Retold by Jan Knappert
 

One morning, the mother brought her baby to the forest and laid the child down on soft moss to sleep as she searched for firewood. But as the mother was busy, a huge lion appeared. Without warning, he picked up the blanket with the little girl still in it, peacefully asleep, and disappeared into the forest.
       
The mother ran after him, but he was much too fast. Moreover, the lion could wish himself home. In case of pursuit, he could escape in the twinkling of an eye.
       
Now you must realize that this was no ordinary lion. In this the little girl was lucky, since the beast had no intention of eating her. The lion was in fact a king of the jinn, beings created by God from the air. The jinn can fly, and they also understand the practice of magic and the art of changing themselves into any shape they wish. The lion's name was Haidar, which shows that he was a good Muslim. He was not an evil or pagan jinn.
       
As soon as Haidar was out of sight of the baby's mother, he changed into a camel. Then he put the little girl on his back and walked toward his home. When he came to a river he changed into an eagle, picked up the baby in her cloth, and continued his journey through the air. At his home he changed into his true shape. He was a man-lion, that is, a man with a lion's mane and whiskers.
       
Haidar called his women servants. Once they gathered, he asked if they knew of a woman who was suckling a child. Soon such a woman was found to care for the baby. The little girl, whom Haidar called Lalla, and the woman were installed in a comfortable room in the lion's house. That house was, of course, a palace. The lion was, after all, a king and a jinn, and he could build a fine palace in a day. He did just that for the baby and her wet nurse.