The Thousand and One Nights

Literary Investigations

High Proficient Integrated Skills

(Term 1)

January - April 2004

The Narrative Framework

The Historical Origins

European Translations

The Jinn & Ifrit

Links

 

The 1001 Nights: The Narrative Framework  "THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS, also known as THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENT, Arabic ALF LAYLAH WA LAYLAH, a collection of stories of uncertain date and authorship whose tales of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad the Sailor have almost become part of Western folklore. As in much medieval European literature, the stories --- fairytales, romances, legends, fables, parables, anecdotes, and exotic or realistic adventures---are set within a frame story. Its scene is Central Asia or "the islands or peninsulae of India and China," where King Shahryar, after discovering that during his absences his wife has been regularly unfaithful, kills her and those with whom she has betrayed him. Then, loathing all womankind, he marries and kills a new wife each day until no more candidates can be found. However, his vizier has two daughters, Shahrazad and Dunyazad; and the elder, Shahrazad, having devised a scheme to save herself and others, insists that her father give her in marriage to the King. Each evening she tells a story, leaving it incomplete and promising to finish it the following night. The stories are so entertaining, and the King so eager to hear the end, that he puts off her execution from day to day and finally abandons his cruel plan." -----from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, 1977.

The Historical Origins  "Though the names of its chief characters are Iranian, the frame story is probably Indian, and the largest proportion of names is Arabic. The tales' variety and geographical range of origin --- India, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and possibly Greece --- make single authorship unlikely; this view is supported by internal evidence --- the style, mainly unstudied and unaffected, contains colloquialisms and even grammatical errors such as no professional Arabic writer would allow. The first known reference to the Nights is a 9th-Century fragment. It is next mentioned in 947 by al-Mas'udi in a discussion of legendary stories from Iran, India, and Greece, as the Persian Hazar Afsanak, 'A Thousand Tales', "called by the people 'A Thousand Nights'". In 987 Ibn an-Nadim adds that Abu Abd Allah ibn Abdus al-Jashyari began a collection of 1,000 popular Arabic, Iranian, Greek, and other tales but died (942) when only 480 were written." It is clear that the expression 'A Thousand Tales' and 'A Thousand and One ...' were intended merely to indicate a large number and were taken literally only later, when stories were added to make up the number. By the 20th century, Western scholars agreed that the Nights is a composite work consisting of popular stories originally transmitted orally and developed during several centuries, with material added somewhat haphazardly at different periods and places. Several layers in the work, including one originating in Baghdad and one larger and later, written in Egypt, were distinguished in 1887 by August Müller. by the mid-20th century six successive forms had been identified: two 8th-century Arabic translations of the Persian Hazar Isfana, called Alf khurafah and Alf laylah; a 9th-century version based on Alf laylah but including other stories then current; the 10th-century work by Ibn 'Abdus; a 12th-century collection, including Egyptian tales; and the final version, extending to the 16th century, and consisting of the earlier material with the addition of stories of the Islamic counter-crusades and Oriental tales brought to the Middle East by the Mongols." -----from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Micropaedia, 1977.

Links

The Book of the Thousand and One Nights	Arabian Nights Books	Online Text from Cornell University (Burton translation)
The Thousand Nights and a Night	Edgar Allan Poe's Version	Arabian Nights Annotated Index/ Online Text (Burton trans.)
Online Text of 1001 Nights (Payne trans.)	Sir Richard Burton Translation	Glossary to The 1001 Nights (in progress)

Las mil y una noches	Islamic Philosophy Online	Project Gutenberg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tales Contained in ARABIAN NIGHTS: The Marvels and Wonders of the Thousand and One Nights. Adapted from Richard F. Burton's Unexpurgated Translation by Jack Zipes (1991).

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The Zipes translation is NOT online, but the Burton translation and other translations are. The links below to the Burton text reproduce the table of contents in the Zipes translation.

 

1. The Story of King Shahryar and His Brother

The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey

2. The Tale of the Merchant and the Jinnee

The First Sheik's Story

The Second Sheik's Story

The Third Sheik's Story

3. The Fisherman and the Jinnee

The Tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban

The Tale of King Sinbad and His Falcon

The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot

The Tale of the Prince and the Ogress

The Tale of the Enchanted Prince

4. The Ebony Horse

5. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

6. Aladdin and the Magic Lamp

7. Julnar the Mermaid and Her Son Badar Basim of Persia

8. The Tale About the Thief of Alexandria and the Chief of Police

9. Prince Behram and the Princess Al-Datma

10. The Tale of the Three Apples

The Tale of Nur al-Din Ali and His Son

11. The Hunchback's Tale

The Christian Broker's Tale

The Steward's Tale

The Jewish Doctor's Tale

The Tailor's Tale

The Barber's Tale of Himself

The Barber's Tale of His First Brother

The Barber's Tale of His Second Brother

The Barber's Tale of His Third Brother

The Barber's Tale of His Fourth Brother

The Barber's Tale of His Fifth Brother

The Barber's Tale of His Sixth Brother

The End of the Barber's Tale

The End of the Hunchback's Tale

12. The Hedgehog and the Pigeons

The Tale of the Merchant and the Two Thieves

The Tale of the Thief and His Monkey

The Tale of the Foolish Weaver

13. The Wily Dalilah and Her Daughter Zaynab

14. The Tale of Judar and His Brothers

15. Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman

The First Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Second Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Third Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Fourth Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Fifth Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Sixth Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad the Seaman

16. Conclusion: The Marriage of King Shahryar and Scheherazade

 

From Myth to Mind

Bibliotronic Electric Online Library

Sefer Yetzirah: Book of Formation