In the Great Khan’s Tent

In this episode, we continue “The Story of Nur-ud-din and Anis al-Jalis” with Night 36.

Once again, this is another sort of morality tale warning about the wasteful spending with unreliable people or hangers on who are just there for spending a persons wealth, as in the case of Nur-ud-din, but once the wealth has run dry and the person needs help, they disperse and claim to not to know you. As Nur-ud-din finds out, these sorts of “friends” do not help and will only hinder a person in the long run.

We get a small glimpse of the slave markets that were present in Basra during the Abbasid Caliphate with a number of ethnicities present in this tale. There is a marked difference between this sort of slave trade and the transatlantic slave trade which most readers are familiar with. This difference will be explored in an upcoming special episode later this year.

As we go further in the tale, once again we encounter the Khalifa Harun al-Rashid in passing, referencing the garden that Nur-ud-din and Anis al-Jalis find themselves in after they had run to protect themselves from al-Mo’in ibn Sawi. The presence of Harun al-Rashid in this tale further strengthens the concept that this is one of the core stories of the One Thousand and One Nights, as the earlier tales prior to this one featured Khalifas that were successors of Harun al-Rashid.

In this episode, we continue our One Thousand and One Nights narration, with the finale of “The Case of the Tailor, The Hunchback or Humpback, the Jew, the Inspector, and the Christian” or known as “The story of the Humpback” with Night 34. This has been a long tale first begun during Night 25 and reaches a satisfying conclusion for all parties involved in this tale. We begin a new tale, that of “The Story of Nur-ud-din and Anis al-Jalis” with Night 35.

The story of Nur-ud-din and Anis al-Jalis is one of the core stories known in the One Thousand and One Nights, with it being present in one of the oldest manuscripts extant of this work. The story is similarly framed to the earlier story we encountered, “Nur-ud-din and his Son and Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter”, in that the two central characters in this plot are vizers of a singular Sultan. However, unlike the earlier story they are both polar opposites of one another.

As we continue to explore the central core stories found in manuscripts of the One Thousand and One Nights, it might behoove us if we pay attention to how these core stories may have influenced other stories, some found earlier and some we will encounter later, and how similar characters can be found in them.

As we reach the end of the Gregorian calendar for 2023, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our listeners for sticking with us and hopefully you continue to support us in the New Year. May Allah bless you all and have a happy holiday whatever you are celebrating.

In this episode, we continue with the story of “Tsarkin Khan and the Archer”, the Kalmyk Mongol tale.

In our last episode, we met the anonymous Archer who spotted three Gold Cranes who turned into beautiful ladies. He hid the feathers of one and gave them back to her. As a result, they married but his wife drew the attention of his Khan, Tsarkin Khan. Wanting the Archer’s wife for himself, he sent the Archer to get the milk of the Tigeress, feigning to be sick, in the hopes that he would be killed and be able to take his wife. He survived, however, and Tsarkin Khan then decided to sent him to search out No-One-Knows-What in No-One-Knows-Where, once again feigning to be sick.

As we continue this story, take notice of the various magical items that are being used to accomplish his goals. The string used to meet his wife’s sisters, Murza the mystical item that provides and entire meal, the khadak which creates a palace, and the golden stick which summons an army of mounted warriors or archers depending on which end is hit on the ground. All of which he uses to accomplish his goal of getting No-One-Knows-What and returning home to his beautiful wife.

This is clearly a tale with a message on morality, lying, and what happens when a Khan does not act like a Khan.

In the next episode we will continue with the One Thousand and One Nights.

In this episode, we continue the story of “The Story of the Tailor” with Night 32 and the story of the “The Barber’s Story of his Fifth Brother” and go on to Night 33 and the story of the “The Barber’s Story of his Sixth Brother”.

Both of these brothers are seemingly different that what has been described by the Barber with his other brothers. The Fifth brother is clearly more courageous going as far as fighting back against what happened to him quite competently and getting his revenge on those who wronged him, while still having the traits that resulted in his finding himself in a dangerous situation. The beginning of the fifth brother’s story, where he dreams of wealth and what he shall do with it, is a common theme among folklore where the future is dreamed of but back in reality, something occurs that results in the shattering of that dream.

The sixth brother’s story is also different than that of his other brothers as the his form of being tricked, is not malicious, but rather is shown as something jovial and eccentric and his reaction to this shows how he approaches the situation using his smarts. It is only after a series of unfortunate events, where others are the cause of his misfortune, that causes him to suffer as he did.

It is interesting to note that in the sixth’s brother’s story the Barmakids are mentioned once again, however, this is an unnamed character meant to show the weird nature of the rich. Unfortunately it is unclear on who this is based on. He clearly is not based any of the main Barmakids, as they were already long dead especially by the time of the Caliph al-Muntasir bi’llah. The only plausible explanation might be that these were their descendants, from their children since there is no indication that the entire family was killed, or were distant relatives.

In the next episode, we will continue the series "Tales from Central Asia"!

In this episode, we continue the story of “The Barber’s Story of his First Brother” in Night 31 and begin the story of “The Barber’s Story of his Second Brother” and then move on to the story of “The Barber’s Story of his Third Brother” and “The Barber’s Story of his Fourth Brother” in Night 32.

As we encounter and listen to the Barber tell the story of his brothers and their misdeeds, foolishness, and gullibility, it is interesting to note how the characters that are central to the story remain nameless, oftentimes simply repeating the tropes that is commonly found within these tales.

You really have to think that the revenge concocted by the man in the Third brother’s story went so far just because the foolish brother did not reply when he was asked before the man descended all the way down his house. The magician in the Fourth Brother’s story is an interesting one because one would think that a person would be scared of confronting the man who was able to change paper into coins and the harm that he would do to a person if he was directly confronted. We have already met sorceresses who used magic to their will, but in this case it seems that his purpose is solely to be the catalyst for the expulsion of the Fourth brother.

Finally, it would seem, again, that the fourth brother’s story would become a story within a story, however this tale directly tells us that the people who caught the fourth brother did not believe him at all and went for the more obvious solution.

Thank you to Thematic for sponsoring this episode! Listeners, use the code TENT6 at Free Music for YouTube Videos & Social Media • No Copyright (hellothematic.com) for a 1 month of free use at Thematic!

In this episode, we continue the story “The Story of the Tailor” in Night 30 and begin the story of “The Barber’s Story of Himself” and “The Barber’s Story of his First Brother” in Night 31.

As you go through this story, which is hilarious due to the actions and characteristics of the Barber himself, you can note how he portrays himself to how he actually is especially when he claims to be a man of little speech.

The story of the First Brother focuses on the actions of a love-sick man who falls for a married woman and how they deal with his feelings. Although it is meant to be a humorous tale, the actions of all the characters in the first brother’s stories are downright mean sometimes.

It should be noted that the presence of the character of the Caliph, this time al-Muntasir bi’llah (reigned 861-862 CE), clearly mark this tale as being created or at least written down a good time after the death of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid and is clearly a later story included in the One Thousand and One Nights.

Finally, a note of housekeeping. The numerical symbols on the titles will now be in Arabic character, rather than the Roman characters. This is due to the finicky and complicated nature of Roman numbers themselves. The back catalog will be updated going forward to adapt to this change.

Thank you to Thematic for sponsoring this episode! Listeners, use the code TENT6 at Free Music for YouTube Videos & Social Media • No Copyright (hellothematic.com) for a 1 month of free use at Thematic!

In this Episode, we begin our new series which will be ongoing parallel to the current One Thousand and One Nights series we are going through, Tales from Central Asia!

We begin with a tale from the Bashkir tribe, the story of “Altyn-Saka the Golden Knucklebone”.

As you listen to this tale, you will notice the similarities present to what I have discussed in both our One Year Anniversary Special Episodes and with our regular special episodes, that is the presence of animal companions which both help and hinder the protagonist and often give advice and help.

This show that tales which involve animals speaking are quite common and are found in all different types of cultures and time periods. In addition, each of these tales may provide moral lessons if they can.

Note the presence of Sparrows, often considered pests, are now described as being helpful while other birds who are considered smarter or more intelligent decline to help Altyn-Saka.

The second tale in this episode, is from the Kalmyk tribe, “Tsarkin Khan and the Archer”.

Listeners may in fact find similarities between this tale and other tales which feature swans or sometimes cranes casting off their feathers to take on a human appearance and eventually finding a lover or a husband.

Animals once again play a significant role here, the interaction between the Archer and the Tigress being a prominent example in this tale. We also get our first reference to the Russian Far East, with the Archer being sent to get the milk of the aforementioned Tigress.

Fear not regular listeners! We are continuing with the One Thousand and One Nights next episode!

I hope you enjoy our first foray into Tales from Central Asia!

In The Great Khan’s Tent is now a year old!

We would like to firstly thank all of our listeners and supporters for accompanying us on our mission so far and hope that you are pleased by our offerings that we strive to provide you. Please stick around and support us as we reach new and better heights of providing programming that you want while bringing you the same educational, informative, and entertaining context that we are known for. Without all of you this would not have been possible. Thank you!

In the second of our One Year Specials, in the first part we examine the early history of the Abbasid Caliphate and examine the perceptions of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid especially regarding who would be his successor to him and why his perceptions within the story cycle of the Porter and of the Three Apples differs so widely. In the second part, we continue the examination of possible South Asian fonts of inspiration for the One Thousand and One Nights by examining the last two of the four indicated by Robert Irwin in his work The Arabian Nights: A Companion, the Katha Sarit Sagara and the Sukasaptati.

As always a reading list is provided on our website. We hope that you enjoy this episode and continue to listen to us!