Silk-Napkin Spirit Company

Overview

A taleb offers one hundred mitqals to a person willing to sell himself. A man accepts, obtains a sale document from a qadi, gives the payment to his mother and goes with the buyer. The taleb opens the earth through recitation and sends him below for a lamp, a reed candlestick and a box. The man conceals the box in his pocket and denies finding it. His buyer subsequently strikes him with a stone in the mountains and leaves him there for three days. Recovering, the man returns to his own country and rents a house.

Inside the box he finds a silk napkin with seven folds. Unfolding one brings spirits around the room while a young woman dances until daybreak. Later a king and vizier hear the dancing, enter, receive a red haïk and enjoy the spectacle until dawn. The vizier summons the owner, and the king demands the object in exchange for marriage to his daughter. The text shifts from calling it a box to calling it a cage, without explaining an intervening change of shape. The man hands it over and marries the princess. The king continues enjoying it until his death, after which his son-in-law succeeds him. The dancer and surrounding spirits remain one summoned company, rather than seven separately invented spirits for the seven folds.

Origins & earliest records

René Basset, Contes populaires berbères (Paris, 1887), no. 29, complete pp. 61–62. Preface xiii–xiv identifies two tailor contributors from Aïn Sfisifa and Figuig, recording at Tlemcen in 1883; tale heading specifies Aïn Sfisifa. Original note 57, printed p. 167, identifies Ah’med ben Mohammed of Aïn Sfisifa, dictating the Berber text at Tlemcen in 1883.

Records & interpretation

Entire French narrative inspected in original facsimile DjVu pages 99–100, printed pp. 61–62. Preface xiii–xiv and applicable notes inspected as indicated; endings and changes of narrative agent retained.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Contes populaires berbères

   René Basset, translator and editor; contributor and manuscript context identified separately · 1887

   No. 29, complete pp. 61–62. Preface xiii–xiv identifies two tailor contributors from Aïn Sfisifa and Figuig, recording at Tlemcen in 1883; tale heading specifies Aïn Sfisifa. Original note 57, printed p. 167, identifies Ah’med ben Mohammed of Aïn Sfisifa, dictating the Berber text at Tlemcen in 1883.

Family & connections

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References

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1. Primary collected narrative; original facsimile inspectedOriginal edition, complete narrative 29Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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