But using her wit and guile, she begins a sequence of stories that will last 1001 nights: stories of ' Ifrits (Monster) and Money-changers, Prices and Slave Girls, Fishermen and Queens, and Magical Gardens of Paradise, and the well-known tale of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'. When the beautiful Shahrazad gives herself to the bloody-handed King Shahriyar, she is not expected to survive beyond dawn. It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English-language edition (1706). One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 1, Anonymous, Malcolm Lyons (Translator), Ursula Lyons (Translator), Robert Irwin (Introduction) But for now, I'm temporary finishing as it is. If had an unlimited amount of time, I definitely would've mustered up more patience to go through the entire book (finishing the trilogy might take like a year, so not certain if that's ever happen). While some are simple tales with a handful of pages, there are also stories with a large number of characters and subplots, making you forget that you are reading a chapter in a large book. 'If I have to eat it, I can only do that after I have washed my hands forty times with soap, forty times with potash and forty times with galingale that is, a total of hundred and twenty times.'īut once you get over above hurdles, it is actually kind of fun. The other difficulty was the subtle similarities between different stories, further confusing the reader as to which tale in particular she or he is currently reading. I was beyond confused many a time, and had to go back and forth frequently to make sense where I am at the moment.

It's quite common for a reader to come across a story within a story, but Arabian Nights takes this to a much deeper level by going as far as 3-5 dimensions at times (a story within a story within a story within a story within a story and so on. This is taking the length and complexity of a book to a whole new level.įarmer: 'Tell it, but keep it short as I am at my last gasp.' Had I been properly acquainted as to the length of Arabian Nights, I most probably would've postponed reading this till I'm retired someday. 'I was born in Cairo and am a Cairene Copt.' 'We are the stories we tell about ourselves.'

The arabian nights by anonymous