An Egyptian servant—who is also a foreign researcher—was once head of hundreds of other servants, but in the present lean times, he is the only one. He tells the story of the white-footed gazelle, a collection of overlooked tales neglected in comparison to the commercially successful "A Thousand and One Nights." The white-footed gazelle, a prince of the jinn (also known as the genie), and Haifa', a Persian princess who is also a gazelle, fall in love. One day, they have an argument that sees the prince run away and abandon the princess. The first night Haifa' tries to track him, she takes shelter with the kindly Ostrich King. However, the same night, the Snake king passes through and advises the princess to seek the Queen of the Crows. To reach the queen, Haifa' flies on a featherless ostrich that covers a two-year journey in a single night. The Crown Queen is a scowling old woman adorned with jewelry. She spits on the floor and refuses to show the princess pity until Haifa' hands her a letter form the Ostrich King, to whom the queen owes a debt. The lovers are reunited. Eventually, both end up being transformed back into their human forms. The storyteller breaks away from story-telling to compliment the regal young woman, Mahliya, coming down the stairs of the house we are apparently in. He reveals that he has attended her for more years than he cares to remember. He also notes that her poise has never shattered, even during "the revolution." He proceeds to tell Mahliya's tale as part of the larger story. She falls in love with a portrait of the young man Mauhub, then sets out to meet him disguised as a young man. Meanwhile, she sends him letters and packages as her real female self. Mahliya seeks to bolster the gifts' effect on Mauhub by simultaneously befriending him as a man. One of these gifts is an enchanted mirror. When Mauhub looks into it, he sees himself sitting next to Mahliya. However, after Mauhub captures Haifa', Mayhliya takes the gift back in a fit of jealousy. More than that, she tortures his messengers, crushes his armies, and forces him into a life of wandering and starvation. Ultimately, though, she forgives him. The storyteller proceeds to tell the shorter tales of the wonder curse, the lion, and the Crow Queen, sprinkling literary analysis throughout. All of the tales are interconnected, and the storyteller draws one more connection, one between all of the stories and the real world. He concludes by asserting that everyone in the world are beasts.