A young king once lived in the city of Sanaa. Shaman was not only handsome and clever, but also righteous, and so his kingdom was called "Happy Arabia". Now he was supposed to marry, but none of the women in his kingdom appealed to him. Then he heard of an emir in the Hejaz with three beautiful daughters and decided to visit the emir.

He came to Emir Mas'du with a large entourage and was greeted with great joy. "You should only marry the best of my three daughters," said the emir. "I will ask my wife about this, because who knows her weaknesses better than her mother?" That evening, he asked his wife and she said: "You're right. All three girls are beautiful, but the eldest always puts her finger in her mouth and the second likes to sleep all day. The youngest, Dschauhara, should be queen."

This is how the youngest was prepared for her journey to Yemen. A veil covered her face, many servants accompanied her and the camels were loaded with treasures as a bridal gift. So the young king travelled with his bride to Yemen. How he would have loved to see her face! One night, when everyone was asleep in their tents, the young man crept out of his tent to see his bride. He saw her sleeping on her blankets, realised how beautiful she was and discovered a teasing beauty mark behind her ear.  Next to her lay a marvellous pearl necklace. He picked it up and held it up to the moonlight to admire it. At that moment, a large bird came and snatched it from his hand. The king jumped after the bird in the hope of catching it, but he was already on the shore and the bird flew away over the sea. There he stood, looking hopeless over the water, when suddenly pirates came rushing at him. They beat him with their weapons, tied him up and then got their ship to take him away and sell him as a slave. He lay between the rocks, bleeding and desperate. With the last of his strength, he managed to free his hands a little. He wrote a message on the rocks with his blood, then the pirates came and took him.

When Dschauhara woke up in the morning, she looked for the pearl necklace. When she couldn't find it, she sent servants to the king's tent, but the tent was empty and no one knew where the king was. However, there were tracks in the sand outside the tent. Dschauhara put on the king's clothes and followed them to the shore. There she saw the blood on the ground and discovered the message from her groom. She sat down and wept, not realising how strangers were approaching. They mistook her for a young man, attacked her and soon she was lying tied up next to the rock, just like the king before her. Shortly afterwards, she was already on her kidnappers' ship. "He is beautiful, we want to sell him to the king of Somalia," they said, and so it happened. King Jalloul was delighted with the clever young man, who called himself Shaman, and made him his doorkeeper. No one realised that Shaman was actually a woman, even King Jalloul's daughter, the beautiful Leila, did not notice, indeed she fell in love with the stranger and wanted him as her husband. So what was Jawhara to do? She asked the king: "I am honoured by the offer, but please let me speak to Leila in private." This was granted and so it was that Jawhara told young Leila her whole story. Moved to tears, Leila said: "Stay with us as a doorkeeper and I will see how I can help you."

But what happened to the real shaman? He had been sold as a slave to a pig farmer in Somalia and had to look after the pigs day in, day out. Every day he sat under a tree in the shade. Once, he heard the birds making noise in the nest above him. Curious, he climbed into the tree and, to his amazement, found the pearl necklace of Dschauhara and hid it in his ragged clothes. But now the pig farmer's daughter was paralysed and Shaman had to carry her to the village every day. Once, the pearl necklace fell out of his jacket. The girl cried out: "He's a thief, a thief!" and it was decided to bring Shaman before the king.

"What is your name?" King Jalloul wanted to know when the strange swineherd stood before him.

"My name is Shaman and I come from Yemen," he replied.

"Strange," said the king, "that's also the name of my doorkeeper, with whom my daughter has fallen in love. Tell me your story!"

So King Shaman told everything. About his journey to Dschauhara, the necklace and the pirates. King Jalloul listened spellbound. "Then you are the famous Yemeni king and ended up here as a slave! I will do you every honour and as a gift I will give you my doorkeeper as an escort, because his name is just like yours."

When Leila heard what had happened, she hurried to Dschauhara and told her everything. "How can I know if he still loves me?" asked Dschauhara. "I'll find out," promised Leila.

A bath was prepared for King Shaman and then Leila had his cloak brought to him, which Shaykhara had been wearing when she was abducted. "How did my cloak get here?" he wanted to know, "it was in my tent when the disaster happened." Leila brought her doorkeeper over and said, "Perhaps he can tell you?". Then she left the two of them alone. "Would you recognise Dzhoshara if she were standing in front of you?" she asked. King Shaman did not recognise the young woman in the men's clothes, but he said: "I have only seen her once in the moonlight, but I know of a beauty mark behind her ear."

"One like this one?" asked Dschauhara, showing him her ear. "It's you!" he exclaimed happily, took the turban off her head and the two embraced. "How did you get here?" he asked. She told him all about how she had travelled to the coast in his clothes, seen his markings on the rock and then been abducted by pirates. He also told his story. They talked for a long time, all night.

The next morning, the story spread throughout the palace. A feast was celebrated and a few days later Shaman and Jawhara boarded a ship, travelled back to Yemen and lived there happily for a long time.

Märchen aus dem Jemen, Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: I. Diederichs, Märchen aus dem Land der Königin von Saba, Köln 1987, englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike ©Mutabor Märchenstiftung