Hassan of Basra is a folktale associated with the Arabian Nights, a compilation of Persian and Arabic folktales. Similar stories are attested in the same collection: Janshah and Mazin of Khorassan.
The tale is related to the international cycle of the swan maiden, a creature that alternates between human and avian forms, and to tale type ATU 400, "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index. In addition, the initial part of the tale, classified as type ATU 936*, "The Golden Mountain", is indicated by scholars as a common opening of the former narrative, among other regions, in West Asia and Southern Europe, including Greece.
Translations The tale is sometimes translated as Hasan of Basra or Hassan of Bassora.New Arabian nights' entertainments. Selected from the original oriental ms. by Jos. von Hammer, and now first translated into English by George Lamb. Vol. 2. London: H. Colburn, 1826. p. 1. Author Idries Shah translated the tale as The Bird Maiden in his work World Tales.Shah, Idries. World Tales. New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979. pp. 236-251. Orientalist Edward William Lane published the tale as Story of Ḥasan of El-Baṣrah, in his 1877 book, and as How Hasan captured the Bird-Maiden and the Adventures that came after, in his translation of The One Thousand and One Nights.Lane, Edward William. The Arabian Nights Entertainments. New York: The Pickwick Publishers, 1927. pp. 754-844. Poet John Payne published the tale as Hassan of Bassora and the King's Daughter of the Jinn, in his translation of The Arabian Nights.
Summary Meeting the Persian magician
An Egyptian man settled in the city of Bassora. When he dies, his properties are divided equally between his two sons, the younger named Hassan, who becomes a goldsmith and opens up a store. One day, a Persian comes to his store with a proposition to have Hassan work for him and the youth will learn the ways of transmuting copper into gold. Despite his mother's suspicions, Hassan agrees to trust the man and, after the Persian transmutes copper in front of Hassan with a special powder, invites him home for dinner.
The Persian magician joins Hassan for dinner at the latter's house. During the meal, the magician dowses a piece of sweetmeat with an opiate of henbane and gives it to Hassan, who eats it and passes out. The Persian ties Hassan's limbs and carries him in a chest to the port, where he takes a ship to depart from Bassora. Meanwhile, Hassan's mother notices that neither her son, nor the magician are in the house, least of all in the village. Thinking her son is dead, she erects a tombstone and weeps over it.
Back to Hassan and the magician, who the narrative calls Behram, the youth wakes up on the boat and asks the magician's plans, since the latter made a vow of "bread and salt" for sacred hospitality. In response, the Persian says Hassan is just the latest in a long line of youths he sacrificed before (999 previous victims), and promises to spare him if the youth worships the fire. Hassan refuses to do so, and is held as a hostage in the ship for three months, until a heavy storm gathers in the ocean and the ship's captain begins to throw the magician Behram's slaves in the sea. Behram releases Hassan from his bonds and the storm subsides. Behram then reveals their destination: the Mountain of Cloud, where they can obtain the elixir that allows the transmutation of metal.
After another three months, Behram and Hassan reach their destination, and ride horses through a desert for 14 days until they reach the Mountain, where they are to find the herb that produces the elixir. Behram's plan is for Hassan to enter a horse's hide and wait for the birds (rukh) to take the hide up the mountain. It happens thus, and Hassan leaves the horse's hide to fetch faggots of the herb and throw them to the magician. After getting the faggots, Behram declares he has no use for the youth and leaves him stranded on the mountaintop. Hassan proclaims that no one is more powerful than God, and tries to look for a way out of the mountain. He reaches the other side of the mountain and, overlooking the sea, decides to leap from the cliff into the ocean.New Arabian nights' entertainments. Selected from the original oriental ms. by Jos. von Hammer, and now first translated into English by George Lamb. Vol. 2. London: H. Colburn, 1826. pp. 3-18.
The Princess of the Djinni After plunging into the sea, Hassan swims the waves and reaches the shores of a kingdom he passed by with Behram. He finds a palace and enters it; inside, two maidens playing chess sight Hassan, whom they recognize as Behram's companion, and welcome him as their brother. The maidens explain they are princesses from the race of the Djinni (jinn or genies), and that they were locked in this palace by their father, who vowed never to marry any of them.
The seven sisters adopt Hassan as their brother, and, a year later, help the youth in getting his revenge on the magician Behram, when the latter brings his new apprentice/slave. After a while, a cloud of dust is approaching their palace, and the princesses explain it is a troop of their father's genii, come to summon them to a festivity. They receive the invitation, and give Hassan a set of keys for the human to use around the palace, with a caveat: he is forbidden to open a certain door.
After the princesses depart to their father's court, Hassan tries to amuse himself, and eventually opens the forbidden door: inside, a beautiful and lush garden with a pavilion nearby. Suddenly, ten birds come near the pavilion, become ten maidens of exceptional beauty and bathe and play in the water. Hassan, in hiding behind some trees, sees the most beautiful of them and falls in love with her. The maidens become birds again and fly back whence they came.
Hassan falls in love with the bird maiden and tries to find her the next day, to no avail. After the jinn princesses return, Hassan tells the situation to the youngest jinn princess, who chastises him for opening the forbidden door. Hassan leads the jinn princess to the garden, and she explains the pavilion and the pool belong to a princess of the jinn, daughter of the king of the kings of their race; they fly through the air by the use of their feather garments. Thus, the jinn princess advises, if Hassan wishes to have her, he should steal the feather garment and not return it.
The next day, the bird maidens fly back to bathe in the pavilion; Hassan steals the feather garment of the youngest of them. While the maidens fly back, the jinn princess realizes her garments were stolen and shrieks in terror; Hassan seizes the princess by the hair and drags her to a room on the palace, and locks her in. The great princess of the jinni is visited by Hassan's foster sisters and demands an explanation. The maidens assuage her fears and tell her Hassan's story. Hassan then pays a visit to his beloved and expresses his affection to her, promising to marry her and buy in Baghdad a house befitting her.
The other jinn princesses return from the hunt and learn of the presence of the daughter of their sovereign. They visit her and bow before her, then explain Hassan has no ill intent, save to make her his wife, since her feather garment has been burnt, and she cannot return to her father's palace.New Arabian nights' entertainments. Selected from the original oriental ms. by Jos. von Hammer, and now first translated into English by George Lamb. Vol. 2. London: H. Colburn, 1826. pp. 18-39.
Moving to Baghdad Hassan and the djinni princess marry. One night, the youth has a dream about his mother, and decides to return to Bassora with his wife. After he meets his mother, he suggests they move out to Baghdad to live under the caliph's protection.
Hassan buys a large house for them in Baghdad, where he lives with the jinn princess and their two sons, Nasir and Mansur. Three years later, he decides to journey back to his adoptive sisters since he is missing them, and warns his mother to not let his wife leave the house, nor to return her the feather-garment - which was overheard by the jinn wife. After he leaves, the jinn princess decides to go to the local bath house, despite her mother-in-law's reluctance.
At the bath house, the jinn princess draws the attention of the visitors, and news of her beauty reach the ears of Zobeide (Zubaydah), the wife of caliph Harun Al-Rashid. Zobeide orders the woman to be summoned to her presence, and dispatches Mesrur, the chief of the eunuchs, to get her. Mesrur goes to Hassan's mother's house and asks both women to come with him to Zobeide's presence.
Hassan's mother and his wife go to the court wearing veils, and Zobeide orders the woman to take off the veil. The caliph's wife is dazzled by the djinni's beauty, and inquires her about her talents. Hassan's wife says she can dance as long as she wears her feather robe. On hearing this, Zobeide orders Hassan's mother to bring the feather garment, but she refuses to. Zobeide dispatches Masrur, the eunuch, to fetch the feather garment in their house and bring her. He takes the garment and returns it to Hassan's wife; she puts it on and begins to fly about the room. As her parting words, she tells her mother-in-law Hassan should find her and their children in the Wak-Wak Islands, then flies away.
Hassan returns to Baghdad and asks his mother about his family. With tears in her eyes, the woman tells Hassan his wife has regained the feather garment and flew away to Wak-Wak Islands with their children. Hassan falls into a state of despair for the disappearance of his family.New Arabian nights' entertainments. Selected from the original oriental ms. by Jos. von Hammer, and now first translated into English by George Lamb. Vol. 2. London: H. Colburn, 1826. pp. 39-56.
Hassan's long journey After grieving for a month, Hassan goes back to his seven adoptive sisters in search of clues. The princesses consult with a paternal uncle, Sheik Abdul-Rodus, who agrees to help the human, despite dismissing his plight as futile. The Sheik and Hassan then ride elephants to a dark blue, where the Sheik acquires a book, and tells Hassan to ride a horse to another grotto.
On the way there, Abdul-Rodus explains that the Wak-Wak Islands are filled with Amazons, genii and demons, and Hassan's wife is the daughter of the king of the islands. Armed with this new information, Hassan reaches a black mountain, where a black man named Ali Abu'l Rish ("Father of Feathers") greets him and receives the book Hassan had with him.
Abu'l Rish takes Hassan with him and introduces him to a room with 4 sheiks. The group discuss the journey Hassan intends to take, and Abu'l Rish summons a jinn to take the human to the Land of Camphor, with a letter explaining the situation to its monarch.
Arrival at Waq Waq
In the Land of Camphor, Hassan boards a ship set for Waq Waq. When the ship reaches its shores, he sees some members of an amazonian guard trading with the merchants, and dons a crossdressing disguise so he can mingle better with the locals.
Hassan then meets the leader of the amazonian guard, Shawahi Umm Al-Dawahi, who is the queen's nursemaid. Hassan joins Shawahi's army and they traverse the large territories of Waq Waq (the Land of the Birds, the Land of the Wild Beasts and the Land of the Djinns), until they reach the mountains of Waq Waq. Shawahi brings Hassan before their queen, Nûr al-Hudâ, whom Hassan mistakes for his wife. Learning of her younger sister's marriage to a human, Nûr al-Hudâ orders Shawahi to go to Manar al-Sana (Hassan's wife) and bring her two children.