The Arabian Nights

by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Adapted By), Nora Archibald Smith (Adapted By), Mark Helprin (Introduction)

This elegant edition of 10 classic tales of The Arabian Nights features a powerful introduction by Mark Helprin, offering new insight into the "thousand mercurial forms" and "inexact nature" of these Eastern tales. Helprin probes for fresh understanding of our culture's deep engagement with these fantastical imaginings which, after being passed along orally for thousands of years, evolved into what we have come to know as The Arabian Nights. Accompanied by 12 full-color Maxfield Parrish illustrations from the 1909 edition, the wondrous narrative that began in what is now the Middle East and spread outward to encompass the globe is here reborn in an edition expertly translated by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora A. Smith. The stories here include Aladdin which tells of an aimless street urchin who is seduced by the wiles of a magician and finds himself trapped in a cave filled with sumptuous jewels, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves in which a poor man discovers the secret lair of a band of looters, and The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree, and the Golden Water the story of two princes and a princess who are stolen from their parents at birth and raised by a kindly gardener.

Genres: Fantasy, Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Historical Fiction, Audiobook

339 pages, Paperback

Published August 1, 1996

About the author

Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

Kate Douglas Wiggin, nee Smith (1856-1923) was an American children's author and educator. She was born in Philadelphia, and was of Welsh descent. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 (the "Silver Street Free Kindergarten"). With her sister in the 1880s she also established a training school for kindergarten teachers. Her best known books are The Story of Pasty (1883), The Birds' Christmas Carol (1886), Polly Oliver's Problem (1893), A Cathedral Courtship (1893), The Village Watchtoer (1896), Marm Lisa (1897) and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).

Reviews

[Ryan Elamri · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a nice book, it has very good stories. the writing can seem old sometimes but it adds to it. I would have preferred a shorter stories but lots of them because that's what the Arabian nights is about. it's about multiple incredible stories that have morals. it's the Arabic version of fables. in this version, there were only a few stories that were long. so if you like a few long stories read it but if you prefer lots of short stories then read another version.
even tho I didn't like the structure the stories still showed the culture, superstition, and morals of middle eastern. it can be violent but I think it always shows good morals. A great deal of the "heroes" are thieves, murderers, and other such lost people, but I somehow found that this made these dated stories surprisingly humanizing for showing us the triumph of imperfect humans. I found really interesting the original story of Aladin compared to the Disney movie.(they left some important characters out).

[Mary Catelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A late Victorian collection of Arabian tales, from the later and more random Arabian Nights.

The Victorian treatment of translating their style for children is -- interesting.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah couldn't get past Aladdin. This book was so slow. The stories went on and on when it didn't need to. Half the time the writing was confusing that it was hard to follow. I bailed after page 125 because it wasn't holding any interest for me after picking it up tons of times. So after weeks of trying, I give up.