Ali-ben-Salami

Origin

The wizard Ali-ben-Salami was set to marry the princess Shehera-Saga-Mell. But when she had met fairy tale teller Sidi-ben-Moka, she fell in love with him and cancelled her marriage to Ali-ben-Salami. This enraged him so much, he turned the new lovers into trees.

After years,Shehera-Saga-Mell’s tree was cut down. The tree was transported to Belgium and made into sawdust. The sawdust was used to fill up the doll Schanulleke. When lightning struck Sidi-ben-Moka’s tree, his spirit escaped and he went searching for his princess. After a while, he found Schanulleke and stole her from Wiske. Together with Suske and Lambik, Wiske went to Iraq to retrieve Schanulleke and fight off Ali-ben-Salami.

Eventually both Sidi-ben-Moka and Shehera-Saga-Mell were restored to their normal form. Ali-ben-Salami repented his deeds and went on to become a gardener.