A king’s wife, on a journey with the vezir, faces his betrayal as he demands marriage, killing her sons upon her refusal. Praying to God, she transforms into a bird and escapes to a city, becoming its ruler in disguise. The king, searching for her, reunites with her. She reveals the vezir’s treachery, leading to his execution, and requests her freedom.
Source
Moorish Literature
romantic ballads, tales of the Berbers,
stories of the Kabyles, folk-lore,
and national traditions
The Colonial Press,
London, New York, 1901
► Themes of the story
Good vs. Evil: The narrative centers on the struggle between the virtuous queen and the treacherous vezir, highlighting the classic conflict between righteousness and malevolence.
Revenge and Justice: The story culminates in the revelation of the vezir’s betrayal and his subsequent execution, serving as retribution for his misdeeds.
Trials and Tribulations: The queen endures significant hardships, including the loss of her sons and the vezir’s advances, before ultimately overcoming these challenges.
► From the same Region or People
Learn more about the Berber peoples
Translated by G. Mercier
and Chauncey C. Starkweather
A king had a wife who said to him: “I would like to go and visit my father.”
“Very well,” said he; “wait to-day, and to-morrow thou shalt go with my vezir.” The next day they set out, taking the children with them, and an escort lest they should be attacked on the way. They stopped at sunset, and passed the night on the road. The vezir said to the guards, “Watch that we be not taken, if the robbers should come to seize us.” They guarded the tent. The vezir asked the King’s wife to marry him, and killed one of her sons because she refused. The next day they set out again. The next night he again asked the King’s wife to marry him, threatening to kill a second child should she refuse. She did refuse, so he killed the second son.
► Continue reading…
The next morning they set out, and when they stopped at night again he asked the King’s wife to marry him.
“I’ll kill you if you refuse.”
She asked for delay, time to say her prayers. She prayed to God, the Master of all worlds, and said: “O God, save me from the vezir.” The Master of the worlds heard her prayer. He gave her the wings of a bird, and she flew up in the sky.
At dawn she alighted in a great city, and met a man upon the roadside. She said: “By the face of God, give me your raiment and I’ll give thee mine.”
“Take it, and may God honor you,” he said. Then she was handsome. This city had no king. The members of the council said:
“This creature is handsome; we’ll make him our king.” The cannon spoke in his honor and the drums beat.
When she flew up into the sky, the vezir said to the guards: “You will be my witnesses that she has gone to the sky, so that when I shall see the King he cannot say, ‘Where is she?'” But when the vezir told this story, the King said:
“I shall go to seek my wife. Thou hast lied. Thou shalt accompany me.” They set out, and went from village to village. They inquired, and said: “Has a woman been found here recently? We have lost her.” And the village people said, “We have not found her.” They went then to another village and inquired. At this village the Sultan’s wife recognized them, called her servant, and said to him, “Go, bring to me this man.” She said to the King, “From what motive hast thou come hither?”
He said, “I have lost my wife.”
She answered: “Stay here, and pass the night. We will give thee a dinner and will question thee.”
When the sun had set she said to the servant, “Go, bring the dinner, that the guests may eat.” When they had eaten she said to the King, “Tell me your story.”
He answered: “My story is long. My wife went away in the company of a trusted vezir. He returned and said: ‘By God, your wife has gone to heaven.’
“I replied: ‘No, you have lied. I’ll go and look for her.'”
She said to him, “I am your wife.”
“How came you here?” he asked.
She replied: “After having started, your vezir came to me and asked me to marry him or he would kill my son, ‘Kill him,’ I said, and he killed them both.”
Addressing the vezir, she said: “And your story? Let us hear it.”
“I will return in a moment,” said the vezir, for he feared her. But the King cut off his head. The next day he assembled the council of the village, and his wife said, “Forgive me and let me go, for I am a woman.”
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Dreamtime Whispers 