We often read about the people who lived in a medieval city with honourable professions: the brewers, the bakers, the candlestick makers. But what about those people who lived by less reputable means? A medieval shadow play tells us about 21 men and 1 woman who operated in the medieval city’s underworld.
The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger: A Glimpse into Medieval Cairo
The play is The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger, written by Muhammad Ibn Dāniyāl (d.1310/11). It is one of three shadow plays by Ibn Dāniyāl that have survived to the present day. As a young person, he came to Cairo as a refugee escaping the Mongols. While he worked as an eye doctor, Ibn Dāniyāl gained fame as a poet and playwright.
The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger is not a traditional play with a plot, but rather “simply the presentation by a kind of master of ceremonies of a series of hucksters and con men, each of whom gives a sample of the speech he or she uses to get money from their public.” One would think these were very real people, based on those that Ibn Dāniyāl encountered in Cairo. They are:
List of Characters
Little Tracker, the snake charmer (Ḥuwaysh al-ḥawwā)
Perfumer’s Little Broom, he who makes hashish (ʿUsayla al-maʿājīnī)
Plant, the herbalist and druggist (Nubāta al-ʿashshāb al-ʿaṭṭār)
Reckless, who wields razors, an eye surgeon (Miqdām al-mawāsī)
Goody, who keeps balancing, an acrobat (Ḥassūn al-mawzūn)
Candle Man, the juggler (Shamʿūn al-mushaʿbidh)
New Moon, the astrologer (Hilāl al-munajjim)
Protection Seeker, the seller of block-printed charms and amulets (ʿAwwādh al-sharmāṭ)
Cub, the lion tamer (Shibl al-sabbā)
Blessed, the elephant man (Mubārak al-fayyāl)
Father of the Wonder Boy, a goat trainer (Abū al-ʿajab)
The Tattoo Woman, who “offers her services for tattooing and circumcising girls” (al-Ṣāniʿa yā banāt)
Father of the Felines, a cat trainer (Abū al-qiṭaṭ)
Dusty Shred, the dog trainer (Zaghbar al-kalbī)
Father of the Beast, an animal tamer (Abū al-waḥsh)
Nātū, Sudanese clown
Mouthful, the performer who swallows swords (Shadhqam al-ballā)
Lucky Monkey, the monkey trainer (Maymūn al-qarrād)
Lucky Jumper, a ropedancer (Waththāb al-Bakhtiyārī)
Chopped Meat, the Surgeon, a conjurer with self-inflicted wounds (Jarrāḥ al-mutabbal)
Burner, the torch-bearer (Jammār mashāʿilī al-maḥmil)
He-Who-Goes-Astray, the camel driver (Assāf al-ḥādī)
Characters in Depth
The play goes into more depth for each of these characters. The text includes stage directions describing the act and what they say. For example:
Shadhqam al-ballā (The Sword Swallower) appears on the screen carrying a sword, a steelyard, a spear, and arrowheads. He opens his mouth wide and sits on his buttocks. He swallows a lump of earth and some sand. Then he says:
“I do this for the happiness of matchmakers and those who seek family reunions.”
Then, he recites some poetry:
“I swallow the blades of swords, hay and rough sand Because I have found them more pleasant and sweeter Than the trivial favors of stingy men.”
Many of the people are doing dubious things – the hashish dealer also sells various medicines and is described as a quack doctor. The herbalist is not far behind, as among his cures is a herb that can release someone from prison. Reckless, the eye surgeon, who might very well be based on Ibn Dāniyāl himself, boasts that he has had thousands of successful surgeries, and only a few “premature deaths.”
All of them could be considered as part of the Banu Sasan, the bands of thieves, beggars, and other outcasts that could be found throughout the medieval Arabic world. They very much lived in an underworld of the medieval city, plying trades that were viewed very much with suspicion if not outright illegal.
Categories of Medieval Shady Characters
This cast of medieval characters can be divided into four groups:
Street performers – like the clown and acrobat
Animal trainers – from dogs and cats to monkeys and elephants
Service providers – including the astrologer and the tattooist
Low-status job holders – the camel driver and the torchbearer
The characters presented in The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger offer a fascinating glimpse into the colourful and often overlooked underworld of a medieval city. Through the lens of Muhammad Ibn Dāniyāl’s shadow play, we see a rich tapestry of society’s fringes, populated by those who lived by their wits and cunning rather than by honourable professions. These individuals, though operating in the shadows, contribute to the vibrant, complex fabric of medieval urban life, reminding us that history is not only made by the noble and the respectable but also by the cunning and the marginalized.
By exploring these characters, we gain a deeper understanding of the social dynamics and cultural nuances that shaped the medieval world, revealing that even in the past, society’s underbelly was as intriguing and multifaceted as its more celebrated aspects.
We often read about the people who lived in a medieval city with honourable professions: the brewers, the bakers, the candlestick makers. But what about those people who lived by less reputable means? A medieval shadow play tells us about 21 men and 1 woman who operated in the medieval city’s underworld.
The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger: A Glimpse into Medieval Cairo
The play is The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger, written by Muhammad Ibn Dāniyāl (d.1310/11). It is one of three shadow plays by Ibn Dāniyāl that have survived to the present day. As a young person, he came to Cairo as a refugee escaping the Mongols. While he worked as an eye doctor, Ibn Dāniyāl gained fame as a poet and playwright.
The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger is not a traditional play with a plot, but rather “simply the presentation by a kind of master of ceremonies of a series of hucksters and con men, each of whom gives a sample of the speech he or she uses to get money from their public.” One would think these were very real people, based on those that Ibn Dāniyāl encountered in Cairo. They are:
List of Characters
Characters in Depth
The play goes into more depth for each of these characters. The text includes stage directions describing the act and what they say. For example:
Shadhqam al-ballā (The Sword Swallower) appears on the screen carrying a sword, a steelyard, a spear, and arrowheads. He opens his mouth wide and sits on his buttocks. He swallows a lump of earth and some sand. Then he says:
“I do this for the happiness of matchmakers and those who seek family reunions.”
Then, he recites some poetry:
“I swallow the blades of swords, hay and rough sand
Because I have found them more pleasant and sweeter
Than the trivial favors of stingy men.”
Many of the people are doing dubious things – the hashish dealer also sells various medicines and is described as a quack doctor. The herbalist is not far behind, as among his cures is a herb that can release someone from prison. Reckless, the eye surgeon, who might very well be based on Ibn Dāniyāl himself, boasts that he has had thousands of successful surgeries, and only a few “premature deaths.”
All of them could be considered as part of the Banu Sasan, the bands of thieves, beggars, and other outcasts that could be found throughout the medieval Arabic world. They very much lived in an underworld of the medieval city, plying trades that were viewed very much with suspicion if not outright illegal.
Categories of Medieval Shady Characters
This cast of medieval characters can be divided into four groups:
The characters presented in The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger offer a fascinating glimpse into the colourful and often overlooked underworld of a medieval city. Through the lens of Muhammad Ibn Dāniyāl’s shadow play, we see a rich tapestry of society’s fringes, populated by those who lived by their wits and cunning rather than by honourable professions. These individuals, though operating in the shadows, contribute to the vibrant, complex fabric of medieval urban life, reminding us that history is not only made by the noble and the respectable but also by the cunning and the marginalized.
By exploring these characters, we gain a deeper understanding of the social dynamics and cultural nuances that shaped the medieval world, revealing that even in the past, society’s underbelly was as intriguing and multifaceted as its more celebrated aspects.
Further Readings:
This list of characters can be found in Li Guo’s work, The Performing Arts in Medieval Islam: Shadow Play and Popular Poetry in Ibn Dāniyāl’s Mamluk Cairo, published by Brill in 2012. See also:
Theatre from Medieval Cairo: The Ibn Dāniyāl Trilogy, edited by Marvin Carlson and Safi Mahfouz (2013)
Marvin Carlson, “Medieval Street Performers Speak,” TDR: The Drama Review 57:4 (2013)
M. M. Badawi, “Medieval Arabic Drama: ibn Dāniyāl,” Journal of Arabic Literature, Vol. 13 (1982)
Top Image: Detail fom Maqamat of al-Hariri – BNF Arabe5847
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