In The Great Khan's Tent Presents: Tales from Central Asia Episode 3

In the Great Khan’s Tent

In this episode, we continue with our on-going series titled “Tales from Central Asia” by looking at four different tales from four different ethnic groups.

The first story that is told is from the Turkmen ethnic group titled “A Mountain of Gems”. The second story that is told is from the Uzbek ethnic group titled “The Clever Brothers”. The third story that is told is from the Tajik ethnic group titled “The Greedy Qazi”.

What is interesting about these three stories is that they all bear a resemblance to similar tales that we have encountered and have yet to encounter in the One Thousand and One Nights. Although there is no indication of the provenance of these stories it can be conjectured that they were inspired by the One Thousand and One Nights and subsequently were modified to fit in their local storytelling environments. Another theory that can be examined is that these stories were developed in parallel to one another, in an isolated environment.

As we encounter these stories in the One Thousand and One Nights, there will be future special episodes comparing and contrasting them.

The last story that is told is from the Altai ethnic group called “Boroldoi-Mergen and his Brave Son”. This story is similar in its structure to the Bashkir story we encountered, Altyn-Saka the Golden Knucklebone, as well as the story of Tsarkin Khan and the Archer, the Kalmyk story. The main characters in all three of these stories are uniquely different from the environment that they find themselves in as the rest of the characters, or the village in the case of Boroldoi-Mergen, are cowardly and not brave and it is solely up to them to stand up to the unrighteous.

In the next episode, we will once again resume our exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights.