Porter And The Three Girls From Baghdad Summary

The Tales from the Thousand and One Nights include many recurring motifs. Of these themes held so common, not one occurs as much as the idea of a portal. I will argue that the theme of portals is very important to the Tales from the Thousand and One Nights. Portals come in a myriad of different images throughout the stories. They can be simple doors or gateways, or rather more complex portals such as the surface of the water or the nozzle of a lamp. Most importantly, the portals connect different worlds. The plot in these tales is most often being developed from the main character stepping through a portal or pulling something out of one and the events that follow. In “the Fisherman and the Jinnee”, we are given several examples of

When the porter comes to the house of the three girls, he enters a door that brings him into another world. Though it would appear that the house is still on the same plane as the normal world, the events that take place inside are out of the ordinary. Not long after the porter enters the realm of the three girls, one of the girls removes her clothes and comes to sit on the porter’s lap. “Then she pointed down to that which was between her thighs and said: ‘Darling master, what do you call that’” (247)? Obviously, this would not be a common sight in the typical Baghdad home. Not only has the porter entered another realm by passing through that door, but the storytellers offer glimpses into other worlds as well. By telling a story, one is effectively allowing the listeners to peer into a portal to see another world. Though they cannot pass into this world in a physical sense, they may certainly become lost within for a time. Even the stories within the parent story hold portals as a common motif. For example, the first dervish’s tale begins with the entrance of a sealed door to a tomb. In this tale, the dervish’s cousin enters into a tomb with his lover and commands the dervish to seal him within. Later in the story, the dervish feels guilty and decides to return to release his cousin. After a long search, he opens the door to find both this cousin and his cousin’s lover

As in “the Fisherman and the Jinnee”, this story begins with Kalifah casting his net into a body of water. He casts ten times with no catches. However, on the eleventh cast, he catches a lame, one-eyed ape. This is peculiar yet very appropriate catch. As the surface of the water represents a type of portal between worlds, the ape signifies a connection as well. The ape, bearing the likeness of both man and animal, serves as a connection between man and beast. The fact that he has pulled a being considered strange from a realm considered to hold the strange is befitting for this tale. Not only are the apes considered to be a mysterious connection as it is, two of the apes he pulled from the water are described as wearing vests. This detail serves to further strengthen the connection. Another example of an important portal is that of the chest which Kalifah buys. Kalifah purchases a chest that contains unknown contents. Later that night, after being unable to open it, he hears a commotion within the chest. After breaking the locks with a borrowed hammer, a girl emerges from the box. It would certainly be considered odd in this world if a girl were to emerge alive and in one piece from a box. However, in the story world, it is as if she is returning through a portal from another world. Yet again, through intervention involving a portal, the plot is resumed and