The Adventures of Buluqiya

This story is told by Yamlikha, the serpent queen, to Hasib Karim al-Din after he enters her realm.

Buluqiya is the son and successor of a learned and holy Israelite king. One day, King Buluqiya finds an ebony casket in his treasury, containing a golden casket, within which is a book about Prophet Muhammed. Upon reading it, the impressed Buluqiya goes voyaging in search of Muhammad. On one island he meets the serpents of hell and on another, more snakes and the serpent queen. In Jerusalem, he meets the sage ‘Affan, who tells him about King Solomon's signet ring. This ring, which is in Solomon's tomb beyond the seven things, gives the wearer rulership over jinn, animals, and all created things. They can get a magic herb from the serpent queen which will allow them to walk on water and get to the tomb. With the ring, they'll go to the fountain of life, which will allow Buluqiya to live until the times of Muhammad.

They get the herb from the serpent queen and rub its juice on their feet, which lets them travel over the seven seas. However, in Solomon's tomb, when ‘Affan tries to take the ring from Solmon's finger, a huge serpent appears and breathes fire over him and incinerates him. The archangel Gabriel saves Buluqiya.

Buluqiya resumes his travels. He visits an island full of beautiful plants and birds. Another island has a mountain and a wadi where he finds magnetic stones and is attacked by a panther. The third island is full of fruit and the fourth is a desert. The fifth has crystal hills and shining flowers. The sixth has trees with human heads or fruits that laugh and cry, and mermaids visit carrying jewels. On the seventh island, he finds an apple tree and is about to pick an apple when a giant sitting there named Sharáhiyá tells him the island belongs to the jinn king Sakhr. Buluqiya reaches a battlefield where two armies of jinn, one made of unbelievers and the other of believers, are fighting. He meets Sakhr, who commands the believers, and tells Buluqiya about hell and about the origin of jinn and the Satan Iblis. He gives him a magic mare that will take him to Barakhiya, another jinn king.

Buluqiya stays with Barakhiya for two months and then continues his journey. He meets the archangel Michael, who rules over the shifts between night and day, and other angels. After traveling a long way, he reaches an island where he meets a man sitting between two tombs. The young man tells his story.

Buluqiya reaches an island where all the saints eat every Friday. He meets al-Khadir, who transports him back to Cairo, from whence he returns home and becomes king again.