SOLVED. Islamic story in a collection of fairy tales - featured a fennec fox, a sorceress, possibly a genie. [s]

[Elizabeth]

I'm searching for a fairy tale I read when I was younger. I believe it was in a compilation of other stories, perhaps in the Bookshelf for Boys and Girls series.

The story appeared to be Middle-Eastern in origin, perhaps Islamic, and featured a boy whose father marries a sorceress. The boy knows the sorceress' true nature, but the father does not. The boy has to avoid being enchanted by the sorceress while finding a way to out her to his father. He refuses to eat anything she prepares, and doesn't allow her access to any hair, nail clippings, or anything else that could allow her to cast a spell on him. A talking fennec fox is heavily featured. I remember the story ended with the father ceremonially divorcing a wax figure of the sorceress. Genies may also have been involved. And I remember raisins. Lots of raisins.

I've gone through all of these books I can find, but haven't found this story yet, and I'm having trouble figuring out what to search to get Google to recognize that I don't want to learn about fennec foxes. 😜 Any ideas?

[Kris]

Elizabeth, around what year did you read this book? A range of years is fine and will help narrow down the search.

Series mentioned - The Bookshelf for Boys and Girls series

[Elizabeth]

Sorry, I forgot to include that info. A friend of mine on Facebook found this book for me - it's Mischief in Fez by Eleanor Hoffman.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, Elizabeth. Here's the link - Mischief in Fez by Eleanor Hoffmann.

[Justanotherbiblophile]

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