Bagadan

Bagadan was the Mongol governor of Kaifeng during the reign of Kubilai. An arrogant man, Bagadan held foreigners in contempt. He had no qualms about swindling the Arab trader, Sa'id ibn Hawqal, by taking his best goods and paying him in the Mongol paper currency that approximated silver rather than gold. When Sa'id demanded the more valuable currency, Bagadan ordered one of his guards, Dolugan to aim an arrow at Sa'id's back. Sa'id agreed to the payment, but then prayed that Allah would curse Bagadan. In response, Bagadan called down a curse of three demons: the kolcin, the eliye, and the ada. He then ordered Sa'id out of his palace with the promise that no Arab or Mongol would set Sa'id free.

The demons took their toll on Sa'id, but he was able to finally lift the curse with the help of Rabbi Yen Hui of Kaifeng's Jewish community. Yen Hui's magic set the curse onto Bagadan. He also gave Sa'id a piece of paper with some runes on it, and told Sa'id to touch it with his right hand the next time he saw Bagadan; God willing, his debts would be repaid.

When Sa'id did appear before Bagadan, the governor was dismayed to see that the curse had been lifted. As Sa'id touched the paper, Bagadan also admitted that his magic was no longer working, and asked what he needed to give Sa'id to end his spell. Realizing the paper was working, Sa'id extracted the price he'd initially agreed to in gold, with an additional two ounces. Bagadan paid it, and told Sa'id he never wanted to see him again.