The Story of Jullanar of the Sea

Notable Characters

  • King of Persia
  • Jullanar of the Sea Kingdom
  • Badr, the son of Jullanar and the king
  • Sayih, Jullanar’s brother
  • Princess Jauhara
  • The old man
  • Queen Lab

Plot Summary

A merchant brought a beautiful slave girl to the king, who kept her and favored her even though she never spoke to him. After a year, he implored her to say something, so she told him that her name was Jullanar and she came from a kingdom in the sea. She was pregnant with the king’s child, so she called her brother, Sayih, and her cousins to help with the delivery process.

Jullanar can perform magic, and her relatives breathe fire when they are angry. Jullanar has a baby boy, and her relatives draw special kohl on his eyes to make it so that he can breather underwater like they can.

Happy years pass, and then the king gets sick and dies. Badr takes his place, and Jullanar and Sayih plan to find him a suitable wife. Badr overhears Sayih talking about the beautiful Princess Jauhara, and he immediately falls in love with her.

Sayih takes Badr to the sea kingdom of Juahara’s father to beg for her hand in marriage. Her father refuses, so Sayih and his people attack the king’s people, killing them. They take the king hostage and plan to force him to marry Jauhara to Badr.

Meanwhile, Jauhara sees this happening and escapes to the place where Badr happens to be hiding. He tries to seduce her, and she tricks him into thinking that she feels the same way. She turns him into a bird and tells her maid to take him to the island of thirst.

Instead of taking Badr to the island of thirst, the maid takes him to a nice island to live. He is captured by a bird-catcher who takes him to his king and queen. The queen sees immediately that this bird is actually King Badr, and she turns him back into a human.

They supply him with a ship and send him on his way. The ship sinks and everyone drowns, but Badr makes it to land and is attacked by animals. He meets an old man who helps him and warns him against the sorceress Queen Lab.

Queen Lab takes an interest in Badr, which is dangerous because she spends 40 days with a man and then turns him into a beast. Badr spends time with her but then sees her turn into a bird to have sex with a ex-lover of hers. Queen Lab plots to turn Badr into a beast, but the old man helps him trick her.

Queen Lab is turned into a she-mule, but then her mother helps her turn back, and Badr is trapped again. This time, Jullanar and her people come to the rescue. Badr gets married to Jauhara and they apparently live happily ever after.