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Overview

Sidi Belabbas lives a consecrated life on a mountain with Sidi Massud, who heats water for his religious washing. A devil challenges the servant’s labour and later urges him to demand a princess as proof of his master’s holiness. Belabbas does not punish the demand. Wearing a torn mantle, he accompanies Massud to a king’s palace, where the servant asks for the royal daughter and is beaten. Belabbas throws his mantle over him, making subsequent blows ineffective; the man plays with ants while the king’s people continue their futile punishment.

The royal family asks for a precious stone as the princess’s price. Belabbas brings his servant to a river and fills his jacket with ordinary stones. The devil again counsels distrust, suggesting that carrying these to the king will lead to execution. Belabbas persuades Massud to bear the load; he then cannot put it down. Emptied before the ruler, the stones have become glittering precious stones, and Massud receives Lella Schafia as his wife. Their wedding lasts three periods of seven days.

Belabbas subsequently enters the bridal room through the window as a dove. The servant complains that his master gives him no peace even there. Belabbas laughs and converses for about an hour. The princess hears them but sees only one person. Raising a wing, the saint lets Massud look at the maidens of paradise and asks which company he prefers. Massud chooses the heavenly scene, and both become doves and fly out. The princess remains astonished at the window until the palace discovers her the next morning. The narrator then follows her father’s separate travels and eventual death. The saint’s bird form and the servant’s departure are this tale’s miracles, not a biography inferred from its brief identification of a shrine.

Protective mantleStones become precious stonesDove formHeavenly vision beneath wingFlight with transformed servant
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Origins & earliest records

Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 18, Die Geschichte von Sidi Belabbas und Sidi Massud: complete German pp. 166–173. Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; Leipzig recording context Preface v–vi.

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Records & interpretation

Whole German tale 18 read through King Jakob’s final grave on a Syrian mountain. Saint/servant dove departure precedes the royal family’s Cairo reunion and separate spirit-horse siege. Sphinx association remains an editorial possibility; no historical miracle date or modern shrine practice inferred.

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 18, complete German pp. 166–173: saint/servant pp. 166–169, Cairo family/siege pp. 169–173; 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 narrative with German translation and contextual notesOriginal bilingual collection: Sidi Belabbas and Sidi MassudResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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