Hassan of Basra

Not to be confused with Hasan al-Basri.
Hassan of Basra
The birds take flight from the ornate pavilion, leaving their sister behind. Illustration by John Batten.
Folk tale
NameHassan of Basra
Also known asHasan of Bassora
Aarne–Thompson grouping
  • ATU 936*, "The Golden Mountain"
  • ATU 400, "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife"
Published inThe Arabian Nights

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.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.