The Maker of Tiles

The conquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabela has left a young Moorish craftsman unemployed and about to be exiled. This tale is an account of the journey he undertakes. On his travels he meets a djinn with a talent for combining cooking and conjuring, two witches and a wizard, a caliph and several kings, a dastardly duke without a single redeeming feature…and the entire population of Cordoba, determined to party. A beautiful princess is imprisoned in a grim castle for spelling badly and, as usually is the case, awaits several fates worse than detention. While all this, and much more, is going on, his faithful donkey patiently collects a cellar of fine wines and develops a fine, though long, hard and hairy nose.