Group 7: “The Story of the Hunchback,” “The Christian Broker’s Tale: The Young Man with the Severed Hand and the Girl,” “The Steward’s Tale: The Young Man from Baghdad and Lady Zubaida’s Maid,” & “The Jewish Physician’s Tale: The Young Man from Mosul and the Murdered Girl”

Summary: “The Story of the Hunchback” 

A tailor and his wife bring a drunken hunchback home for dinner, but he chokes on a fishbone and dies. The couple carry him to a Jewish physician’s house. When the physician trips over the body, he assumes he killed him and moves the body to the steward’s house. The steward thinks the man a thief and clubs him, then props the body in a street. A drunken Christian broker passes and, thinking the hunchback will steal his turban, hits him. He’s arrested for murder, and just as he’s about to be hanged, the steward, physician, and tailor appear, each claiming responsibility. 

The hunchback was a favorite entertainer of the king of China, who summons the men. To avoid punishment, each offers to tell a tale. 

Summary: “The Christian Broker’s Tale: The Young Man with the Severed Hand and the Girl” 

While in Cairo, a beautiful woman approaches the broker to buy fabric. It’s love at first sight. He visits her home where they drink and make love. He returns for many nights, giving her money each time, until he is broke. In despair, he steals a soldier’s purse. He is caught, and officials chop off his hand. A month later, the beautiful woman dies, leaving her wealth to the broker.

The Chinese king is unimpressed, so the steward tells his tale. 

Summary: “The Steward’s Tale: The Young Man from Baghdad and Lady Zubaida’s Maid”

One day, Lady Zubaida’s maid visits a young man’s shop to purchase fabric, and the two fall in love. She sneaks the young man into the palace in a chest of clothes. While in the chest, he fears he’ll be killed, but Lady Zubaida’s maid releases him in secret. Soon, the two marry. In their marriage bed, the woman goes mad, cursing him for eating curried ragout without washing his hands before touching her. She then cuts off his thumbs, and he promises never to eat ragout without washing his hands. 

The Chinese king remains unimpressed, so the Jewish physician tells his tale. 

Summary: “The Jewish Physician’s Tale: The Young Man from Mosul and the Murdered Girl”

While living in Damascus, a beautiful woman appears at a man’s door, and they feast and make love. She returns every three days, eventually asking if she might bring a younger friend. One morning, the man awakes to discover that the first woman has slain the younger out of jealousy. He buries the young woman and escapes to Cairo, where he stays for three years. 

Upon returning to Damascus, the man discovers a necklace under the bed where the girl was slain. When he tries to sell it, he’s arrested and his right hand cut off, for the necklace was stolen. When the man tells the governor his story, he learns that the two women were the governor’s daughters. The older daughter killed herself mourning for her sister. The governor pities the man and gives his remaining daughter to the man to marry. 

The Chinese king remains unimpressed, but the tailor offers his tale, hoping to save all their lives. 

Analysis: “The Story of the Hunchback,” “The Christian Broker’s Tale: The Young Man with the Severed Hand and the Girl,” “The Steward’s Tale: The Young Man from Baghdad and Lady Zubaida’s Maid,” & “The Jewish Physician’s Tale: The Young Man from Mosul and the Murdered Girl”

The outer frame story of the unfortunate hunchback is a dark comedy as his body passes from person to person, each of whom performs some act upon it that results in the belief that each is responsible for his death. At first, the hunchback himself is presented as a bit of a buffoon, a drunken tambourine player who reeks of wine, gesticulates wildly, and sings funny songs, setting the stage for the slapstick follies that follow his actual death by choking on a fish bone. However, murder is no laughing matter, as the tales bear out.

As violent and vulgar as these tales may be, it is always an evil deed to take the life of another person, punishable by death by humans and punishable by ill fate by Allah. That is why the tailor, the physician, the steward, and the broker all try to pass the hunchback’s body to another, so as not to take the public blame and suffer the consequences. Throughout the tales, murder is sinful, and if a character commits the crime, they try to avoid the severe punishments it may bring. Sharia law, the law based on Islam and the Quran, decrees amputation a suitable punishment for certain crimes, especially theft. Although considered torture today and outlawed in most countries and cultures, such punishment was not questioned at the time that The Arabian Nights was written.

Storytelling becomes a competition in this part of The Arabian Nights, and the four storytellers are competing for their lives. If they fail to impress the king of China with their stories, they will all be held responsible for the hunchback’s death. Each man tries to entertain the king, and one by one, the first three fail. Their stories, although fascinating, action-packed, and full of twists and turns, do not enthrall the king as much as the story of the hunchback’s multiple murderers has. Once again, the pattern is a story within a story within a story, and two of those stories have interior stories still. The tales are like a hall of mirrors. Everywhere readers turn, there are more stories and more storytellers, each one trying to outdo the last.

The geography of the tales expands when the king of China becomes a character. China is as far from Arabia as the stories extend, suggesting that the original oral tales probably originated from many different places. In fact, some editions feature a map showing the places mentioned in the stories, illustrating lands far beyond what is considered the Middle East.

Infatuation, love at first sight, lust, marriage, jealousy, and even murder continue to be themes and patterns in these stories, but the plots vary from tale to tale. Men, especially, get into trouble when they accept multiple partners or fall in love too quickly without fully understanding what they are getting themselves into. There is an implicit cautionary voice here: Be careful whom you fall in love with and be even more careful whom you sleep with. Also, be sure to play by all the rules of the society, even the rules as seemingly inconsequential as washing your hands after eating curried ragout.