Bone-Firewood Monster of the Travelling Performers

Overview

A troupe of forty people led by Hadsch Said Ischschu leaves inhabited country and lodges in the domed building of a saint’s tomb. Its cook prepares the evening meal outside. Looking around, he sees a monster with teeth compared to an elephant’s and eyes glowing like burning logs. He pretends not to notice it, but it approaches and offers firewood. His fearful acceptance produces a heap of dead people’s bones. He then asks it to fetch more from a distant elevation, using the errand to escape with his pot into the building.

The performers bar the door with their animals’ pack saddles, logs and other available objects. Returning to find the cook beyond reach, the monster gives a cry said to be audible a day’s journey away and claws at the tomb’s walls until the structure shakes. It continually circles the refuge through the night and departs at morning. Only then does the troupe venture outside. The story attributes one boy’s death and five others’ fever to fright; villagers subsequently say they never enter that part of the desert after sunset. Those consequences and local warning are presented as the account’s claims. Stumme’s note explains that the travelling performers’ work includes song as well as acrobatics, so the group is not reduced to a modern circus category.

Origins & earliest records

Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 20, Abenteuer der Akrobatentruppe des Hadsch Said Ischschu: complete German pp. 175–176. Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; collection context Preface v–vi.

Records & interpretation

Complete German tale 20 and adjacent explanatory notes read through the narrated ending. This is a named-contributor collected witness; narrator claims and literary title are not treated as independent verification of historical events.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt

   Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; Hans Stumme, recorder and German translator · 1895

   Tale 20: whole German pp. 175–176; contributor/collection Preface v–vi.

Family & connections

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References

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1. Primary collected narrative with German translation and contextual notesOriginal bilingual collection: Abenteuer der Akrobatentruppe des Hadsch Said IschschuResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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