But this story is not as strange or as amazing as the story of the salesman and the thief…
Dinarzad asked, “Please, sister, what is the story of the salesman and the thief?” Shahrazad said…”’
Let me tell you about the salesman and the thief.
There was a man, old and kind. His heart was gentle, which was uncommon of those in his line of work. However, of all the things he was, a brute was not one. The old man made his living selling snakes. Anacondas, garters, vipers, cobras, and pythons included. More valuable than any snake in his shop, though, was a beautiful golden flute which the salesman kept encased and wrapped in old rags in a corner nearly invisible.
One day, a stranger came upon the shop.
“My, what a fine shop you have here! I’ve traveled far in all directions and had yet to see such a remarkable collection until today,” he said.
“Why thank you, kind traveler. Might I ask the name of the man who compliments my work so?” responded the salesman.
“You may call me Voleur, though I do insist you tell me more about your snakes”
And so, the salesman took the voleur around the shop, granting interesting detail about the traits and prices of every snake.
Upon turning the corner where the golden flute lay hidden, Voleur unsheathed a sword and held the salesman against the wall.
“Guess, merchant where I hail from.” he said.
“You are a Frenchman, of course.”
“Ah, you must be a worldly man”
“And you must be a thief” interrupted the salesman.
“It was foolish of you to tell a wanderer so much about your possessions, an old defenseless man such as yourself against a youthful lad like me”
“Oh, please thief, do not take my snakes as they are all I have. I am left with no wife or children. Instead, all me to offer you this golden flute” said the merchant as he motioned to the rag covered box.
“All you have to do is hold it to your lips and you’ll play the most beautiful sounds for miles to hear”
Voleur opened the case and lifted the flute as if to play, but at first breath, the sword dropped and out of his clothes slithered a snake!
“What have you done?” cried the snake.
“Ha ha ha, I’ve done nothing. You’ve turned yourself into a snake” laughed the merchant.
For four days the snake would approach the shop, begging to be returned to his human form, but the salesman would say he could not.
On the fifth day, the snake instead asked the merchant why he could not change him back.
In response, the merchant said “the flute is not mine, I acquired it a time ago while traveling to Agrabah.
“Tell me, salesman, how I may arrive there and who to seek so I may resume my human form.”
But the salesman simply put the snake Voleur in a basket and carried him off.
Here, Scheherazade detached and said:
“As intriguing as this story is, it is not nearly as interesting as the story of the sorcerer and the flute. Wait until tomorrow and I will tell you.”
Mutual trickery–and animal transformation–this post picks up on some key elements of the original. Nice work.
I enjoyed the mutual trickery, and the surprise curse of the golden flute turning the thief into a snake. The snake was a perfect animal to choose to turn the thief into, as they are a symbol for cunning and deception in some cultures. It is nice that the victim (the salesman) ultimately ends up winning through his trickery. This reminds me of how the fisherman tricks the demon into proving that he could fit into the jar and the fisherman ends up overpowering him with his trickery. It is interesting how the character holding power and control over the situation shifts from the thief back to the salesman. It happens often in the Thousand and One Nights that power shifts from a wrongdoer to the victim, who often takes revenge on the wrongdoer.
But the salesman simply put the snake Voleur in a basket and carried him off…
The salesman carried off snake Voleur into a market two towns away. The salesman desired to barter the human in snake form for goods to sell at his market. However, he did not get many takers for snake Voleur. Those whom he wanted to sell snake Voleur to, did not take the salesman up on his offer. As they examined snake Voleur, he slithered around and fought their grasp, they deemed him unsafe to sell.
The salesman, wanting desperately to get rid snake Voleur, left him at the river close to the market. The snake slithered his way back into the market to one of the sellers that declined to purchase him earlier. He would not give the seller peace – he slithered around his legs and feet until finally the seller gave in and put Voleur in the cage with his other snakes. Later that night, when the seller was packing up for the day, he noticed a strange sight. All of his other snakes were huddled into the corner, while Voleur was taking up much of the cage. He took snake Voleur and examined him closely. He touched his snake skin which had an off texture to it, he looked into his eyes which were a shade too light to belong to a snake. Then it hit him! This was a human in snake form.
That night he took snake Voleur to a soothsayer, who returned Voleur into his human form. Voleur thanked the soothsayer profusely for returning him to his human form. He told him of his plight – how the salesman turned him into a snake, leaving out the part about the attempted robbery, of course. The soothsayer was sympathetic to his plight, he fed him and gave him a bed for the night. The next morning, the soothsayer and emerged from his room and found his home cleaned out and Voleur gone…
Shahrazad rubbed her eyes sleepily and stifled a yawn. Dinarzad said “Where did Voleur go?”. Shahrazard replied, “Tomorrow sister, tomorrow”.