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Overview
Achmed lives with his mother and attends instruction in a mosque. Angels colour his hands with henna during the night, causing his teacher to beat him for the marks each morning. Explaining that he does not colour himself, he receives advice to keep watch while concealing a light. At midnight he catches one visitor; the others escape. The captured being appears as a girl and requires seven rooms nested within one another, opened by one key, with access allowed only to him. He builds them and marries her. A hen later scratches the hidden key out of a dung heap, allowing his mother to enter the innermost room.
Achmed returns to find water increasing in depth through the rooms and his wife weeping at a window. At her request he opens it. She becomes a dove, leaves a ring in his hand and tells him to seek her in the seventh heaven. After a three-year journey he reaches the young of an enormous falcon, kills his horse and feeds them. Their mother carries him to the required heaven in gratitude. A woman fetching water sees his reflection; he identifies himself and sends his ring to her mistress. His wife arranges for him to enter beneath a load of hay and shows him her palace, forbidding only a door leading downward.
On the great festival he opens that door and sees his mother on earth, weeping because he is absent and she cannot slaughter her ram. He jumps to assist her. Winds disperse his body; a drop of blood kills the ram, and his fallen fingers cause five springs to issue from a rock. The narrator ends by stating that Achmed is dead. Stumme’s note speculates about which hand or a possible dictation error, but the narrative itself specifies five springs. The reunion in heaven therefore does not provide a lasting happy ending or an escape from death.
Origins & earliest records
Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 10, Die Geschichte von Achmed Unamir: complete German translation pp. 102–105. Named dictating contributor Abdulla Ben Mhammed; collection context Preface v–vi.
Records & interpretation
Whole German tale 10 and accompanying footnotes read through explicit death/five springs. Original-language transcription not independently retranslated; source labels angels/falcon retained without a guessed zoological or modern religious identification. Five-finger interpretation remains the editor’s conjecture.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt
Tale 10, whole German pp. 102–105; contributor/recording Preface v–vi.
Family & connections
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References
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- Primary collected Tashelhit transcription with German translationOriginal bilingual collection: Achmed UnamirResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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