Spring-Operated Iron Horse of the Sous Tale

Overview

A magician presents a king with an iron horse fitted with springs for ascending into the sky. The delighted king stores it in a pavilion, but his son secretly mounts it at night. Operating the springs raises him high, and releasing them lets him descend onto another king’s house. There he meets a princess and promises to marry her. Both ride the iron horse into the sky, and after daylight reveals his father’s city the prince brings the mount down into a garden. He leaves the princess with it while announcing her arrival to his father.

The magician learns what has happened, takes the princess and horse, and conveys her to another king. She refuses that king’s marriage plans by pretending to be ill and possessed by djinns. Religious students summoned to cure her fail because the supposed possession is her strategy, not an independently acting spirit in the episode. The prince eventually finds her and confirms his promise. At night she retrieves the iron horse; they mount it and escape together. Back in his father’s city they marry and have two children, and the prince later succeeds to the throne. The mount’s narrated flight depends on its manufactured springs rather than wings or animal speech.

Basset translates this Sous Chelha account from Kitâb ech Chelha, Bibliothèque nationale fonds berbère manuscript no. 4. His source note identifies it as an abridgment of the similarly named Arabian Nights tale. This connection belongs to the editor’s textual comparison; the horse’s iron construction, spring controls and final use are preserved from this particular complete translation.

Origins & earliest records

René Basset, Nouveaux contes berbères (1897), no. 105, Le cheval magique, complete printed pp. 108–110. Preface iii and original note 194, p. 326, identify Kitâb ech Chelha, Bibliothèque nationale fonds berbère manuscript no. 4, in the Sous Chelha dialect. No individual oral contributor is named for this manuscript extract.

Records & interpretation

Complete French episode inspected in original DjVu pages 147–149, printed pp. 108–110; manuscript source note 194 checked on original page 365, printed p. 326. The final escape, marriage, children and succession are included, with feigned possession separated from an actual djinn character.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Nouveaux contes berbères

   René Basset, French translator and editor; Sous Chelha manuscript source · 1897

   No. 105, complete pp. 108–110; preface iii; note 194, p. 326.

Family & connections

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References

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1. Primary manuscript narrative in collected translation; original facsimiles inspectedOriginal edition, complete magical horse and manuscript source noteResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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