The Last Storytellers

Tales from the Heart of Morocco

Richard Hamilton

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781848854918
• eBook ISBN: 9780857730596
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

Marrakech is the heart and lifeblood of Morocco's ancient storytelling tradition. For nearly a thousand years, storytellers have gathered in the Jemaa el Fna, the legendary square of the city, to recount ancient folktales and fables to rapt audiences. But this unique chain of oral tradition that has passed seamlessly from generation to generation is teetering on the brink of extinction. The competing distractions of television, movies and the internet have drawn the crowds away from the storytellers and few have the desire to learn the stories and continue their legacy. Richard Hamilton has witnessed at first hand the death throes of this rich and captivating tradition and, in the labyrinth of the Marrakech medina, has tracked down the last few remaining storytellers, recording stories that are replete with the mysteries and beauty of the Maghreb.



Moroccan tales have a huge educational, religious and moral impact on their audience, offering timeless values and guidance to all who listen. With their passing we risk losing something of Morocco's national psyche and also part of the world's intangible heritage. Those who have seen the storytellers of Marrakech at first hand have witnessed something that is no longer part of this world, a treasure as precious as the planet's most endangered species and of immeasurable importance to humanity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Author biography
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Dedication page
• Contents
• Foreword: Circles in the Jemaa el Fna
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• The Red Lantern
• The King and His Prime Minister
• The Gazelle with the Golden Horns
• The Imam and the Wager
• The Girl Who Fell in Love with the Hermit
• The Birth of the Sahara
• The Trials of Noureddine
• The Sultan and His Vizier’s Wife
• The Queen and the King, the Son of Amelkani
• Nour and the Sultan
• The Laundryman and the Fountain
• The Man Who Went Against His Father’s Wishes
• The Vizier and the Chicken
• The Fakir and the Frog
• The Two Hunchbacks
• El-Ghaliya Bent Mansour
• The Land and the Treasure
• The Statue and the Robber
• The Tailor, the Princess and the Eagle
• The Sultan and the Thief
• The Eyes of Ben’Adi
• The Shoemaker and the Bird
• The Vizier and the Barber
• Seven Coins and a Donkey
• The Sultan’s Daughter and the Leper
• The Nobleman and His Three Sons
• The Vengeance of Allah
• The Woman and the Black Cat
• Aicha Rmada
• The Traveller and the Pasha’s Daughter
• The Girl from Fes
• One Hundred and One Beheadings
• The Three Figs
• Suleiman, the Stork and the City of Gold
• The Woman and the Devil
• The Bird from the Land of Gabour
• The Pomegranate and the Talking Drum