"The Girl Who Banished Seven Youths" is a folktale sourced from Morocco and published by Inea Bushnaq in her book Arab Folktales. It deals with a maiden going in search of her elder brothers in the company of a dark-skinned slavewoman who replaces her and passes herself as the youths' sister.
The tale is classified, in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, as type ATU 451, "The Maiden Who Seeks her Brothers" (formerly as tale type AaTh 451A, "The Sister Seeking her Nine Brothers"), and ATU 709A, "The Sister of Nine Brothers". Variants of the first tale type exist in North Africa (among the Berbers), wherein the heroine and a black woman change races in order to trick the heroine's elder brothers into thinking the latter is their sister.
Publication The tale was published by author Inea Bushnaq and by author Angela Carter in her book The Old Wives' Fairy Tale Book.
Summary A mother insists she will give birth to a daughter every time she is pregnant, but every time she gives birth to a boy, until there are seven sons born to her. On her eighth pregnancy, the mother's sister says she will announce to her nephews their sibling's birth: with a spindle if a girl, and a sickle if a boy. The girl is born, but the aunt brandishes a sickle, signaling the birth of a boy. The seven youths believe another son was born and depart. The girl is given the name Wudei'a who Sent Away Subei'a, or The Girl who Banished Seven. When she is young, Wudei'a learns of her elder seven brothers, and tells her mother she wishes to visit them. The mother sends Wudei'a on a camel with a manservant and a maid. On the road, the manservant tries to convince Wudei's to let the maid ride on the camel, but the girl calls out for her mother, who forbids the maid. This works twice, but on the third time, Wudei'a is too far for her mother to answer her pleas. Thus, Wudei'a is made to walk on foot, while her maid rides the camel. They pass by a caravan, and a merchant directs them to the seven brothers' castle. Before they arrive, the manservant rubs Wudei’a's face with pitch to pass her as a black slave, while the maid is introduced as their sister. Wudei's, as a black slave, is made to delouse the brothers, when her tears fall on her arm, cleaning away part of the pitch. The brothers notice the deception, kill the manservant and the maid, and give her water to wash herself.
The brothers welcome Wudei'a as their true sister and they spend time together. On the third day, they warn her to lock up the castle gate, for they will go on a hunt. In the second part of the tale, a cat puts out the fire with urine as payback for Wudei'a not sharing food, which forces the girl to look for fire with a ghoul. The ghoul goes after her, but is killed by her brothers. Wudei'a falls into a death-like state due to the ghoul's nail pricking her finger. Her body is placed on a bier, on a camel. One time, the camel makes a bow, causing the bier to fall to the ground. Robbers try to rob Wudei’a's ring from her finger, and dislodge the ghoul's nail, thus bringing her back to life. Wudei'a wakes up and rides the camel back to her brothers.Bushnaq, Inea. Arab Folktales. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. pp. 119-124.Maier, John R. Desert Songs: Western Images of Morocco and Moroccan Images of the West. SUNY Press, 1996. pp. 231-235. .
Analysis Tale type American folklorist D. L. Ashliman classified the tale in the Aarne-Thompson Index as type AaTh 451, "The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers"Ashliman, D. L. A Guide to Folktales in the English Language: Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System. Bibliographies and Indexes in World Literature, vol. 11. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987. p. 95. . - thus, "distantly related" to the European tales The Twelve Brothers, The Six Swans and The Seven Ravens.Stephens, John; McCallum, Robyn. Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional Story and Metanarratives in Children's Literature. New York and London: Garland Publishing (Taylor and Francis Group), 1998. p. 228. . However, folklorist Hasan M. El-Shamy indexes it under a more precise type, AaTh 451A, "The Sister Seeking her Nine Brothers".El-Shamy, Hasan. Types of the Folktale in the Arab World: A Demographically Oriented Tale-Type Index. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. p. 226. The tale type is also one of many types listed in the international index that deal with a brother-sister relationship.El-Shamy, Hasan. "Sister and Brother, Motif P253". In: Jane Garry and Hasan El-Shamy (eds.). Archetypes and Motifs in Folklore and Literature. A Handbook. Armonk / London: M.E. Sharpe, 2005. p. 350.
As for the second part of the story, the narrative sequence (sister as brothers' housekeeper; fetching fire from ogre; sister dying and brothers carrying her body) is classified in the revised edition of the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index (post-2004) as type ATU 709A, "The Sister of Nine Brothers".Uther, Hans-Jörg. The types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography, based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Volume 1: Animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, and realistic tales, with an introduction. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia-Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. p. 384. . This subtype is, thus, related to type ATU 709, "Snow White".Artese, Charlotte. Shakespeare and the Folktale: An Anthology of Stories. Princeton University Press, 2019. p. 250. .
Motifs According to professor John R. Maier, the name of the heroine (Udea, Wudei'a and other spellings) is a linguistic pun related to the destiny of her brothers: her name is related to the word wada'a "sends away", which is what happens to the heroine's brothers as soon as she is born.Maier, John R. Desert Songs: Western Images of Morocco and Moroccan Images of the West. SUNY Press, 1996. p. 231. .
The heroine's talisman
According to Zakia Iraqui Sinaceur and Micheline Galley, after her brothers depart, the heroine decides to go after them. In her journey she carries a magic object (one or two talismans) which is lost at some point. In the same vein, according to Hassane Benamara, the heroine carries an object named aεeqqa or Aεeqqa yessawalen, translated as a jewel or pearl in a Figuig tale (Sarsar) and as a grain in Kabylian stories, which prevents the black servant from replacing the heroine.
The heroine's replacement According to Zakia Iraqui Sinaceur and Micheline Galley, after her brothers depart, the heroine decides to go after them. In her journey she is accompanied by one or more slaves. In type AaTh 451A, the sister is replaced by the false sister by changing races with the antagonist, a motif classified in the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature as D30, "Transformation to person of different race".El-Shamy, Hasan. Types of the Folktale in the Arab World: A Demographically Oriented Tale-Type Index. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004. p. 226. In addition, according to French researcher , in Maghrebian versions there is the "recurring motif" of the hostile black slave that forces the heroine to take a bath in the "fountain for black ones", while the slave takes a bath in the other fountain to whiten her skin and trick the heroine's brothers.
Variants The Little Sister With Seven Brothers In a Moroccan tale collected by Jilali El Koudia with the title The Little Sister with Seven Brothers, a girl is born as the eighth child of a king, but the seven other princes receive the wrong information that it was a brother and depart from the kingdom. Years later, the girl learns that her brothers became a king and province governors in another realm and decides to visit them. She is accompanied by a pair of black slaves and a magical artifact named mejoun, which gives her instructions on how to avoid being deceived by the slaves. However, the slaves notice the mejoun and break it against a rock. They reach a stop with two fountains, a white one that makes people white, and a black one that makes people black. The pair washes themselves in the white fountain and forces the princess to bathe in the black one. The trio reach the brothers' kingdom and they embrace the false sister as their own. Some time later, the camel herd flees for some reason and the slave (the true sister) is made to herd them. She laments her fate and the camels, out of pity, join in her sorrow and become thin and emaciated. One of the brothers, the sultan, discovers the strange incident and questions the slave herd. She confesses the whole story and the camels begin to eat healthier again. The sultan orders some guard to take the false sister and her companion t the black fountain to restore their true form, and to punish them. The tale continues as another tale type, but with the sisters-in-law as the antagonists.El Koudia, Jilali; Allen Roger. Moroccan Folktales. Syracuse University Press, 2003. pp. 33-39. . The tale was classified as type AaTh 451A.El Koudia, Jilali; Allen Roger. Moroccan Folktales. Syracuse University Press, 2003. pp. 162, 172. .
The Youths and the Flag In a Moroccan Arabic tale titled ed-dkūra w el-ʕālām, translated as Los varones y la bandera ("The youths and the flag"), collected from a source in Tanger, seven sons of a couple camp out of their home and announce for his parents to wave a red flag for the birth of a sister, and a white for a boy's. The youths' mother gives birth to a girl and asks a servant to wave a red flag, but she waves a white one, causing the boys to leave home. The girl is raised alone by her parents, and a neighbour tells her about her seven elder brothers. The girl then decides to pay then a visit, and her mother gives her a little bell and orders the servant to accompany her. On the way there, the servant wants the girl to climb down the camel so she can ride for a while, but the girl's mother, communicating from the little bell, forbids her to do so. After a while, the duo reaches a place with two pools, one for white people, and another for black people. The girl takes a bath in the pool for black people and her skin turns black, while the servant washes herself the white one and becomes white. The duo trade places and reach the brothers' house, the servant passing herself off as their sister, while their true sister is made to herd the horses. The true sister sings her laments, which the horses listen to and stop eating. The youngest brother goes to investigate and spies on the girl singing her song. They also notice that the girl has straight hair, instead of curly, like the one who claims to be their sister has. They take both girls to the area of the pools and reverse their transformation by having the servant wash herself in the black pool and their sister in the white pool.
The Seven Brothers and Their Sister