"Bring Back the Thief!" by Andrey Belyanin, summary

Andrei Belyanin’s humorous fantasy novel "Bring Back the Thief!", published in 2011, is a dynamic narrative that blends fairy tale and satire. The work explores themes of human cooperation, loyalty to friends, and the absurdity of religious fanaticism. This book is the third and final installment in the popular "Thief of Baghdad" series, which also includes the novels "The Thief of Baghdad" and "The Shamer of Satan."

Arrival of guests and the beginning of testing

The story begins in Astrakhan. Writer Andrei Belyanin welcomes an unexpected guest into his home — the legendary Eastern sage Hodja Nasreddin. This guest, arriving straight from the past without documents, easily adapts to the modern apartment, cooks a delicious pilaf, and tells the story of the new adventures of their mutual friend, the former assistant to the Moscow prosecutor Lev Obolensky, known in the East as the Thief of Baghdad.

In Moscow, Lev Obolensky suffers from longing for his former travels and nightmares of destruction in the East. A street fight with brazen merchants at an intersection ends with a blow to the head, after which Lev comes to in the streets of medieval Bukhara. His memory returns only after Hodja Nasreddin finds him and gives his friend a hefty kick in the pants.

The friends quickly find their loyal gray donkey, Rabinovich, but Bukhara is falling on hard times. Thousands of armed fanatics, led by the cruel Sheikh Abdrahim Khayyam-Kara, are approaching the city from Egypt. This champion of the "true faith" forces people to obey his will unconditionally, concealing behind religious slogans a thirst for absolute power and a desire to rewrite the laws to suit his own purposes.

The ruler of Bukhara, Emir Suleiman al-Maruf, asks Nasreddin and Leo to stop the advancing army. However, a young moneylender sprays the ruler with a magic potion from a vial, and the emir instantly transforms into a white donkey. In the ruler’s absence, the treacherous vizier Shariah conspires with Khayyam-Kar, intending to surrender the city to him and seize the throne.

Palace intrigues and the search for solutions

Leo, Nasreddin, and Emir Suleiman, transformed into a donkey, escape the guards on a magic flying carpet. To distract the enemies, Leo captures the devil and ties him up with a green pilgrim’s ribbon, frightening the sheikh’s followers at the inn. Later, Leo accidentally ends up in a stranger’s house, where, in place of the absent cook, he cooks a delicious pilaf in a huge cauldron for the family of caravan driver Ali ibn Yusuf, feeding the entire neighborhood.

Soon, the heroes encounter old acquaintances from Baghdad: the mighty warrior Irida al-Dubina, her shoemaker husband Ahmed, and their young, incredibly feisty daughter, Amu Darya. The friends provoke the leader of the city guard, Shekhmet, and the vizier, Shariah, into a quarrel by planting a stolen sapphire and a precious dagger on them. As a result, the officials stage a public brawl, temporarily distracting them from Nasreddin’s arrest.

The powerful black genie Babudai-Aga comes to the heroes. He confesses to Lev that Khayyam-Kar has taken possession of his lamp and is issuing orders through his followers. The genie tried to protect Lev by transporting him to Bukhara, but is now forced to obey his master’s commands. Meanwhile, Lev pays a personal visit to Khayyam-Kar at a desert oasis and, without further ado, punches the "prophet" in the jaw.

At the Almond teahouse, Ahmed is forced into intoxication by his former enemies — the swindler Dalila, her daughter Zeinab, and Shekhmet’s nephew, Ali the Mercury of Cairo. Irida al-Dubina wreaks havoc on the caravanserai while saving her husband. During the fire, Lev pulls the small Amu Darya from the flames, but is himself buried under the rubble. He is saved from death by the genie Babudai-Aga, who snatches him from the flames.

Storming the Palace and Freeing the Genie

Wanting to dispel the Emir’s spell, Lev and Nasreddin go to the Jewish quarter to visit the medicine merchant, Rabbi Zabar. In the young moneylender’s shop, they find the owner murdered, stabbed in the back. Escaping Shekhmet’s guards, Lev, Nasreddin, and Rabbi Zabar escape across the rooftops on a flying carpet.

Lev infiltrates the emir’s palace disguised as a gray-bearded gynecologist to search the treasury. In the women’s quarters of the harem, he accidentally discovers a note from his beloved Jamila. In the hiding place, Lev finds the magical al-Alkazar purse, which can hold any item, but misses the vial of potion.

To buy himself time, Nasreddin voluntarily surrenders to the vizier Shariah. The vizier and Ali Cairo Mercury betray Shekhmet, throwing him into the dungeon along with Nasreddin. Lev descends into the pit with the help of a magic rope, but it accidentally binds Shekhmet and Nasreddin back to back, making their escape impossible.

Sheikh Khayyam-Kar enters Bukhara and holds a trial in the square. Shekhmet feigns repentance and switches sides with the sheikh. Nasreddin and Lev, who has arrived just in time, prepare to meet their death on the "rug of blood." At that moment, Rabbi Zabar’s daughter flies into the square, having dispelled the spell cast on Emir Suleiman with water, salt, and sacred texts.

Khayyam-Kar forces Jamila, brought from Baghdad, to summon the djinn Babudai-Aga and order Lev’s death. However, Jamila makes her final, third wish to grant the djinn complete freedom. The freed Babudai-Aga disappears. When the sheikh reaches into the magic purse for a new weapon, an evil shaitan jumps out and grabs him by the neck with a death grip.

Little Amu Darya, riding on Rabinovich’s donkey and wielding a sword, rushes toward the sheikh. Seeing the disgraced "prophet" flee, the townspeople and guards rise in rebellion, completely defeating the fanatical forces. The emir regains power and marries Rabbi Zabar’s daughter, leaving the fugitive vizier with nothing.

Returning home

After their victory, the heroes throw a lavish celebration in the tent of the shoemaker Akhmed. The genie Babudai-Aga brings his friends a gift of a crate of beer and announces that he is now free. Jamila decides to join Lev Obolensky in his world.

Hodja Nasreddin’s story comes to an end in Astrakhan. The next morning, the writer Belyanin wakes up and receives a call from Lev Obolensky in Moscow, warning him of scammers. Looking out the window, the writer sees Nasreddin leaving, with Jamila riding beside him on Rabinovich’s donkey, carrying a magic lamp, heading to Moscow to see her lover.