The Arabian Nights: Tales of Wonder and Magnificence

by Padraic Colum

Genies, wishes, thieves, and treasure abound in these classic stories of magic and adventure from master storyteller Padraic Colum.

Every night for a thousand and one nights, Shahrazad begins to tell her husband the king a new tale but each night she stops before finishing. Why? Because the king has promised to kill her when the last one is over. However, her nightly stories—of Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba, and many other heroes and villains—are so enthralling that King Shahryar has to postpone her execution again and again...

Padraic Colum brings together a selection of the most amazing of the over 600 stories which Shahrazad told. Full of genies, flying carpets, and daring adventures, The Arabian Nights will captive a new audience and leave readers asking for one more story.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published September 24, 2019

About the author

Padraic Colum was an Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer and collector of folklore. He was one of the leading figures of the Celtic Revival. (Source)

Reviews

[Heather Tully · Rating 4 out of 5]

7th family read aloud of the year.

[Anna Cass · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up in the middle school library, figuring it could be a nice replacement for the 1000+ page versions. In a way it was: it's the frame of Shahrazad telling stories every night to save her life, and a nice little selection of a few of her stories. The language is inconsistently archaic, with some selections full of "thou dost" and "thou didst", and others not at all King James-y. The whole thing was much less entertaining than I had hoped, and it turns out this abridged version is based off Edward Lane's Victorian Era baudlerized translation. Those facts are probably related, right?

I ended up having more fun reading all about the Arabian Nights on Wikipedia instead of in this book...

2.5 stars, but I'm feeling stingy and will round down.

[Chris H-C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this if you want to get the distinct impression that Sindbad should've stayed on dry land, and anyone who travelled with him after the second voyage was deeply uninformed.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly enchanting, with the delightful well-known tales standing out. A lot of angry sultans and wise young women, foolish and heroic young men and a lot of happily ever after. Some tales are very similar to Grimm's. Enjoyed the read for 1001 Books.