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The Arabian Nights #3 of 3
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 3
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The Thousand And One Nights': Commonly Called The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. ...; Volume 7 Of The Thousand And One Nights': Commonly Called The Arabian Nights' Entertainments; Edward William Lane
Edward William Lane
Frank S. Holby, 1913
such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact,
or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections,
have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works
worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
++++
The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition
++++
The Thousand And One Nights': Commonly Called The Arabian Nights' Entertainments. ...; Volume 7 Of The Thousand And One Nights': Commonly Called The Arabian Nights' Entertainments; Edward William Lane
Edward William Lane
Frank S. Holby, 1913
855 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 800
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March 29, 2020
Editorial Note
Introduction, by Robert Irwin
--The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 3: Nights 719 to 1001
--The Story of Aladdin, or The Magic Lamp
Glossary
Maps
Index of Nights and Stories
Introduction, by Robert Irwin
--The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 3: Nights 719 to 1001
--The Story of Aladdin, or The Magic Lamp
Glossary
Maps
Index of Nights and Stories
September 3, 2013
If I were the publisher’s editor during the Islamic Golden Age (8th to 13th centuries) during the time when these stories were being compiled into a Tale of 1001 Nights, I would have strongly recommended that it be pared down to 101 Nights. 1001 is too many. These three volumes (2008 edition by Penguin Classics) are in essence 270 short stories divided into 1001 sessions to fit the setting of the woman named Scheherazade telling a story per night with tantalizing incomplete endings in order to keep her bloody handed husband/king from killing her.
The three volumes total 2,784 pages. Any reader who manages to make it through to the end of the collection will find that their memory of the stories will be muddled and mixed because of their similar themes and motifs. Most books of short stories can have the same effect on a reader, but it’s worse in this case because of the large number of stories.
The experience of taking time to read all of this three volume set is something I can’t recommend to others. I was obligated to give it a try because I was a member of a reading group that decided to discuss the Arabian Nights in three meetings during the summer months of 2013. I managed to read only parts of Volume 1, none of Volume 2 (I was out of town), and with extra effort (and listening to audio) I managed to get through Volume 3.
This collection of stories does provide a glimpse into Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales of the 8th to 13th centuries. Since all my reading was in the first and third volumes I can offer some generalizations about the differences I noticed between the early and late stories. The earlier stories are shorter, less complex and contain fewer references to religion. The later stories are mostly longer and more religious. One story in Volume 3 takes up to 31 nights to get the story told. And Volume 3 is steeped in praise of the Muslim religion. As a matter of fact some of the stories in Volume 3 go out of their way to make it clear that the Christians (i.e. the Franks) are the bad guys and the Moslems are the good guys.
Here's a summary of the nights per story for the three volumes:
One little detail which is probably left out of the children's version of these stories is the fact that 1001 nights is sufficient time to get pregnant three times and have three children by the end of all these stories. That is exactly what happens in this book. So the king was doing more than listening to the stories. Scheherazade must have been quite a woman to be able to not miss a night, and apparently deliver her babies without her husband noticing because at the end of the book the king seems to have not been previously aware of the existence of his children.
The following are some comments about this edition of the Arabian Nights taken from Wikipedia:
The three volumes total 2,784 pages. Any reader who manages to make it through to the end of the collection will find that their memory of the stories will be muddled and mixed because of their similar themes and motifs. Most books of short stories can have the same effect on a reader, but it’s worse in this case because of the large number of stories.
The experience of taking time to read all of this three volume set is something I can’t recommend to others. I was obligated to give it a try because I was a member of a reading group that decided to discuss the Arabian Nights in three meetings during the summer months of 2013. I managed to read only parts of Volume 1, none of Volume 2 (I was out of town), and with extra effort (and listening to audio) I managed to get through Volume 3.
This collection of stories does provide a glimpse into Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales of the 8th to 13th centuries. Since all my reading was in the first and third volumes I can offer some generalizations about the differences I noticed between the early and late stories. The earlier stories are shorter, less complex and contain fewer references to religion. The later stories are mostly longer and more religious. One story in Volume 3 takes up to 31 nights to get the story told. And Volume 3 is steeped in praise of the Muslim religion. As a matter of fact some of the stories in Volume 3 go out of their way to make it clear that the Christians (i.e. the Franks) are the bad guys and the Moslems are the good guys.
Here's a summary of the nights per story for the three volumes:
Volume 1:At my book club it was pointed out that there is a story in Volume 2 that is almost exactly the same as another story in Volume 3. Again this indicates lack of an editor to correct this sort of thing.
74 stories over 294 nights for an average of 3.9 nights/story
Volume 2:
158 stories over 425 nights for an average of 2.7 nights/story
Volume 3:
38 stories over 282 nights for an average of 7.4 nights/story
One little detail which is probably left out of the children's version of these stories is the fact that 1001 nights is sufficient time to get pregnant three times and have three children by the end of all these stories. That is exactly what happens in this book. So the king was doing more than listening to the stories. Scheherazade must have been quite a woman to be able to not miss a night, and apparently deliver her babies without her husband noticing because at the end of the book the king seems to have not been previously aware of the existence of his children.
The following are some comments about this edition of the Arabian Nights taken from Wikipedia:
“In 2008 a new English translation was published by Penguin Classics in three volumes. It is translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons with introduction and annotations by Robert Irwin. This is the first complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) since Sir Richard Burton. It contains, in addition to the standard text of 1001 Nights, the so-called "orphan stories" of Aladdin and Ali Baba as well as an alternative ending to The seventh journey of Sindbad from Antoine Galland's original French. As the translator himself notes in his preface to the three volumes, "No attempt has been made to superimpose on the translation changes that would be needed to 'rectify' ... accretions, ... repetitions, non sequiturs and confusions that mark the present text," and the work is a "representation of what is primarily oral literature, appealing to the ear rather than the eye". The Lyons translation includes all the poetry, omitted in some translations, but does not attempt to reproduce in English the internal rhyming of some prose sections of the original Arabic.”The following excerpt from Wikipedia seems to indicate that Arabian Nights is given more attention within Western Literature than found in the study of Arabic culture and literature:
“There is little evidence that the Nights was particularly treasured in the Arab world. It is rarely mentioned in lists of popular literature and few pre-18th century manuscripts of the collection exist. Fiction had a low cultural status among Medieval Arabs compared with poetry, and the tales were dismissed as khurafa (improbable fantasies fit only for entertaining women and children). According to Robert Irwin, "Even today, with the exception of certain writers and academics, the Nights is regarded with disdain in the Arabic world. Its stories are regularly denounced as vulgar, improbable, childish and, above all, badly written."I guess the above indicates that Western Literature has lower standards than Arabic Literature. I actually agree with the last sentence of the above quotation.
December 17, 2014
I have officially finished all three volumes of The Arabian Night, a 2,715 page journey!
Volume 3 comprises nights 719 to 1001, as well as the "Aladdin, or the Magic Lamp" standalone story. This third volume has proven to be my favorite, as there is less repetition (same kind of story followed by same kind of story) than in the previous books and some stories that begin on well trodden themes actually branch of in surprising directions. Adventures, romances, and comedy tales mix together with morality tales in a broad spectrum of stories, many of which I found rather fun and interesting.
Shahrazad's Tale Comes to an End
As I mentioned, in my review of volume 2, we can see Shahrazad's story and dramatic progression through the tales she tells, guiding King Shahriyar to a different perspective on women. By volume 3, I get the sense that Shahrazad has relaxed, which allows her to explore a greater variety of tales. She probably senses him coming around and so can use the tales more as entertainment than for moral and philosophical lessons.
Though, there is one clear exception to this toward the end of the 1001 nights. In general, Shahrazad has veered away from concluding stories with morals, but in one particular tale, she compares a woman who is an adulteress and a traitor to a woman who is loyal and virtuous. At the end of the story, she states, "Whoever thinks that all women are alike is suffering from a disease of madness for which there is no cure." Since the King has been marrying, bedding, and then executing one woman after another, because he believes every woman to be just like his adulteress wife, this statement seems to be pointedly directed at him.
The story concludes as we all know it concludes, with the King respecting Shahrazad as a good, virtuous woman and granting her her life. The most shocking aspect, however, was the fact that at the end of all this storytelling, Shahrazad presents the King with his three sons, whom she has given birth to over the course of all these nights of tales. I mean, really? He didn't notice her belly growing and shrinking during all these nights they've spent together?
Love for Miriam and other clever women of the Arabian Nights
One of the things I've come to appreciate about these stories is that, taken as a whole, they provide a wide spectrum of kinds of women. I've mentioned how women are presented in my reviews of both volume 1 and 2. While there are certainly types — the pure, virtuous virgin, the evil, plotting adulteress, the wickedly clever old woman — there is also great variety that strays outside these parameters. The adulteress, for example, is not always evil or punished. Women sometimes appear as heavily armed, strong fighting armies. And women are just as likely to be the ones to come up with the clever plan to escape a dangerous situation.
My favorite character in the entire set of three volumes, by far, is Miriam the Girdle Maker. She annoyed me at first as a vain, superficial, and arrogant slave girl. Able to choose who would buy her, she was reject many merchants for being ugly, fat, stupid, or too bearded, making up poetry to mock them as she did. While this ties in to how the Arabian Nights tend to honor beauty as equal to goodness and I could respect her clever and sometimes humorous snark, I wanted to tell her that life isn't all about looks. As expected, she chooses Ali Nur al-Din to buy her, because he's very handsome, even though he has to spend all his money to make the purchase.
Once she begins to live with Nur al-Din, she is able to save him from his new poverty. Turns out she's known as the Girdle Maker, because she can craft beautiful girdles and cloaks out of fabric, which Nur al-Din is then able to sell at the market to sustain them.
Her abilities don't stop there, however, because it turns out her name is Miriam and she is a princess of the Franks. When her father's adviser later comes to bring her home, parting the two lovers, it is Miriam who continually outwits and frees them both from her father and the adviser's clutches.
– Miriam disguises herself as a male ship captain and slays her father's sailors to escape with Nur al-Din.
– On her second escape, Miriam tries to ride off on great stallions with Nur al-Din, only to be pursued by her father and brothers. She calls out to them to fight her and she fights them with grace and skill. As the story says, "She was the bravest warrior of her age and unique in her time, for ever since she was a little girl her father had taught her how to ride and plunge into the waves of battle even in the darkest of night."
By the time, Miriam was battling great warriors like a noble knight, I adored her.
I only wished she had fallen in love with and chosen a better companion for herself, because Nur al-Din is pretty much useless. He starts out the story by getting drunk and knocking out his own father's eye, spends most of his time wallowing in loss of Miriam and relying on luck and help from others to stumble his way back to her, leaves her alone in the boat to get recaptured the first time, and then during the second escape falls asleep, allowing the horses to be stolen, leaving Miriam to outwit the thief and return to save his sorry ass. Seriously, he's not even moderately clever and Miriam deserves much better.
When Love at First Sight Goes Awry
As with fairy tales and Arthurian romances, love at first sight is taken as noble and normal in the Arabian Nights, though in some cases it leads to unhappy consequences. Take, for example, the character Zain, who is so beautiful just about every man she comes into contact with falls in love with her. When her husband drags her off to another city in order to keep her from her lover, she uses her beauty to convince every magistrate in the city that her husband is wicked and that she will marry the magistrate, if only he would help her. She then slips away in the night to escape her husband, leaving all the magistrates and their servants to waste away and die in love for her.
Later, Zain in her flight back to her lover stays at a monastery, only to have abbot and forty monks also fall in love with her, each of whom likewise wastes away and dies when she leaves.
I could argue that Zain is certainly the first femme fatale in the story books. Also, this death and mayhem is so dramatic and absurd that it's funny and it makes me wonder if this story is in mockery of the "love at first sight" concept.
People of the Sea
Two stories in volume 3 feature sea people (or merfolk) stories. In one, a King falls in love with a sea woman and tricks her into becoming his concubine. She gives birth to a son that can breathe underwater and this prince later falls in love with princess of the sea. He wins her only to later fail one of her tests, causing them to be parted and forcing him to journey to find her.
The second story is much more interesting and tells the story of a fisherman who catches a seaman in his net. After releasing him, the two become friends and the merman brings jewels and precious stones in exchanges for bowls of fruit. Later, the fisherman travels with the seaman under the water and you get to see how the seafolk live. At one point they mock the fisherman for having two legs and wearing clothes.
Bits, Oddities, and Humor
Here are just a few other random things that amused me.
– When someone tells/has told a tale, it's often said that the story is "so remarkable that, were it written with needles on men's eyeballs, it would serve as a lesson for all who can learn." Which leaves me wondering, who is going around writing on people EYEBALLS? Though likely this little odd word choice it more due to translation problems.
– The story Badr, in which he meets a woman named Queen Lud, who turns people into animals, reminded me quite a bit if the story of Odysseus and Circe. I wonder if one story may have influenced the other.
– In one story, Qamar al-Zaman, a young man falls in love with another man's wife. He befriends the husband in order to find a way to meet and be intimate with the wife, which results in this hilarity: The husband "kept on talking about these qualities until, thanks to him, his wife had fallen in love with his [Qamar al-Zaman] description — and there is no greater pimp than a husband who describes a man to his wife as both handsome and generous with his money." Too funny.
– People apparently lived to ripe old ages in these tales. One King was said to be 180 years old, while his Vizier was 280.
– I rather enjoyed the story of Khalifa the fisherman, a humorous tale in which the hero plays the fool, calling out "Praise be to God" at every misfortune that befalls him. His foolishness leads him to mistaking the Caliph for a beggar and making other mistakes that draw him unawares into court intrigues.
– Characters often blame fate, destiny, or the will of God for their misdoings, as in, "I'm so sorry I tried to kill you, but it was decreed by fate that I should do this terrible thing, so don't blame me and offer me forgiveness." In many cases, the people are forgiven, some to repent and some to do harm again. Only once did I see a wise young man point out to a wrongdoer that God granted men freewill and therefore he should take responsibility for his own actions.
In Conclusion
This year long journey through all 1001 nights of tales, including the supplemental stories “Ali Babba and the Forty Thieves“ and "Aladdin, or the Magic Lamp," has been epic and well worth the effort.
June 28, 2023
Y con este libro se terminan las mil y una noches. Fue una larga travesía, pero he disfrutado de cada noche con toda su magia, y me ha dejado reflexionando en muchas cosas.
Una historia que recomendaría ampliamente, pero a la que hay que tener paciencia, porque muchos de los relatos pueden resultar algo repetitivos.
Una historia que recomendaría ampliamente, pero a la que hay que tener paciencia, porque muchos de los relatos pueden resultar algo repetitivos.
June 26, 2023
1001 Nights Volume 3
El ultimo Volumen de esta colección, aquí la mayoría de las historias son de longitud media a larga, con lo cual se lee más rápido y se disfruta más, aunque en algunas de ellas se nota la repetición de fragmentos leídos en historias previas.
Las que más me gustaron:
- La historia de Saif-l-muluk y Badi Al-Jamal , las aventuras de Saif fueron divertidas
- El de Hasan of Basra, su aventura con el alquimista, las princesas, la mujer pájara, su viaje al reino de su esposa.
- La de Masrur y Zain, hartos enamorados, poemas, dramas, eso si pobre del marido.
- Nur-al-Din y Miriam the sashmaker, el de la princesa francesa que anda “escapada”
- La historia de AbuQir y Abu sir, el barbero bueno y el teñidor malvado
- La que todos se llaman Abd-Allah, y su paseo en el mundo de la gente del mar
- LA de Qamar, esta rara, primero que onda con el papa usándolo de cebo, luego la esposa del joyero, y como regresa, pues como que mal, pero aun así es divertida
Como nota, la historia de Aladino viene fuera del conteo de las 1001 noches, incluso toma lugar en algún lugar de China, donde misteriosamente hay sultanes y Vizires, aun así, muy como recordaba y muy divertida.
5 stars
El ultimo Volumen de esta colección, aquí la mayoría de las historias son de longitud media a larga, con lo cual se lee más rápido y se disfruta más, aunque en algunas de ellas se nota la repetición de fragmentos leídos en historias previas.
Las que más me gustaron:
- La historia de Saif-l-muluk y Badi Al-Jamal , las aventuras de Saif fueron divertidas
- El de Hasan of Basra, su aventura con el alquimista, las princesas, la mujer pájara, su viaje al reino de su esposa.
- La de Masrur y Zain, hartos enamorados, poemas, dramas, eso si pobre del marido.
- Nur-al-Din y Miriam the sashmaker, el de la princesa francesa que anda “escapada”
- La historia de AbuQir y Abu sir, el barbero bueno y el teñidor malvado
- La que todos se llaman Abd-Allah, y su paseo en el mundo de la gente del mar
- LA de Qamar, esta rara, primero que onda con el papa usándolo de cebo, luego la esposa del joyero, y como regresa, pues como que mal, pero aun así es divertida
Como nota, la historia de Aladino viene fuera del conteo de las 1001 noches, incluso toma lugar en algún lugar de China, donde misteriosamente hay sultanes y Vizires, aun así, muy como recordaba y muy divertida.
5 stars
February 13, 2024
bro's wife cheats on him so he decides to marry and execute women as revenge then gets gaslit by one. i'm biased from this primarily due to the fact that my professor asked me obscure questions during class about this and i understood not a lick from those 1001 nights except for the general synopsis above. i really need to learn more about history oh god.
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December 22, 2023Every epic story in the 1001 Nights basically ends in a rushed, ‘they lived happily until death took them’ whimper, so I guess it’s fair my relationship with these stories should end without fanfare. I love these stories, how they concatenate, specifically. Even when you are not actively enjoying the reading experience, they produce a feeling like being drawn by the hand down a long dream corridor. Psychology is never the focus, not subjectivity. Everyone is especially gullible to the next thing said to them. Skepticism is what viziers are for. The substance and language of these stories are all the same, and the turns are all similar. It’s like a labyrinth with identical walls. It’s always turns: simply things happening. Plot on top of plot forever. And yet I am hard pressed to remember any of it… unless perhaps it were “etched into the inner corners of my eyes with a needle” as a reminder.
I have given these books five stars but I don’t know if I could recommend them to anyone who doesn’t have my sort of ‘disease’ of meta-narrative/textual sensitivities. Despite Sharazad being among the greatest heroines of the literary canon, these books are written within a sexist, and sometimes, flat out misogynist perspective, which is of course the impetus for these stories to begin in the first place. That’s the eidos of their creation, but it should serve as warning. Sometimes it means a woman is portrayed so villainously that they frankly come across as a total badass. Sometimes it means the smartest, most talented woman in the kingdom remains the dutiful slave for an unremarkable man. There is simply no force that comes before a man’s horniness, even kidnapping and coercion have a few instances of it being okay as long as the hero does it and weeps for horniness, although I will say many of the stories allow the space for female desire, which I didn’t at all expect coming in. Always it means the women are first appraised for their appearance on usually the same similes for body parts; you wouldn’t think something this old would be so specific but the men all like big butts. And of course slavery is a part of life all throughout these stories. Racism does rear its head, too, sometimes shockingly. You can generally expect antisemitism if there is a Jewish character; sometimes there isn’t though and they’re just someone who helps the protagonist. It’s funny for me to see Christianity so thoroughly othered in the stories it appears. Queers are, I’m pretty sure, unanimously predatory. So, take the plunge at ye peril.
Coincidences: was just trying to get $10 in gas later this day and it came out to $10.01. I didn’t plan that. I did the Worldle the day after and the answer was Iraq.
I have given these books five stars but I don’t know if I could recommend them to anyone who doesn’t have my sort of ‘disease’ of meta-narrative/textual sensitivities. Despite Sharazad being among the greatest heroines of the literary canon, these books are written within a sexist, and sometimes, flat out misogynist perspective, which is of course the impetus for these stories to begin in the first place. That’s the eidos of their creation, but it should serve as warning. Sometimes it means a woman is portrayed so villainously that they frankly come across as a total badass. Sometimes it means the smartest, most talented woman in the kingdom remains the dutiful slave for an unremarkable man. There is simply no force that comes before a man’s horniness, even kidnapping and coercion have a few instances of it being okay as long as the hero does it and weeps for horniness, although I will say many of the stories allow the space for female desire, which I didn’t at all expect coming in. Always it means the women are first appraised for their appearance on usually the same similes for body parts; you wouldn’t think something this old would be so specific but the men all like big butts. And of course slavery is a part of life all throughout these stories. Racism does rear its head, too, sometimes shockingly. You can generally expect antisemitism if there is a Jewish character; sometimes there isn’t though and they’re just someone who helps the protagonist. It’s funny for me to see Christianity so thoroughly othered in the stories it appears. Queers are, I’m pretty sure, unanimously predatory. So, take the plunge at ye peril.
Coincidences: was just trying to get $10 in gas later this day and it came out to $10.01. I didn’t plan that. I did the Worldle the day after and the answer was Iraq.
July 22, 2019
I read Irwin's introduction about the influence of the Arabian Nights on European literature.
January 11, 2021
Just finished a read of all three volumes over the course of exactly a year. These stories are magnificent, even if the overall effect of reading all three in a row was (it must be admitted) rather tiring. Highly recommend reading at least some of these stories — they rank alongside Homer and Shakespeare in their reach and imagination.
Fancy criticism aside, at its heart, really, the Nights were a framework to give bored, horny Arab merchants in medieval Syria a chance to trade fantasy stories with other horny merchants about young handsome commoners marrying princesses with butts like “full moons” and who bring to the marriage jewels that not even the kings of the world have ever seen. It’s sex, wealth, and palace intrigue, with a bit of magic thrown in. In this way, it’s a bit like The Aristocrats: our beginning and end is the same, but it’s how we tell the middle that is the real fun.
Fancy criticism aside, at its heart, really, the Nights were a framework to give bored, horny Arab merchants in medieval Syria a chance to trade fantasy stories with other horny merchants about young handsome commoners marrying princesses with butts like “full moons” and who bring to the marriage jewels that not even the kings of the world have ever seen. It’s sex, wealth, and palace intrigue, with a bit of magic thrown in. In this way, it’s a bit like The Aristocrats: our beginning and end is the same, but it’s how we tell the middle that is the real fun.
July 13, 2017
Right in keeping with Volumes 1 and 2 of this modern translation.
While I don't speak Arabic, certainly not the millenium-old version that these tales were original written in, this translation seems excellent. It manages to retain a certain older, fairy-tale style while being extremely accessible to modern English readers. Brilliant work by Malcom Lyons, and I expect his versions to be the English language standard for a long, long time.
The tales themselves are of the same ilk as those in Volumes 1 and 2. Many adventures involving damsels in distress, scoundrels trying to swindel honest people out of their money and property, strange and wondrous turns of fortune, and of course magical creatures and journey to faraway and exotic lands. Imaginative elements abound, and these tales are very much the templates and inspiration for the countless adventure tales that would follow in the succeeding centuries, right up to today. However, it must be said that the vast majority of them are of a relatively shallow variety. It is almost always abundantly clear who the heroes and villains are, and one shouldn't expect any sort of deep dive into the human psyche in any of these stories. They are simple melodramas driven by plot, spiced up by their fantastic, supernatural elements.
As with the other two volumes, the misogyny and xenophobia can become frustrating, especially the former. Unsurprisingly for its time, the women in these stories fall into one of three types: the damsel in distress, the deceitful and greedy gold-digger, or the old crone (who could be helpful or completely evil). Almost without exception, there are no heriones who are in control of their own fates. When one keeps in mind that these stories are so very old, then it takes some of the sting out of it, but it still makes for a whole lot of boring and completely predictable female characters.
For the most part, the stories have expected outcomes, though one did stand out to me - that of Abu Qir and Abu Sir. The story of these two men follows a familiar narrative for much of its length, but ends in a rather unexpected and profound manner. It was a standout for me.
Added to the end is the Tale of Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, one that is, along with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the best known ancient Middle Eastern legend. This story was decent, but not as good as I had hoped, given how much I enjoyed Ali Baba back in Volume 1. Like most of the main Tales, Aladdin follows rather typical plot lines. It does feature some memorably fantastic uses of magic, but hardly anything that sets it apart from many of the stories in the 1,001 Nights proper.
A fun read, and one recommended to anyone interested in some of the oldest roots of fantasies involving magic and the supernatural.
While I don't speak Arabic, certainly not the millenium-old version that these tales were original written in, this translation seems excellent. It manages to retain a certain older, fairy-tale style while being extremely accessible to modern English readers. Brilliant work by Malcom Lyons, and I expect his versions to be the English language standard for a long, long time.
The tales themselves are of the same ilk as those in Volumes 1 and 2. Many adventures involving damsels in distress, scoundrels trying to swindel honest people out of their money and property, strange and wondrous turns of fortune, and of course magical creatures and journey to faraway and exotic lands. Imaginative elements abound, and these tales are very much the templates and inspiration for the countless adventure tales that would follow in the succeeding centuries, right up to today. However, it must be said that the vast majority of them are of a relatively shallow variety. It is almost always abundantly clear who the heroes and villains are, and one shouldn't expect any sort of deep dive into the human psyche in any of these stories. They are simple melodramas driven by plot, spiced up by their fantastic, supernatural elements.
As with the other two volumes, the misogyny and xenophobia can become frustrating, especially the former. Unsurprisingly for its time, the women in these stories fall into one of three types: the damsel in distress, the deceitful and greedy gold-digger, or the old crone (who could be helpful or completely evil). Almost without exception, there are no heriones who are in control of their own fates. When one keeps in mind that these stories are so very old, then it takes some of the sting out of it, but it still makes for a whole lot of boring and completely predictable female characters.
For the most part, the stories have expected outcomes, though one did stand out to me - that of Abu Qir and Abu Sir. The story of these two men follows a familiar narrative for much of its length, but ends in a rather unexpected and profound manner. It was a standout for me.
Added to the end is the Tale of Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, one that is, along with Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the best known ancient Middle Eastern legend. This story was decent, but not as good as I had hoped, given how much I enjoyed Ali Baba back in Volume 1. Like most of the main Tales, Aladdin follows rather typical plot lines. It does feature some memorably fantastic uses of magic, but hardly anything that sets it apart from many of the stories in the 1,001 Nights proper.
A fun read, and one recommended to anyone interested in some of the oldest roots of fantasies involving magic and the supernatural.
April 28, 2019
It's a little surreal that I've finally completed this 3,652 voyage. This has been a long time coming.
What did I expect? Adventures, battles, cliff-hangers, love stories, poetry, swashbuckling heroes...
What did I get? A little bit of all that, but mostly a bunch of stories reminding me that all of man's problems come from women disobeying. You committed a crime because a woman told you to? Clearly, she should be executed but we'll make you adviser to the king because you overcame her treachery. You gave all your money away to a woman (who didn't ask for it)? Clearly, she's a ho and we should trust you with more money to make up for it.
It got old...but I'm still glad I read this. It's part of history. Some of the poetry was beautiful, and I did enjoy some of the stories. I appreciate that Shaharazad, the story teller, is a woman who tells the stories to show the king the error in his ways and thus save thousands of women from death. That part was cool...but even she acknowledges that a good woman is obedient and submissive and that hurts my soul.
What did I expect? Adventures, battles, cliff-hangers, love stories, poetry, swashbuckling heroes...
What did I get? A little bit of all that, but mostly a bunch of stories reminding me that all of man's problems come from women disobeying. You committed a crime because a woman told you to? Clearly, she should be executed but we'll make you adviser to the king because you overcame her treachery. You gave all your money away to a woman (who didn't ask for it)? Clearly, she's a ho and we should trust you with more money to make up for it.
It got old...but I'm still glad I read this. It's part of history. Some of the poetry was beautiful, and I did enjoy some of the stories. I appreciate that Shaharazad, the story teller, is a woman who tells the stories to show the king the error in his ways and thus save thousands of women from death. That part was cool...but even she acknowledges that a good woman is obedient and submissive and that hurts my soul.
November 25, 2015
I enjoyed this volume much more than the previous two - mainly due to the inclusion of the story of Aladdin. But do no go expecting the Disney version that most people are familiar with. It is a lot darker and more violent, with the Genie and the Lamp being the only real similarities between them. This isn't really a book for the overly offended as it has a lot of violence - against Jews and women as well as many other minority groups - but you need to take it into the context of when it was actually written.
The prose and poetry are what makes this book a mixture of enjoyment and the need to read in small pieces. Too much in one go means you do not always take all you need to from each story.
The prose and poetry are what makes this book a mixture of enjoyment and the need to read in small pieces. Too much in one go means you do not always take all you need to from each story.
January 13, 2015
Volume 3 was awfuler (I told you my thesaurus broke), than volume 2. I held out for one hope amidst the despair: maybe the story of Sinbad the Sailor would be interesting. Boy, was I wrong, and everything else was far worse. First of all, Sinbad is just as morally bankrupt as anyone else in the book. He beats women to death? What is that? Also, he's an idiot. After shipwreck #5, man, just give up. This ain't your line of work. As for the ending, I cared not a whit for it. Scheherazade is saved. Yay, big deal. Where's the mercy for the hundreds of others murdered in the book? As if we're supposed to have a great feeling that she survives. It was like an action movie where millions die in a nuclear holocaust, but yay! The action hero and his lover survive! Whoop-de-do.
February 10, 2021
Verbose, random, tedious, and occasionally boring stories that somehow manage to remain captivating as you're reading them.
December 30, 2023
A few years ago I read an abridged version of the 1001 Nights, which was originally published by Penguin Classics in the 1950s. I liked it so much I decided to read the whole thing, which is now published by Penguin Classics in a more modern translation from 2005-8. Be warned, though. The unabridged version runs to three volumes, each of around 900 closely printed pages. Volume III covers nights 719 to 1001 and also gives us the tale of Sindbad and his magic lamp. This edition has a useful introduction describing the influence that the tales have had on a wide range or writers over the centuries, as well as a glossary and some maps of Baghdad and Cairo, two cities frequently mentioned in the text.
If you think that Shahrazad tells 1001 separate tales, you’ve been led astray. What you get across all three volumes are a serious of tales within tales within tales. Some of the tales last for forty or fifty nights or even longer. There is a theme of good triumphing over evil. Good people live long, happy lives; bad people go to hell. But bad people cause a lot of suffering before making their trip downstairs, and it’s the good people who suffer.
There is a useful index at the end covering all the tales and showing those tales that are tales within tales. Splitting the tales into “nights” is a handy device because it splits them into bite-size chunks. Some “nights” are shorter than others – barely a page in some cases, though I noticed in this volume that many “nights” last more like three pages – some even longer. The “nights” are also a reminder that Shahrazad’s life is on a knife edge. If she fails to entertain the tyrannical King Shahriyar on any night, she faces the chop. Fortunately, she is a narrator of genius and the demanding king and demanding reader are equally entertained.
I noted in Volumes I and II that black characters are frequently associated with wickedness and ugliness. In this volume that is not so apparent but there are frequent references to black eunuchs and slaves, though there are also white slaves. I’ve also noted that male and female beauty are often described in similar terms. There is a strong homoerotic element in some stories. There is also a lot of wine drinking. And music. Both men and women compose poetry, though most of the singing of that poetry is done by women playing a lute. There is much delight in gold, silver, precious gems, palaces and political power. There are early signs of global capitalism with lots of trading going on resulting in big profits. There are women living independently, often with vast wealth, and making their own decisions about marriage. There are women who are highly intelligent and inventive. Preconceptions about Islam have to be parked rather rapidly, though it has to be said that Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians get a bad press.
It’s an entertaining mishmash of marvellous tales on an epic scale and having finished all three volumes I feel is if I’ve read one of the truly great works of world literature. That’s an achievement and a very worthwhile and enjoyable one.
If you think that Shahrazad tells 1001 separate tales, you’ve been led astray. What you get across all three volumes are a serious of tales within tales within tales. Some of the tales last for forty or fifty nights or even longer. There is a theme of good triumphing over evil. Good people live long, happy lives; bad people go to hell. But bad people cause a lot of suffering before making their trip downstairs, and it’s the good people who suffer.
There is a useful index at the end covering all the tales and showing those tales that are tales within tales. Splitting the tales into “nights” is a handy device because it splits them into bite-size chunks. Some “nights” are shorter than others – barely a page in some cases, though I noticed in this volume that many “nights” last more like three pages – some even longer. The “nights” are also a reminder that Shahrazad’s life is on a knife edge. If she fails to entertain the tyrannical King Shahriyar on any night, she faces the chop. Fortunately, she is a narrator of genius and the demanding king and demanding reader are equally entertained.
I noted in Volumes I and II that black characters are frequently associated with wickedness and ugliness. In this volume that is not so apparent but there are frequent references to black eunuchs and slaves, though there are also white slaves. I’ve also noted that male and female beauty are often described in similar terms. There is a strong homoerotic element in some stories. There is also a lot of wine drinking. And music. Both men and women compose poetry, though most of the singing of that poetry is done by women playing a lute. There is much delight in gold, silver, precious gems, palaces and political power. There are early signs of global capitalism with lots of trading going on resulting in big profits. There are women living independently, often with vast wealth, and making their own decisions about marriage. There are women who are highly intelligent and inventive. Preconceptions about Islam have to be parked rather rapidly, though it has to be said that Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians get a bad press.
It’s an entertaining mishmash of marvellous tales on an epic scale and having finished all three volumes I feel is if I’ve read one of the truly great works of world literature. That’s an achievement and a very worthwhile and enjoyable one.
January 24, 2023
Eindelijk uit! Wat een opluchting! Lang verhaal kort: het heeft geen zin om alle 1001 nachten te lezen, de lange en saaie stukken halen het leesplezier flink onderuit. Zo ook in dit deel waarbij op een gegeven moment een prins ondervraagd wordt om te bewijzen wat hij allemaal kent, en dit verschillende "nachten" lang. Toppunt is dat ie vervolgens zich ontzettend dwaas gaat gedragen, want de logica in dit soort verhalen is soms ver te zoeken. "Kapotgestudeerd," zou mijn man zeggen.
Zo ook bijvoorbeeld met de logica in het verhaal van Aladdin dat op het einde nog als extraatje wordt toegevoegd: ik bedoel, de slechterik van dienst geeft Aladdin een ring met een geest in, maar vergeet dat dan gewoon. Net zoals Aladdin daar totáál niet aan denkt als hij in de problemen zit en hulp nodig heeft.
(Ik vind de Disneyversie van het verhaal overigens beter)
Maar voor het einde van dit boek waren er wel nog een aantal goede verhalen te rapen, wat maakt dat ik met tevredenheid dit hoofdstuk van 1001 nachten (dat iets te lang geduurd heeft) afsluit.
Zo ook bijvoorbeeld met de logica in het verhaal van Aladdin dat op het einde nog als extraatje wordt toegevoegd: ik bedoel, de slechterik van dienst geeft Aladdin een ring met een geest in, maar vergeet dat dan gewoon. Net zoals Aladdin daar totáál niet aan denkt als hij in de problemen zit en hulp nodig heeft.
(Ik vind de Disneyversie van het verhaal overigens beter)
Maar voor het einde van dit boek waren er wel nog een aantal goede verhalen te rapen, wat maakt dat ik met tevredenheid dit hoofdstuk van 1001 nachten (dat iets te lang geduurd heeft) afsluit.
October 4, 2018
I read the introduction and 10 of the tales, it was exactly as the introduction stated a frog with an ever-increasing folds upon its back built one upon another, basically this Muslim King in Persia gets cheated on by his queen by a number of black slaves, so the king decides that he will sleep with a new virgin every single night and then kill her, but this one virgin is so smart that every night she tells the king a new tale, and in the morning leaves him hanging as to how the new tale ends... so that he does not kill her but waits until he can hear the end of the story but the stories never end. I got up to tale 10. It went from noble God-loving faith-filled people, to treacherous djinns, dangerous women and men and brutality, sex, lies and degeneracy that would out-do any modern novel or anthology that could be put out in this time period. It finally got to the point that I would cringe reading it, and just couldn't take it anymore.
May 5, 2021
The further I get in this omnibus, the more rote it gets, and the stronger my sense that the anonymous compilers were throwing in anything they could to get to the magic number 1,001. Nevertheless the last third has its highlights: "Julnar of the sea and her son, Badr Basim" (a prototypical "contact with alien life" story, albeit marine rather than extraterrestrial), "King Jali'ad and his son, Wird Khan" (one last story cycle to remind me why I set out on this folkloric journey across the fictional Mideastern desert to begin with), and of course this volume's bonus track, "The story of Aladdin, or The magic lamp".
September 17, 2024
This is Not Literature... it is shit. And I don't think any translation adjustments will help. If you're Muslim and amoral and enjoy sex stories for every night... some (many?) which end in castration... and also a lot of death and/or mutilation... then you'll (perhaps) enjoy reading this book. Maybe there are a few gems among the hundreds of tales of shit. For me I'm done before finishing the 1st volume.
August 11, 2024
I couldn't really find the appeal in this one. I was expecting Arabian princes setting off across sand dunes to rescue princesses and battle the elements. Instead I got overly layered and weird stories of sultans raging at their wives sleeping with black slaves, Arabian poetry that doesn't seem to translate, and repetitive encounters with Jinn.
Every story seemed to focus on the desire for endless wealth and gems. The magic is so overdone and ridiculous that nothing is beyond the realm of possibility.
The stories of Ali Baba and Aladdin were decent, I would skip the rest of it.
Every story seemed to focus on the desire for endless wealth and gems. The magic is so overdone and ridiculous that nothing is beyond the realm of possibility.
The stories of Ali Baba and Aladdin were decent, I would skip the rest of it.
September 16, 2025
the only reason I read this was to satisfy my curiosity about it... and it quenches it thank you very much. I read all three and maybe I can go for even Burton translation but no more. my appetite has been satisfied, however roughly. well if curiosity draws you towards it I pray for you!
June 19, 2017
A bit disappointed by the real Ali baba and Alladin's stories but still cool tales. And [spoiler], Sheherazade gets to live. Yay!
December 19, 2020
All volumes are.worth a read. Some stories rightly deserve the reputation....other stories, however, are not so entertaining or interesting, and can be too long.
May 22, 2021
A great conclusion to the story.
September 19, 2021
Nah, may mà audio book không thì chắc chắn dnf 🙄
March 29, 2024
I wasn't too enamoured with this book as it felt like a collection of Middle-Eastern stereotypes and I didn't like the Antisemitism, either.
February 27, 2025
This is the best of all the volumes in the sense that the stories aren’t as repetitive as some of the ones in the previous volumes but oh my god the portrayal of women sometimes…. Does my head in
April 4, 2012
I finally finished! Yay! As I said with volume 2, it was okay, but getting repetitive. Entire motifs, dialogues, etc. were repeated, and if it weren't for the names, I'd think I'd read that story before. On the one hand, I can now say that I've read The Arabian Nights; on the other hand, since there are so many versions and translations available, I could have read a much shorter version and still been able to say I'd read it (even though it seems like maybe the version I read was a little more ... extensive or accurate to the original. "Original," whatever that particular historian/translator is considering the original work.).
Like the other two volumes, this set of stories had lots of scheming, mischief, weeping, fainting, slapping of one's head, betrayal, jinns, etc., many wrapped up as parables.
- My review of volume 1.
My review of volume 2.
Like the other two volumes, this set of stories had lots of scheming, mischief, weeping, fainting, slapping of one's head, betrayal, jinns, etc., many wrapped up as parables.
- My review of volume 1.
My review of volume 2.
August 12, 2025
For some reason, a nagging urge to read the entire Arabian Nights recently took hold of me, and discovering the entire set in the Hong Kong Public Library, I checked all three books out, diving deep into the wisdoms spread across roughly 2500 pages. Rather than providing analysis, instead I’ve chosen to distil many of the empowering quotes discovered while reading Volume III:
Night 907: “it is better to live with ravening lions than with a tyrannical ruler”
Night 932: “Travel, for travel has five advantages – The dispelling of care, the gain of a living, knowledge, culture and a noble companion.”
Night 988: “The man of wisdom takes nothing in hand, Until he sees the time is suitable.”
Night 991: “This world is all swagger and deceit.”
5 stars. Overall, I found Volume III an excellent end to the tale. Of course, by the time I reached the end, I was a bit tired of Scheherazade’s endless tales. Still, its poeticism and style are inimitable, the conclusion a rewarding one. While the process of reading all three volumes demanded an exertion I’m no longer used to in the reading of important texts, I remain grateful that I took the effort to discover this incredibly important work of world literature. I recommend others consider taking on this project as well.
Night 907: “it is better to live with ravening lions than with a tyrannical ruler”
Night 932: “Travel, for travel has five advantages – The dispelling of care, the gain of a living, knowledge, culture and a noble companion.”
Night 988: “The man of wisdom takes nothing in hand, Until he sees the time is suitable.”
Night 991: “This world is all swagger and deceit.”
5 stars. Overall, I found Volume III an excellent end to the tale. Of course, by the time I reached the end, I was a bit tired of Scheherazade’s endless tales. Still, its poeticism and style are inimitable, the conclusion a rewarding one. While the process of reading all three volumes demanded an exertion I’m no longer used to in the reading of important texts, I remain grateful that I took the effort to discover this incredibly important work of world literature. I recommend others consider taking on this project as well.
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September 7, 2013finally. i think it says it all that the translation of the "orphan" (no original arabic text remaining) story of aladdin that caps this work was one of my favorite sections. Galland's westernized version that so captivated Proust is more flowing and lyrical, although he strays from the source text frequently and adds moralization that is not in the original. what his version does NOT have is the gawdawful poetry found everywhere else in these volumes ... so repetitive and droning and taking up so much real estate in this massive work. i'm sure it is beautiful when heard in the original tongue, but it does not translate well at all. bits and pieces of the nights were amazing... but this would be much better appreciated in an abridged version. still, i'm a sucker for narrative, especially frame stories, and am glad to have made it through one of the oldest and best known stories in the world.
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