A Jungian Interpretation of “The Tailor’s Daughter.”

In this paper, I will be discussing the Arabic folk tale, The Tailor’s Daughter because If
one is ever going to access the two-million-year-old Self, one needs to take the first step
by exploring their roots closest his or hers DNA and cultural background. In my case,
I’m an American-Lebanese born person with immigrant parents, that uprooted their lives
and moved five thousand, seven hundred and twenty-three miles from Beirut to Buffalo.
Therefore, exploring the psychic and structural elements of the folk tales of the Middle
East is where my journey begins.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the tale to post here for you to read. But the
reference book will be in the resources section and as an addition, I will post the
structural elements using the von Franz method at the bottom so that you may be able
to stitch together any gaps you experience in the interpretation.
The tale begins with the King’s son, Prince Hamman, who is interested in his Father’s
tailor’s daughter Nirseen, for marriage. Of course, when my family members came over
to America, to support themselves, they were tailors! So already, the connection is
there personally and now collectively, as fairy tales are an expression of the collective
unconscious. So, what does it mean psychologically to be a tailor? It for one, is about
building a business, perhaps a family one, and a transactional relationship with
customers. This may allude to the King’s dynasty and his transactional relationship with
the tailor, both as a tailor and marrying his son off to the tailor’s daughter. Also, as a
tailor, you seek to give the customer, the right fit to their clothes, the custom-made
outfit. In dream imagery, the persona is commonly (but not always) represented by
clothing and therefore, right at the beginning, from the title, we can infer that this tale is
going to be a tale about the persona and crafting the right persona (or body) that will
help adapt properly to the outer world. Though not at the expense of the inner world.
There is really no setting that is announced in the tale, though in the end, there is a nod
to the timeless splendor of ever after. The Father’s agree on the marriage between the
Prince and the tailor’s daughter. The Prince is enchanted by her beauty, but is unhappy
with one particular detail that is the peripeteia and climax/turning point of the tale that
permeates throughout. At one point in the story, Hamman tries to play around with the
tailor’s daughter and engage in conversation by insulting her father’s work and says
“Come, count the stains on your dress, all dribbled down, And the patches here and
there on your Father’s gown” (Abu Jmeel’s Daughter pg.321). This backfires on him as
the tailor daughter replies with “Come, count the dung in your Father’s fields
besmeared, And the hairs that thrust and prick in his bristling beard” (Abu Jmeel’s
Daughter pg.321). This one comment triggers Prince Hamman’s Father Complex and
seeks to punish the Tailors daughter for saying this by locking her up in a room without
much food or drink (trying to pin down the anima). The sheep is an animal that is seen
as something weak, passive, sacrificed, collective, blind and following, rather than
leading. We might say that, there is a cultural inferiority complex with accessing the
royal masculine represented by the King. In talking with my family members and asking
them about how life was for them back in the day, it appeared to me that like the men

struggled to live up to the traditional provider persona role and lost respect of their
family and community. Naturally, this leads to compensatory inflation by way of irrational
moods in relation to the feelings of inferiority.
This small sample size from the family’s history is not to say that everyone is like that
but I find that the tale and Hamman’s emotional trigger and response to the disrespect
of his father is striking, considering that Nirseen is unaffected by it when it is done to
her. This is really, a two-way street, as the Father complex is surely at the expense not
being able to individuate and separate from the Mother. The religions and myths that
emerged out of the Middle East, are the popular big three, Judaism, Christianity and
Islam. In Christianity, the son-lover myth is prevalent with Jesus and Mary, where the
Father is absent in the sense of not being embodied. Again, a nod to the royal
masculine. Another parallel that I can draw between the tale and the religions is that, it
is not too fantastical. The tale is fairly realistic, with real people and real things. There is
no dragons or outrageous event happenings. So, what the tale also lacks, is creative
imagination and perhaps the creativity of the father, since Nirseen referred to his beard
as like sheep “droppings.” This is an astute comment as she hits the nail on the head,
because act of defecating in dreams alludes to the problem of creativity and Nirseen
hints at Hamman’s emotional rigidity blocking this creativity with her witty comeback.
Now, even though, Hamman tries to trap, punish and make Nirseen suffer for her
comment, in the end, it is he who ultimately suffers because he can’t keep a bride. The
tailor’s daughter is a clever and shapeshifting trickster and she deceives Hamman all
along. She places a double (who is her maid) in her cell, while she goes back to her
Father’s house to eat (again going back to the Father). Also, each time the Prince
leaves to go hunting and find a new wife, it is really the Nirseen, tailor’s daughter in
disguise. But the Prince can’t keep his brides to stay (Which is why he is trying to lock
up the Anima). He eventually marries the tailor’s daughter a total of four times, (three
without knowing it). This shows the problem of three and four and how the fourth wife,
who is really the first wife completes him, showing the fourth is the same as the one and
brings the unconscious (perhaps the inferior function) up to consciousness. The number
is a common number pattern in fairy tales relating to time, beginning, middle and end,
but the fourth connects us to the timeless.
Nirseen leads Hamman to wholeness because she is already established in herself as
an archetype, the archetype of the Anima. She is a collective structure because she has
collective and nameless beings helping her or combing her hair for example. The
combing of hair is often referred to as the getting your thoughts and emotions together
and getting right spiritually. But Prince Hamman has split his image of the Anima, as
Nirseen though herself is put together, is constantly shifting in identity. This constant
shift with no inner order leaves Hamman’s anima capacity at the level of irrational
moods or make him constantly fall in love with new women. The real drive, is to access
the creativity of the unconscious. But the creativity is blocked by the collective
consciousness shown by the King who represents the culture. Remember, it is the

King’s son who is getting married, which is to say, it is the child of the collective
consciousness that is looking to be redeemed. The reference to the sheep droppings is
the attempt to diffuse and break the rigid persona and to find a new adaptation to the
world.
What Hamman falls in love with is the beauty of the wives and everything is about
wonderful clothing, jewelry and an outer laundry list that meets his criteria of a bride.
Speaking of jewelry, the metal of silver in tale is not present but is in fact, represented in
its origin source in its planetary aspect as the Moon. This is in contrast to the Gold
(Represented by the King) and things like necklaces, golden leaves, wealth and riches.
The Moon is the key to Prince Hamman’s emotional difficulty. The Queen (who is also
related to the Moon) makes a subtle appearance and advises him not to abuse Nirseen,
which is to say, to nurture his anima and his inner sense of being. Hamman doesn’t
listen to his mother, which may speak to the hidden problem of listening to the anima,
the instincts and finding the two-million-year-old Self.
This not listening is at the mercy of the emotional moods. There is the problem and
motif of “Love and Anger,” to which, I have personally witnessed and experienced as a
staple and consistent trait amongst my fellow folk. Yes, the “war in the Middle East” is
seemingly as an ongoing internally with families and externally with each other and
neighboring countries, but what is unknown about these outwardly appearing fiery
natured people is actually warmth, sentimentality and people who would do anything for
you. This tale, in fact shows that, as an expression of the pure unconscious, love and
war are in fact one in the culture and need to be brought up, realized and differentiated
in consciousness.
Back to the Moon. The Moon in Astrological Mythology is the waxing and waning of our
emotional states, and in the tale, Prince Hamman must not look up at the Moon in order
to find the cellar that the tailor’s daughter has been using to sneak and return to her
Father’s house. That is to say, he not gives his moods any light (unconscious moon
light) if he is to find the Anima. The cellar is clearly the unconscious psyche, where
Hamman has stuffed these moods and where the Anima has been returning to her
Father, the Wise Old Man, who is connected to his Father, the King and therefore, the
Archetype of the Self. This establishes an ego-self axis to the unconscious. The tailor is
the Wise Old Man Archetype and therefor the tailor’s daughter is the progeny of the
Self. Why is this important? What the tailor’s daughter is trying to teach him to see the
inner beauty, charm and creativity possible if Hamman lets go of his rigid persona
stance, “I can never forget, those words she used to me” (Abu Jmeel’s Daughter
pg.322). She is teaching him not fall victim to his drives and the “false trappings of the
persona” or masks of the persona we could say, by putting on her own masks. She
fashions a custom and “tailor made” persona and individuation process for him by
changing her persona/form and reflecting back the outer with the inner. This is much
like the Hindu myth of Maya, the illusion of the phenomenal world where one must see
the truth behind it all. Hamman, is projecting his unconscious everywhere out into the

world and even sees Nirseen in these “other brides.” It is therefore, a tale of anima
projection and the need to realize the anima. He finally sees her for her, is charmed and
is in love. He realizes the Anima, through her mirroring the persona trappings. He
needed to see through her many forms and see the essential being.
So, to conclude, the story is really about shattering the identification with the persona to
craft a new one and establish contact with the inner world. This is confirmed by the fake
anima double to which the tailor’s daughter places her maidservant in place of her. It is
also seen later by Hamman’s children (to whom at the time doesn’t realize are his)
smash glass and blow out candles, which is to say, to dim his ego consciousness that is
identifying with the persona (candles/light/ego/consciousness), to detach him from the
superficial, transparent and artificial persona, but also mirror image of Hamman’s
emotions. When he sees Nirseen for who she is (realizing the anima) he is able to
become her husband again and meet his children, thus redeeming the persona and the
outer attitude. Therefore, it seems to me that, the psychic structures of this tale provide
the reflective groundwork and inner work of realization that it takes for the redemption of
the Middle Eastern persona.

1.Exposition-
No beginning but the ending states living in splendor ever after.
2.Dramatis Personae-
The King
The Queen
King’s Son, Prince Hamman
The King’s Tailor (Father of Nirseen/Saliha)
The Tailor’s daughter, Nirseen/Shireen Hanum/Turkish girl in a green gown/Daughter of
the Bedouin/Western Lady/Saliha
The Chambermaid Saada
Maidservants
Hamman and Nirseen’s children
3.Naming of the Problem and Tale-
Nirseen insult of Prince Hamman’s Father ignites in him revenge against her but in the
process keeps getting separated from whomever he marries.
The Tailor’s Daughter (investigate tailoring)
4.Peripetea-

When Nirseen insults the Prince’s Father.
Prince Hamman gives up in finding his 3 wives.
5.Lysis-
Hamman returns to wife and children and lives happily ever after.
6.Number Patterns-
3 wives, 4 th wife gives the wholeness
3 children
Each morning Nirseen waters her flowers and mop the floor
7.Animal, object and other symbolism
Sheep droppings
Abundant Wealth (Energy)
Cellar (the unconscious)
Tunnel (Ego-Self axis to the Unconscious)
Tailor (Custom made)
Marriage/Coniunctio motif
The Moon
Watering Flowers
Flowers: Rose, Narcissus, ox-eye daises, common and Arabian jasmine, gilly flowers,
pennyroyal, tuberise, lilies.
Woman as Maya
Glass
Ring
Nose Ring
The Center
Candles
White Scarf on Head
Green Silk Gown
Combing of the Hair
The Anima Double

Golden Leaves
Necklace
Breasts and Milk
Name Change (Transformation)
Love and Anger
Return to the Father
The Mother/Feminine as Earth or The Moon
Off to go hunting
8.Archetypes
Anima
Trickster
Persona
King as Collective Consciousness

Resources:
Nuwayhiḍ Jamāl Salīm. (2007). Abu Jmeels daughter and other stories: Arab folk tales
from Palestine and Lebanon. New York: Interlink Books.

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