The Alledjenu Princess
I spend the night with my family but I know the prince will come looking for me the next morning. I don’t want him to worry so I return to my room before he wakes up. He comes looking for me as soon as day breaks.
“My father was very satisfied when he left yesterday,” he says, sitting down near me on my angareb. “I don’t know how you did what you did but I thank you with all my heart.”
I say nothing. I’m still irritated by his lack of faith.
“He wants all three of his sons and their wives to dine with him this evening.”
“That’s very kind of him,” I say.
“What am I to do?” the prince asks.
“I suppose you’ll have to go with your wife.”
“But which wife will I take with me?” he cries.
My temper flares but I keep it in check, deciding, instead, to test him again.
“I already told you what you can do. Take me back to the desert and I’ll show you where you can find a more suitable wife.”
“But you would die!” he cries again in distress. “I don’t want that. I already told you so.”
“Then I’ll have to go to your father’s feast as your wife,” I say nonchalantly, picking up my tail and plucking out the bits of grass lodged in the hair. The prince says nothing. His eyes are fixed on my hands and my tail. I know he is imagining me doing this or something equally animal-like at the dinner table. I put the tail in my mouth and chew on a tuft of hair for good measure. I almost laugh when I hear him groan in frustration.
“It’s your choice,” I say when I have removed all the grass from my tail. “You can take me back into the bush and I’ll show you where you can find a beautiful wife-”
“I can’t let you die!” he interrupts, his voice firm.
“-or I’ll go to your father’s feast as myself,” I continue.
“Very well,” he says after a beat of silence. “You’ll have to go alone.”
He stands up from my angareb and leaves the room. A few moments later, I hear him saddle his horse and ride off.
Later that day, after sunset, just as the moon begins its ascent into the evening sky, I start my preparations for the feast. In the distance, I can hear the sound of drums and fiddles coming from the emir’s palace as the festivities begin. Humming along to the melodies, I conjure a mirror onto the mud wall of my room. Standing before it, I shrug off my monkey form, peeling it from my body like a second skin. For a few moments, I do nothing but look at my naked human body and then slowly, I start to sway and dance to the music I can hear, losing myself to the rhythms. I dance as I rub my skin with jasmine scented oils and braid gold and silver threads into my hair. I don’t hear him return but when my skin tingles, I know that the prince is watching me. I continue dancing as I don a finely spun, creamy white linen shift which I pull from the monkey skin. I dance as I place a gold necklace around my neck and gold rings around my wrists and ankles. I dance as I cover my head and face with a veil. I don’t acknowledge the prince even though I feel his desire pulsing through our connection. He slips into his room when I finish dressing and I continue to act as if I don’t know he has returned. I leave the house and go to the palace for the feast.
(This is an excerpt from “The Alledjenu Princess”, a short story from my book “The Runaway Princess and Other Stories”. “The Alledjenu Princess” is a retelling of “The Monkey Girl”, a folktale from the Kordofan region of Sudan. The original story is found in in Leo Frobenius’ African Nights: Black Erotic Folk Tales.
Visit the project page for more information and ways to buy the book. It’s e-book only for now but print copies are coming soon!)