Medieval tales showed Saracens becoming human only by converting and turning white.

Evidence

The king met with four Saracens, who were black and blue as lead… . Never before that hour did anyone see so horribly shaped a creature. Their black hue was marvelous, and their mouths were in their breasts… . Their mouths were so broad, their eyes so large, that it made their faces repulsive. In their foreheads stood their eyes… [They say], “We are loathsome, but loathsome also are the soul and body both of a wicked man… .” David held [the rods] out to them to kiss; and they kneeled and kissed them. Immediately their skin became as white as milk, and they took on the hue of high blood, and all their appearance was made new. — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 108

Categorization

Category: Contrarian or Surprising Claims

• QUESTION: The Saracens themselves say they are loathsome — the monster internalizes its own monstrosity. What does this say about the projection mechanism?

Related

• Christian legend promised Saracens could become human only by whitening through conversion (similarity 0.88)
• Medieval literature equated Saracens with demons condemned to hell (similarity 0.80)
• Medieval Christians classed non-Egyptian Africans with Saracens as monstrous races (similarity 0.79)
• Elizabethan English pub signs depicted Saracens as monstrous, non-human beasts. (similarity 0.79)
• The Black Saracen fused Saracen, Jew, and African into a single Satanic monster (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Elizabethan English pub signs depicted Saracens as monstrous, non-human beasts. #expands (0.60) — Sophia Rose Arjana, Muslims in the Western Imagination, 323