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

Overview

Inside the merchant’s account of his marriage, his wife secretly visits a div in a mountain cave. She calls him Zingi when her husband discovers them together and urges him to kill the intruder. The div and woman overcome the merchant, but his accompanying dog seizes the div’s leg, enabling the man to decapitate him.

The source calls the div hideous without giving specific monstrous features. Zingi is retained as the term spoken in this episode, without inferring an ethnic identity or equating him with Alla Zingi of The Seven Daughters. The merchant uses his story to justify brutal confinement and violence against his wife, then kills her, the dog and himself when his guest escapes; his misogynistic conclusion is a character’s assertion, not the compendium’s account of women.

Cave-dwelling lover in the Isfahan merchant’s embedded accountSpecific narrative frame
01

Origins & earliest records

Bakhtiari storytelling, Iran

02

Records & interpretation

Complete surrounding tale and embedded account directly read in retained original-edition transcription.

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

    Bakhtiari tales; XXXVI, The Merchant of Isfahan and His Faithless Wife, pp. 240–243

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. and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (Macmillan, 1919)

Bakhtiari tales. XXXVI, The Merchant of Isfahan and His Faithless Wife, pp. 240–243

Complete XXXVI236–243 and XXXVII244–250 read. Framed storytellers and complete outcomes preserved; no anatomy beyond source.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical translated folktaleOriginal 1919 edition of Persian Tales, XXXVI, The Merchant of Isfahan and His Faithless Wife, pp. 240–243Research 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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