The Shahyar and Scheherazade.
The One Thousand and One Nights, also called the Arabian Nights, is a collection of folk stories from all over the Middle East, India, and northern Africa. The “thousand and one nights” refer to the stories that Scheherazade would tell her husband, the Shahyar, king of Persia, every night. The king was shocked to discover that his brother's wife had been unfaithful and soon discovers that his own wife had also been unfaithful. The Shahyar has his wife executed. He bitterly makes up his mind that all women are evil and unfaithful. He then married a succession of virgins, which he would execute following morning so that they will not get an opportunity to be unfaithful. The Sharyar's vizier, whose job is it to supply the king with virgins, was running out of girls. Thus his own daughter, named Scheherazade, volunteered to marry the king. In order to avoid execution, Scheherazade would tell the Shahyar one story for every night for one thousand and one nights. She would often end her story unfinished, leaving the king in suspense. He would postpone her execution so in order to hear the conclusion. But every night, Scheherazade would begin with another story (or sometimes a story within a story) and again would not end it; thus, for every story she tells is another day that her life is spared. She goes on with this scheme for a thousand and one nights, until the king had a change of heart. (Read a narrative version of this story from ShortStories.com.)
Three of the most popular stories
are stories are given below: Aladdin'sWonderful Lamp, Ali
Baba and the Forty Thieves, and The Seven Voyages of Sinbad
the Sailor.
ALADDIN'S
WONDERFUL LAMP
The
story of Aladdin and the lamp and the genie is well-known, but it was
not part of the original One
Thousand and One Nights. The story was added by Antoine
Galland, a Frenchman who translated the Arabian
Nights in the eighteenth century. According to his diary
(dated March 25, 1709), Galland heard this story from Youhenna Diab,
a Maronite scholar from Aleppo, Syria.
“Aladdin”
is a story of a poor boy who was tricked by an evil magician into
retrieving a magic lamp from a cave. Aladdin finds the lamp in the
cave, but the magician traps him inside. Aladdin was freed by the
genie in the lamp. Using the genie's powers, Aladdin marries the
sultan's daughter and becomes rich. The magician tricks the princess
into giving him the lamp but was killed by Aladdin and the princess;
so they lived happily ever after.
Once there lived a poor widow and her son, Aladdin. One day,
Aladdin’s uncle, Mustafa, came to visit them. He said, “Sister,
why don’t you let Aladdin come and work for me?” They agreed and
Mustafa took Aladdin along with him. They walked in the desert and
came to a cave. The cave was full of riches and treasures but Mustafa
was afraid to go inside. He wanted Aladdin to go in and get him the
treasures instead. “Go inside,” commanded Mustafa, “and find me
the jewels. You will also find a lamp. Bring it to me.”
Aladdin went inside and found more
riches than he could ever imagine. He found a beautiful ring and wore
it on his finger. He also collected as many gems as he could, but
before he could come out of the cave, Mustafa said, “Quick! Just
hand me all, the jewels and the lamp!” Aladdin refused. Angry at
the refusal, his cruel uncle blocked the entrance of the cave and
left.
Aladdin sat in the dark and cried. Then
he saw the old lamp and decided to light it. While cleaning it, he
rubbed the lamp and out came a genie! “Master, I shall grant you
three wishes,” he said. Aladdin said, “Take me home!” In
seconds, Aladdin was with his mother, counting the gems he had
brought from the cave. Aladdin also brought the ring along with him
and when he rubbed it, out came another genie! “Master, I shall
grant you three wishes!” said the genie. “Make us rich and
happy!” said Aladdin. And Aladdin and his mother lived happily.
One day, Aladdin saw the sultan’s
daughter and fell in love with her. He went to the palace with gems
and asked for her hand in marriage. The king agreed to this. After
marriage, Aladdin showered the princess with all the riches and gave
her a huge palace to live in. When the sultan died, Aladdin ruled the
kingdom. He was just and kindhearted and everybody was happy under
his rule.
Meanwhile, Mustafa came to know how
Aladdin found the magic lamp and became rich. He wanted to take the
lamp back. So, one day, when Aladdin was away, Mustafa came to the
palace dressed as a trader. He cried out, “Get new lamps for old
ones! New lamps for old!” Hearing this, the princess took out the
magic lamp and gave it to him. She did not know that the old lamp was
indeed magical. She bought a shiny new lamp instead. Mustafa gladly
took the lamp and went away. He then commanded the genie, “Send
Aladdin’s entire palace into the deserts in Africa!” And saying
this, Mustafa, along with the princess in the palace, were sent to
Africa. Aladdin, on coming back, found his wife and house missing. He
searched for the palace for three long days. Finally, he rubbed his
magic ring and asked the genie, “Please take me to my princess!”
The genie agreed. When he met his wife, Aladdin and the princess
decided to trick Mustafa.
One night, the princess said to
Mustafa, “I don’t think Aladdin will ever find me here! I might
as well live as your slave for I am certain he is dead now!”
Mustafa was very happy and ordered for a feast. During the feast, the
princess got Mustafa drunk and he fell into a deep sleep.
In the meantime, the princess took the
magic lamp to Aladdin. Together, they asked the genie of the lamp to
take the entire palace back to Aladdin’s kingdom. The genie then
killed Mustafa and Aladdin and the princess lived happily ever after.
ALI
BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES
Poster of the 1944 Universal adventure film Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
“Ali
Baba” is another story that is not part of the original One
Thousand and One Nights but wa s only added by its French
translator, Antoine Galland. It tells the story of Ali Baba, who
discovers a thieves' hideout full of treasure. The story made the
phrase “Open Sesame!” famous.
Ali Baba, a poor woodcutter was in the forest when he saw forty
thieves stop in front of a cave.
The leader said
“Open Sesame!” and before Ali Baba’s amazed eyes the sealed
mouth of the cave magically opened and the men disappeared inside. To
come out and close the entrance, the leader said “Close Sesame”
and the cave sealed itself once more. Trembling with excitement Ali
Baba waited till the thieves had left and then entered the cave after
saying the magic words. To his delight he found lots of treasure.
Ali Baba told his
brother Kasim about the wondrous cave. Kasim set off to get some
treasure for himself too. Sadly, he forgot the words to leave the
cave and the thieves killed him. Ali Baba discovered his brother’s
body in the cave. With the help of a slave girl called Morgiana, he
was able to take Kasim’s body back home and bury it.
Realising that
someone else knew about their cave the thieves tracked Ali Baba down.
The leader, disguised as an oil seller stayed with Ali Baba. He had
brought along mules loaded with forty oil jars containing the other
thieves. Clever Morgiana knew who the oil seller really was and
poured boiling oil into the jars killing the other thieves. While
dancing in front of the leader of the thieves Morgiana stabbed him.
Ali Baba was saved and lived happily ever after.
THE
SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINBAD THE SAILOR
Poster of the 1947 Technicolor fantasy film Sinbad the Sailor, which tells of the "eighth" voyage of Sinbad.
The
story of Sinbad is part of the original One
Thousand and One Nights, with each voyage told every night.
It tells the story of the adventures of Sinbad, which sometimes
resembles the adventures of Odysseus in The
Odyssey. Sinbad's encounter with the giant monster in the
third voyage was like that of Odysseus with Polyphemus. The adventure
where the ship's crew was made to eat a drug-like herb so that they
can be fattened is like the episode with the Lotus-Eaters (who gave Odysseus' men a drug so that they will forget about going home) and with
Circe (a witch who turned Odysseus's crew into pigs).
Long time ago, during the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid of Baghdad,
a poor porter named Hinbad, tired from a day of carrying other
people's goods from the market, sat down to rest in front of the gate
of a rich man's house. He began to complain to God on the injustices
of this word: why there are people who can afford to life of ease
while he must work hard and remain poor. He was heard by the owner of
the house, named Sinbad. Sinbad invited the the poor porter inside
and told him that he became rich “by fortune and fate” in the
course of seven voyages. He then proceeds to tell Hinbad his
adventures.
The first voyage.
Sinbad
squandered all of his father's inheritance to him, so he went out on
a ship in order to regain his fortune. In his first journey he and
his men landed on an island with trees which have been there “ever
since the world began”. The island turned out to be a gigantic
whale, which was awakened by a fire lit by Sinbad's sailors. As the
whale dived into the depths, Sinbad's ship and men sailed without
him. Sinbad was saved by a piece of wood sent by God and was washed
ashore into another island. There he met one of the king's groomsmen
and then rescued one of the king's mares from being drowned by an
supernatural aquatic horse. The groomsman brought Sinbad to the king,
who makes him into a trusted courier. One day, the ship Sinbad sailed
in arrived at the island. Sinbad took all of his goods, which was
still in the ship's hold, and gave them to the king. In return the
king gave Sinbad many precious gifts, which he sold for a great
profit. He then returns to Baghdad to life a life of ease. (Then
Sindbad gives the porter a hundred gold coins and tells him to come
back tomorrow for the continuation of his story.)
The second voyage.
Sinbad
became bored with his life of ease in Baghdad and decides to go again
on an adventure at sea. Again, he was accidentally left behind by his
shipmates; this time on an island inhabited by giant birds called
rocs. He strapped himself on a roc, which flew him to a valley of
giant snakes which can swallow elephants—these giant snakes are the
roc's natural prey. The valley floor was filled with diamonds. To get
the diamonds, merchants would throw huge chunks of meat into the
valley. The rocs would then carry the meat with diamonds stuck on
them to their nests. Then the merchants would retrieve the diamonds
by driving away the rocs from their nests. So Sinbad strapped himself
on a chunk of meat and was carried by a roc to its nest. He was then
rescued by merchants returned to Baghdad with a fortune of diamonds.
The third voyage.
Again
restless for adventure, Sinbad and his men sailed to Basra (in Iraq).
They were captured by a giant monster (who was similar to Polyphemus
in The Odyssey).
The giant proceeded to eat the crew, starting with their fat captain.
Sinbad heated two heated two iron kebabs (which the giant had been
using to roast the men) and used them to blind the monster. He and
his men sailed away on a raft they made the day before. However, the
monster's mate was able to kill Sinbad's men with rocks. Sinbad
encounters further adventures, including an encounter with a giant
python, and eventually returns to Baghdad.
The fourth voyage.
Sinbad
was against thirsty for adventure. As usual, he and his men were
shipwrecked on an island. The naked savages of the island forced his
men to eat an herb which robs people of reason in order to fatten
them for cooking. Sinbad refused to eat the herb and escapes. He is
rescued by some pepper gatherers and was taken back to their own
island. Their king befriended Sinbad and gave him his own daughter as
a wife. Sinbad's wife soon falls ill and dies. Then he finds out that
the island has a peculiar custom: when a spouse dies, the surviving
spouse is buried with them, together with fine clothes and costly
jewelry. Sinbad was then buried in a cave with his dead wife, along
with a jug of water and seven loaves of bread. It turns out that the
cave was a communal tomb: every time a spouse dies, both the husband
and wife are buried there. Every time a husband and wife were buried,
Sinbad would kill the surviving spouse and take their rations. One
day, a wild animal showed Sinbad a way out of the tomb and then he
was rescued by a passing ship. He returned to Baghdad with riches he
accumulated in the cave.
The fifth voyage. Once
more Sinbad was bored with his life of ease and returned to sea.
While passing by a desert island, the crew spotted a giant egg. The
men went to shore to examine the egg, which they end up breaking and
eating the chick inside. Sinbad recognized that it was a roc egg and
urged the crew to escape. The parent rocs arrived and destroyed their
ship by dropping boulders on it. Sinbad was shipwrecked and enslaved
by the Old Man of the Sea. The Old Man would ride on his shoulders
and wrap himself to his neck using his legs. To get out of this
misery, Sinbad tricked the Old Man to drink some wine that he made.
When the Old Man fell asleep, Sinbad killed him and escapes. On the
way home, he passed by the City of Apes. The people of the city would
escape on rafts to the sea in order to avoid the man-eating apes that
ravage their city every night. Because of the apes, Sinbad was able
to steal the treasure of the city and return to Baghdad.
The sixth voyage.
Hungry
for adventure, Sinbad set sail again but was shipwrecked again, this
time on an island with steep cliffs. Sinbad's men eventually die off
with starvation until he was left all alone. He then discovers an
underground river in a cavern beneath the cliffs. He fell asleep and
when he awoke he found that the river has taken him to city of King
Serenib (in Ceylon, Sri Lanka), a land rich with treasure. He amazes
the king with stories of Caliph Haroun al-Rashid of Baghdad. In
return, King Serenib asks Sinbad to return to Baghdad and give the
caliph presents on his behalf, including a cup carved from a single
ruby and a bed made from the skin of a giant snake, upon which
whoever sits would never get sick.
The seventh and final
voyage. Sinbad
sets out to sea for the last time, but as usual he gets shipwrecked.
He constructs a raft and sails to a nearby city. The chief merchant
gives his daughter to Sinbad as his wife and declares him his heir.
The people of the city turn into birds once a month. Sinbad had one
of the bird-people carry him until they see the angels praising God.
Suddenly fire rains from the sky and nearly killed all of the
bird-people. The bird-people blamed Sinbad for their misfortune and
left him on a mountaintop. There he met two young men who claim to be
servants of God and they gave him a golden staff. When he returned to
the city, Sinbad discovered from his wife that the people of the city
are actually demons (although she and her father were not). Upon her
advice, Sinbad sells their possessions and returns to Baghdad with
his wife. Sinbad resolves to live quietly and enjoy his riches, and
to no longer go on adventures.
R E
F E R E N C E S
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