One Thousand and One Nights

This story consists of the interconnected tales of a hunchback, a tailor, a lame young man, a barber, and the barber’s six brothers. The tale begins and ends with the hunchback.

The tale begins in the city of Basra where a tailor and his wife are happily returning home from a night out and come across a hunchback who shares in their revelry. They invite him to their home for a meal, but the hunchback ends up dying when a practical joke played by the tailor’s wife goes awry. Believing that they have killed him, the tailor and his wife panic and decide to pass the hunchback off to a Jewish doctor. Believing that he has done the same, the Jewish doctor decides to pass the hunchback off to his Muslim neighbor, a steward in the royal kitchens. The steward, also believing that he had killed the hunchback, abandons him on a street. On this street, a drunk Christian who serves as the king’s broker runs into the hunchback and, thinking that he may be a thief, begins to beat him. A watchman discovers the Christian broker in this act and jails him.

The next day, Basra’s governor orders that the broker be hanged. At the execution, the steward reappears and intervenes, explaining that he had actually killed the hunchback. Just as he is about to hang instead, the doctor intervenes and says that he is the murderer. Just as the doctor is about to hang in the steward’s stead, the tailor reappears and confesses to the crime. Befuddled, the governor is unsure of what to do. In the meanwhile, the king is made aware of the tale and requests that the entire party of guilty persons be brought to him. Once they are, they all tell their story, which the King requests is recorded. He asks, “Have you ever heard a story more marvelous than that of the hunchback?” (29). The tailor then comes forward to tell his story, “The Tailor’s Tale.”

The tailor recounts that he was recently at a breakfast party and met an impressive but lame young man. When an old barber joins their party, the young man immediately tries to leave because of “the presence of this sinister barber” (29). Those at the party implore the young man to explain, and he begins “The Tale of the Lame Young Man and the Barber of Baghdad.”

The young man relates that, in Baghdad, he inherited great wealth and lived a life of luxury. He fell in love with the daughter of the Cadi of Baghdad, a judge, and a mysterious old woman offered to serve as his messenger and help him woo the girl. After numerous attempts, the old woman manages to meet with the girl, who agrees to see the young man in secret once her father is out of the house. The young man begins to excitedly prepare for this visit and has a barber brought to his house to shave him. The barber, however, ends up being an odd and chatty polymath who professes his devotion to the youth and pesters him endlessly. He tells the youth that he had served his father and grandfather, noting that neither “did anything without first seeking [his] advice” (36). He tries to stay the youth and dissuade him from this plan to visit the girl, but this only irritates the young man further. Once the young man is finally able to rid himself of the barber, he goes to visit his lover-to-be. However, the barber follows and intervenes when he mistakenly thinks that the young man is being beaten. In the end, this only gets the young man in further trouble, and when he tries to flee, he breaks his leg and ends up lame. The end of this tale prompts the barber to tell his side of the story, “The Barber’s Tale.”

The barber recounts the time that he mistakenly ended up in the court of the Abbasid caliph, the “Prince of the Faithful” (45) and the ruler of the Islamic world. The barber begins to regale the caliph with his life story and tells him the story of his six “disreputable good-for-nothing” brothers who are characterized by their “recklessness, stupidity, and unusual cowardice” (45). His first brother, Bakbook, is the eldest. He falls in love with the wife of his landlord. Smitten, he attempts to have an affair with her. Unbeknownst to him, the landlord and his wife scheme to and succeed in robbing and making a fool of him. He ends up being taken to the governor, whipped, and paraded around as an adulterer. He breaks his leg, is banished from Baghdad, and is secretly sheltered and cared for by the barber. The caliph offers the chatty barber a gift for his story, but he refuses to take it and leave until he tells him about his other brothers.

An old woman lures his second brother, Al-Haddar, promising various luxuries. However, a young woman seduces him, and she beats and makes a fool out of him. Like his brother before him, he is lashed by the governor, banished from the city, and taken in by the barber.

His third brother, Bakbak, is a blind beggar who is beaten while begging at a house. After this, his assailant tricks and robs him and his fellow beggars and tricks the governor into punishing them for feigning blindness. They are beaten and banished, and Bakbak is taken in by the barber. Again, when the barber finishes his story, the caliph tries to send him away with a gift, but he insists on telling the tale of his fourth brother.

The barber’s fourth brother, Al-Kuz, used to be a wealthy butcher and sheep-breeder in Baghdad. He loses all his wealth when he is tricked and accused by an old sorcerer of “slaughtering his fellow-men and selling […] their flesh as mutton” (59). This sorcerer also knocks out his left eye, and his troubles do not end there. He is jailed, whipped, and banished from the city. Although he tries to set up shop as a cobbler in another city, he is beaten for having only his left eye, which is considered to be an ill omen by the king. In another town, he is mistaken for a thief and beaten yet again. The barber finds him and returns him to Baghdad, where he cares for him.

His fifth brother, Al-Ashar, is missing both of his ears. Resolving to start a glass business with his inheritance money, he schemes how to increase his wealth. Like his brother Al-Haddar, an old woman lures him with the promise of having a beautiful young woman. When he follows her, an African slave beats him and leaves him for dead. After he escapes and plots revenge, he manages to entrap and kill the old woman and the African slave. However, he is moved to pardon the young woman, who only ends up stealing all the money in the house and running away. He is then also robbed and banished by the corrupt governor and comes under the care of the barber. 

His sixth and last brother, Shakashik, had his lips cut off. As a poor man, Shakashik manages to secure a wealthy patron. However, when this patron falls into disfavor, he is forced to flee Baghdad and settle with Bedouins in the desert. However, he commits adultery with the chief’s wife, is caught, castrated, and has his lips cut off. The barber takes him in as well.

When the barber finally finishes his stories, the caliph bursts out laughing but immediately—and “for no conceivable reason” (73)—banishes him. The barber finally returns to Baghdad after the caliph’s death, which is when he meets the lame young man.

The tailor resumes his narrative at this point and notes that the entire breakfast party had become “convinced that the lame young man had been the victim of an exceptionally garrulous and meddlesome barber” (73). Therefore, they lock the barber in an empty room and resume with their party. That afternoon, the tailor takes his wife out to appease her, and this is when they meet and invite the hunchback to their home, prompting the accident that started the whole tale.

The king of Basra is greatly amused by this whole story and has the barber brought before him. The barber, in turn, examines the hunchback and upon realizing that he is still alive, removes the fish bone lodged in his throat. Everyone agrees that the entire incident is “a rare marvel” and it is recorded and “kept in the royal library” (75). The king gifts everyone involved with robes of honor and makes some a part of his court, “and they lived happily” (76) until their deaths.