Tales of Al-Thalab – The trickster thief of Samarkand/ Also: Al-Thalab’s Clever Gambling Trick

1. How Al-Thalab stole the Star of Samarkand

Once there was a fabulous Sapphire called the Star of Samarkand that belonged to the Sultan of Samarkand. Night and Day it was guarded by burly men with curved swords and spears of steel and it was thought that no thief in all Arabia could ever steal it.

But Al-Thalab, the King of thieves was determined to steal it because he had promised to the woman he loved; one of the Sultans dancing girls, Parvanna, that once he stole it he would be rich enough to give up being a thief and marry her.

And then one day as Al-Thalab was sitting in the marketplace pondering how one would steal a jewel that was so heavily guarded he saw a hawk fly down and snatch up a mouse in its claws.

Instantly, Al-Thalabs eyes lit up and then, it’s said, he spent the next 40 days and nights in the desert trying to train a wild hawk to pick up a stone and then when he had accomplished this, he stood outside the palace with the hawk and when he released it, it flew in through the window of the room where the sapphire was kept and, snatching it up in its talons carried the jewel back to him.

Of course, the guards tried to kill the hawk but it all happened so quickly that by the time they could react, the sapphire was already safe in Al-Thalab’s hand.

2. How Al-Thalab hid the Star of Samarkand

Now when the Sultan discovered that the Star had been stolen, of course, he gave orders for his soldiers, of which there were many hundreds to search every house in the city and so Al-Thalab waited until they had searched ten houses, then he hid the jewel in the first house that they had searched, thinking that the last place they would look is the first place they had looked and, though they searched every house and person in Samarkand, including Al-Thalab’s own, they never found the jewel.

3. How Al-Thalab Passed on a secret message to the jewel merchant

Spies of the Sultan were watching Al-Thalab day and night because, although they had no proof, the Sultans vizier suspected him of stealing the star.

But he had to get a message to the jewel merchant he intended to sell the Star to and so he bought up dozens of little dolls and, into only one, he placed the secret message; then he went round the city handing out the dolls to little children, one of which was a messenger who worked for the Jewel merchant.

Now the spies suspected that one of the dolls might contain a secret message but Al-Thalab had handed out so many dolls to so many children that they couldn’t tell which child was Al-Thalabs contact and since they couldn’t follow all the children they never found out what the message was.

4. How Al-Thalab smuggled the Star out of the city

Yet even though the soldiers had not found the Star, Al-Thalab still had to smuggle it out of the city to sell it to the jewel merchant and so he told a carpenter to make him an ornate box, painted gold and silver and covered in stones made of glass. Then he disguised the Star of Samarkand as an ordinary dirty old stone that one would find lying on the ground.

Now, when he was stopped, trying to leave the city, he picked up the golden box and the sapphire that looked like a common stone together, placing them both on the ground, saying, “I have nothing with me but this golden box”.

And seeing the golden box and what looked like a dirty common stone beside it, they thought nothing of the stone, believing it to be just a stone that had been lying on the ground, but they searched the golden box and when they could find nothing in it or upon it of interest, Al-Thalab picked up the box and the stone together putting them back onto his wagon taking them both out of the city.

5. Al- Thalab and the bandits

Now, after Al-Thalab had left the city of Samarkand; he was stopped by two bandits with long swords.

Grabbing hold of a scroll covered in verses from the Qu-ran he sank to his knees on the ground and started to say, “Magic scroll protect me”.

“How can a scroll protect you against two sharp swords?”, asked one of the bandits laughing.

“It’s covered in verses from the Qu-ran which make it very powerful. Don’t you believe in its power?”, asked Al-Thalab

“I don’t believe in the Qu-ran at all”, said the bandit.

“Well then”, said Al-Thalab, “You won’t mind a little test of which is greater. My scroll or your sword. Let me strike you with my magic scroll and if it has no power then you can strike me with your sword”.

“Alright”, said the bandit, “Take your best shot”.

Then Al-Thalab hit the bandit with the scroll knocking him unconscious before striking the second bandit in the face and doing the same to him.

“I don’t blame you”, he said, taking an iron bar out of the scroll, “I don’t believe in  the Qu-ran either but I believe in iron bars”.

6. Al-Thalab and the Jewel Merchant

Now when Al-Thalab reached the Jewel Merchant he looked very surprised to see him and Al-Thalab realised that it was he who had sent the bandits to rob him of the jewel .

But the Jewel Merchant, because he was not just a crook but greedy and evil, took out a flintlock gun and pointed it at Al-Thalab.

“Give me the jewel or I will kill you”, he said.

But this did not phase Al-Thalab,

“I didn’t bring it with me”, he said, “But kill me and you will not know where it is buried”.

And so the Jewel Merchant had to follow Al-Thalab into the desert and when they had reached the spot where Al-Thalab said he had buried the Jewel, he made Al-Thalab dig it up.

But Al-Thalab, because he had learned better than to trust people, had not buried the jewel in that spot. Instead he had buried a sword and, drawing it from the ground, he quickly reburied its blade in the Jewel merchants heart.

And that is how Al-Thalab stole the Star of Samarkand aswell as robbing the treacherous Jewel merchant becoming rich enough to marry the dancing girl Parvanna with whom he lived happily and honestly ever after.

Also: Al-Thalabs Gambling Trick or The Fake Competitors Trick

Al-Thalab once thought of this clever gambling trick.

He said to his six friends,

“Let’s divide our money amongst ourselves and pretend to be in a card game, gambling against each other, then invite another player to join us. Since there are six of us then there's a good chance one of us will win and whatever money one of us wins from them we share” *

*Inspired by present political parties - if all parties are secretly on the same side then if any win they all win, apply this to a gambling scenario, if any of Al-Thalabs friends win they all win.