# Among Daughters of the Desert explained — Thus Spoke Zarathustra

> Chapter companion for Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.

## What happens

Zarathustra's shadow, the wanderer, pleads with Zarathustra to stay, fearing a return of melancholy. He recalls a song he once composed among Oriental maidens in the desert, celebrating clear, bright air and playful, enigmatic femininity. The shadow sings a whimsical, self-mocking poem about sitting in an oasis, surrounded by maidens named Dudu and Suleika, and contrasts the desert's vitality with the damp gloom of Old Europe.

## Themes in this chapter

### Solitude and Companionship

The shadow pleads for Zarathustra's company to ward off melancholy, yet the song celebrates a past moment of lighthearted companionship.

### Critique of Herd Morality

The shadow mocks 'European honour' and 'moral roaring,' contrasting it with the free, unburdened air of the desert.

## Character check-ins

### The Shadow

The wanderer who calls himself Zarathustra's shadow; he sings a song recalling his time among daughters of the desert.

### Zarathustra

Addressed by the shadow, who urges him to stay and praises the strong, clear air of his cave.

### The Magician

The shadow takes the old magician's harp to sing his song.

### The Pope Out of Service

Mentioned as having tears in his eyes and being overcome by melancholy.

### The Higher Men

The kings and others present are implied as part of the group the shadow addresses.

## Key lines

> The deserts grow: woe him who doth them hide!

The desert expands; pity the one who tries to conceal it.

_Opening and closing line of the shadow's song, suggesting the inevitability and power of the desert's emptiness._

> With this come I out of Old-Europe, That doubt'th more eagerly than doth any Elderly married woman.

I come from Old Europe, which doubts more intensely than any old married woman.

_The shadow contrasts European skepticism with the desert's simplicity._

> For virtue's out-howl, Ye very dearest maidens, Is more than every European fervour, European hot-hunger!

The howling of virtue, dear maidens, surpasses all European passion and craving.

_Satirizes European moral earnestness as a kind of loud, performative virtue._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters/part-iv-lxxvi-among-daughters-of-the-desert
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/thus_spoke_zarathustra_se/chapters