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Overview

The exiled cousin of a cannibal girl carries the last bread provided by his household. When he tries to eat, his horse moves aside and the loaf falls. A being resembling a greyhound appears and asks for some. The traveller cannot tell whether it is human or spirit. It returns for successive portions and finally requests the whole remaining loaf, saying its aid will later be needed. He reluctantly agrees and waits while it finishes. The helper warns of a dangerous place and tells both rider and horse to mount its back. A single leap carries them the distance of a twelve-day journey.

The helper offers hairs, but the man refuses them and instead asks it to pray with him for strength for himself and his horse. It does so and gives a white amulet for the horse’s forehead, explaining that the horse will then carry him where he wishes. It also tells him how to call for assistance. After a dispute over destroyed grapes and his horse’s killing of a threatening owner, the traveller is imprisoned. He calls the helper and asks for a temporary transformation of the villagers into chickens, with three attendants to herd them. The change lasts five days before he tires of it and reverses it; the collection’s racialised wording for those attendants is not adopted as a creature category.

The traveller later returns to his home town and finds his cannibal cousin has consumed its inhabitants. She traps him in a tower and threatens to eat him, while his horse prevents her from first killing it. He calls for the helper to seize her and escapes on horseback. The tower suddenly burns, killing the woman inside. The narrative gives the helper’s intervention and the fire in sequence, without describing a separate visible act of ignition. The greyhound-shaped being is also distinct from the horse, which subsequently speaks and identifies itself as a spirit king.

Greyhound-like appearanceSpeechBread reciprocityTwelve-day-distance leapProtective assistanceTemporary transformation
01

Origins & earliest records

Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 8, Die Geschichte von einem Mädchen, das eine Menschenfresserin war: complete German translation pp. 92–98. Preface v–vi names Abdulla Ben Mhammed and describes Leipzig dictation.

02

Records & interpretation

Entire German tale 8 read, including parental tests, exile, bread-sharing helper, vineyard dispute, chicken transformation, Aischa’s death and the horse’s final burial of the village/blinding spring. The girl is called Aischa in her cousin’s greeting; this does not identify her with another similarly named Moroccan spirit.

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 8, whole German pp. 92–98; contributor/collection Preface v–vi.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary collected Tashelhit transcription with German translationOriginal bilingual collection: The Cannibal GirlResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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