A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

A merchant’s son pays the debt of a dead man whose body is being publicly beaten, allowing his burial. A powerful youth subsequently joins his caravan as protector. He defeats thieves, kills a dangerous lion and an aged div, and arranges for his benefactor to receive wealth and a princess.

Pretending that the princess must be divided with the treasure, he frightens a black snake out of her mouth. He then gives up every reward and identifies himself as the dead debtor. The apparition repays a specific act of compassion; no decomposing appearance is described.

The youth accepts the night watch on condition that the caravan obey him and refrain from interfering. His protection combines strength with deception: he joins forty thieves as a supposed fellow robber, persuades them to attempt the royal treasury and kills them individually as they climb its wall. After saving the sleeping king from a lion, he leaves identifying traces by eating some food, smoking the king’s pipe and marking one leg. At the fort he also frees prisoners held by the div. These acts occur before the caravan understands his identity.

When the king seeks the unknown rescuer, the youth deliberately attributes his own exploits to the merchant, securing the princess and the transport needed to recover the div’s treasure. His final threat to divide the princess is likewise staged, but its terror and the escaping snake are actually narrated. The snake flees alive into the desert; it is not killed, identified as the princess’s soul or given a separate demonic identity. The youth then relinquishes both treasure and bride and announces his departure. The text ends with his identification as the paid debtor, without describing a bodily disappearance or a return to his grave.

Revenant who repays burial assistanceNamed textual version
01

Origins & earliest records

Kermani storytelling, Iran

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale and all continuation pages directly read; original edition contents checked for regional division and locators.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Persian Tales

    D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, collectors/translators · 1919

    Kermani tales; XXVII, pp. 169–175

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.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (London: Macmillan, 1919)

Kermani tales. Tale XXVII, pp. 169–175

Complete narrative, including every continuation page, read; historical scan OCR contents confirms regional ordering. Individual narrator not supplied. Modern site presentation is not treated as a new authored tale. Complete XXVII reread in lorimer-27.txt; expanded service condition, concealed rescues, deliberate attribution, snake escape alive and unembellished departure. Existing two paragraphs retained verbatim.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical translated folktaleD. L. R. and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (1919), tale XXVII, pp. 169–175Research access: 2026-10-05
  2. Historical editionOriginal 1919 scan: Internet Archive persiantales00loriialaResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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