizier goes to the king and tells him the whole story, making himself the victim and Nur al-Din the villain. Before the king’s men can arrest the couple, they flee on a ship to Baghdad. The king promises to reward anyone who finds them.

In Baghdad, Nur al-Din and Anis al-Jalis fall asleep in a caliph’s garden. When the old man who manages the garden sees them, he takes them to the caliph’s palace, and feeds them and gives them wine. The caliph notices that his palace is lit, he asks his vizier, Ja’far, about who is there. The caliph and Ja’far climb a tree to see what’s going on inside. For a while, they watch the three drink wine. 

Anis al-Jalis sings a song that enchants the caliph, who wants to go inside disguised. He stops a fisherman and orders him to give him his clothes and some fish. The disguised caliph enters the palace and sells Nur al-Din the fish. When the caliph again hears Anis al-Jalis sing, he becomes infatuated, so Nur al-Din offers her to the caliph. He then tells the caliph their story. Moved, the disguised caliph writes to the king on their behalf and has Nur al-Din leave to deliver the letter. The caliph then promises he’ll send Anis al-Jalis home when the time is right.

In the meantime, Nur al-Din gives the letter to the king, who agrees to comply with the caliph’s orders. However, the evil vizier convinces the king that the letter is a forgery. Nur al-Din is beaten, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. As the executioner is about to strike off Nur al-Din’s head, Ja’far and the caliph of Baghdad arrive. They release Nur al-Din and allow him to behead the evil vizier instead. The caliph gives Anis al-Jalis back to Nur al-Din, and they live out their lives happily together. 

Analysis: “The Story of the Slave-Girl Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan”

Unlike the previous story of ill-fated lovers, “The Story of Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar and the Slave-Girl Shams al-Nahar,” this tale takes unbelievable twists and turns that lead to happiness and the restoration of order. In this tale, loves wins, and evil is punished. The two lovers, Nur al-Din and Anis al-Jalis, overcome ordeal after ordeal, and often, fate does not seem to be on their side. Yet they overcome all obstacles, and their love prevails. With the help of both the king of Basra and the caliph of Baghdad, they are reunited at the end, and their enemy, the evil vizier, is beheaded. Such is the justice of fairy tales and legends, not necessarily of real life.

Once again, the use of disguise plays a significant role here when the caliph disguises himself as a lowly fisherman to gain access to the young couple without revealing his position. In “The First Dervish’s Tale,” the son of a king disguises himself as a dervish to escape an evil vizier. In “The Barber’s Tale,” the fifth brother disguises himself as a Persian to avenge his own injuries at the hands of a black slave. In the previous cases, disguise is a means of escape and revenge. Here, it is simply a means of trickery with the purpose of gaining access.

It may seem absurd to a modern audience that Nur al-Din is willing to sell Anis al-Jalis at a market and still profess to maintain a deep love and loyalty toward her. Soon after, he is willing to fight the evil vizier to prevent him from buying her, but this seems like after-the-fact devotion. Nur al-Din has become destitute because of his own debauchery, though he had been warned by his steward and his wife. This self-indulgence is punishable, and he does incur some punishments along the way, but in the end, Nur al-Din and his lover are rewarded with a happy life. In the world of The Arabian Nights, it’s more acceptable for a man to dishonor a woman than for a woman to dishonor a man.

In this story as in others, two young people experience love at first sight. Both are handsome and beautiful, and they come from different social classes. Anis al-Jalis is born into slavery, and Nur al-Din is the son of the king’s beloved vizier. When they meet, their love is illicit, for she has been purchased for the king whom Nur al-Din’s father dutifully serves. This translation claims that Nur al-Din and Anis al-Jalis are caught in “the snares of love,” an apt description of a love that traps them in a long series of events that nearly causes their demise. In The Arabian Nights, these snares cannot be denied. They are as inevitable as fate itself. No matter how the lovers try to untangle themselves, they are inevitably bound by their passions and desires. In some cases, as in “The Story of Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar and the Slave-Girl Shams al-Nahar,” the snares result in tragedy. In this case, however, the snares result in marriage and happiness, the classic definition of comedy.