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The Arabian Nights #2 of 3
The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2
The most significant translation in one hundred years of one of the greatest works of world literature
From Ali Baba and the forty thieves to the voyages of Sinbad, the stories of The Arabian Nights are timeless and unforgettable. Published here in three volumes, this magnificent new edition brings these tales to life for modern readers in the first complete English translation since Richard Burton’s of the 1880s.
Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, and the next morning puts her to death. To end this brutal pattern, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king enchanting tales of mystical lands peopled with princes and hunchbacks, of the Angel of Death and magical spirits, and of jinnis trapped in rings and in lamps—a sequence of stories that will last 1,001 nights, and that will save her own life.
From Ali Baba and the forty thieves to the voyages of Sinbad, the stories of The Arabian Nights are timeless and unforgettable. Published here in three volumes, this magnificent new edition brings these tales to life for modern readers in the first complete English translation since Richard Burton’s of the 1880s.
Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, and the next morning puts her to death. To end this brutal pattern, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king enchanting tales of mystical lands peopled with princes and hunchbacks, of the Angel of Death and magical spirits, and of jinnis trapped in rings and in lamps—a sequence of stories that will last 1,001 nights, and that will save her own life.
878 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 800
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* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author
Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.
See also: Anonymous
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March 29, 2025
The Arabian tales that the great storyteller Shahrazad relates to her royal husband, night after night after night, continue in this second volume of the Penguin Classics collection of The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights. The first volume of the collection takes the reader from Night 1 through Night 294, with the un-numbered and non-canonical (but delightful) tale of “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves.” This volume conveys the reader from Night 295 through Night 719, and this part of the journey is just as magical and just as delightful.
The frame for the tales is, I trust, familiar. One Shahriyar, king of the Sasanians, was betrayed by a woman once, and therefore he has been taking revenge on all women since then by sleeping with a virgin each night and then executing her the following morning. Shahrazad, the daughter of the Sasanian vizier, has brought that cycle of blood revenge to an end by beguiling the king, every night, with stories that end every morning at a high point of tension and suspense. The king finds that he must keep Shahrazad alive and let her finish that story – but then each story leads into another story that is just as compelling. Like King Shahriyar – though without his bloody-minded predilections – we, the readers, just can’t stop listening to Shahrazad’s stories.
As one reads The Arabian Nights, one sees the emergence of certain themes that link these 1001+ tales. One of those themes is the strength and power of women, as with the story of Tawaddud, an enslaved woman who gains the attention of the renowned caliph Harun Al-Rashid – not for her beauty (considerable though it is), but for her intellect. Learning of her knowledge of a variety of subjects, Harun Al-Rashid arranges for a series of competitions of knowledge between Tawaddud and the caliph’s greatest experts in fields like law, medicine, theology, philosophy, and astronomy. In a series of dueling catechistic dialogues, from Night 436 to Night 462, Tawaddud wins every time, leading to a series of scenes like this one involving the caliph’s greatest medical expert:
The doctor, taken aback, stayed silent and made no reply. His colour changed and he hung his head for a while without speaking. “Doctor,” she said, “say something or else strip off your robe.” He got up and said, “Commander of the Faithful, I testify that this girl knows more than I do about medicine and other subjects. There is nothing I can do to overcome her.” He then took off his robe and fled. (p. 303)
Ultimately, Tawaddud, through the power of her intellect, wins her own freedom and that of the man she loves. One senses a parallel with the story of Scheherezade herself – like Tawaddud, a woman who succeeds and prevails, in a world where the odds are distinctly against women, by out-thinking and outwitting male adversaries who might never have foreseen such an outcome.
That motif of women’s strength and intelligence emerges again in the story of “an old woman known as Dalila the wily, with a daughter who was known as Zainab the trickster” (p. 801). They are unhappy because the caliph Harun al-Rashid has appointed two men as commanders of the Baghdad city watch; Dalila’s husband had held one of these prestigious positions, but he has died, leaving Dalila and Zainab with no apparent means of support. Unhappy with their life situation, Zainab “told her mother to play some trick to win them a reputation in Baghdad and get them the salary that her father had been paid”. Dalila, for her part, is described as “a mistress of wiles, deception and subterfuge. She could trick a snake out of its hole, and could tutor Iblis [the devil] in double-dealing” (pp. 801-02). And, over the period of Nights 698-708, Dalila and Zainab repeatedly show their ability to outwit wealthy and powerful make adversaries – another striking example of women making good in a male-dominated world.
The Islamic faith emphasizes the power and perfection of God, and therefore it should be no surprise that many of the stories of the 1001 Nights emphasize the limits on human power, as with one Egyptian story related on Nights 397 and 398. “A story is told that when al-Ma’mun, the son of Harun al-Rashid, came to Egypt, the guarded land, he wanted to destroy the Pyramids in order to take the treasures that they contained”. Yet “in spite of the efforts that the caliph made and the huge amounts of money that he spent in an attempt to destroy the Pyramids, he failed, and all he was able to do was to open up a small hole. It is said that in this hole he found exactly the amount of money that he had spent – neither more nor less. This astonished him, and he took the money and abandoned his intention” (p. 208).
What follows is a poetic expression of appreciation for the beauty and strength of the Pyramids – one poet asks, “Do you not see that the Pyramids have remained/Unchanged by Time’s disasters?”, while another asks, “[I]s there beneath the sky a building/To rival in its excellence the Pyramids?/Time itself fears them, while all else/Upon the face of Earth fears Time” (p. 209). The reader of the time would no doubt agree, even while recognizing that al-Ma’mun, for all the earlier faults in his thinking, ultimately did well in acknowledging the will of God and abandoning his arrogant plan to destroy the Pyramids and steal their wealth.
A comparably helpful insight into Islamic culture is provided by a prince’s response, on Night 603, to a request that he evaluate an ethical conundrum: a merchant sent his slave girl to buy a jug of milk for his guests, but a drop of snake venom fell into the milk, and the merchant and his guests died from drinking the milk. Who, the prince is asked, is at fault in this situation – The merchant? The slave girl? The guests who drank?
The prince replies that “Neither the girl nor the company were at fault. Their life spans, and what God had allotted to them by way of provision, had come to an end, and because of that it was fated that they should die” (p. 603). This invocation of Islamic values of accepting one’s fate as the will of God “astonished all who were there, and they raised their voices, invoking blessings on the prince and saying, ‘Master, there never was so good an answer as this, and you are now the most learned of the people of your age’” (p. 603). The prince responds in a humble manner that would have earned the approval of the tales’ original listeners, weaving a tale that shows how “A blind old man, a three-year-old child, and a five-year-old child know more than I do” (p. 603).
What often draws readers to The Arabian Nights is the tales’ wealth of fantastic elements, as in the story of Janshah that covers Nights 499 through 531. To call Janshah’s life story eventful would be an understatement: at different times in his adventures, he survives a fight with cannibals that can split themselves in two, he leads an army of apes against an army of ghouls, and he survives a journey through a place that is called the Valley of the Ants (and is just as dangerous as it sounds). Yet many readers have no doubt found the romantic and erotic aspects of Janshah’s story most compelling. Having been befriended by Shaikh Nasr, the king of the birds, Janshah is granted access to Shaikh Nasr’s castle, and is told not to open the door to one particular room. Naturally he opens the forbidden door, and here is what he sees, in a garden by a pavilion and a pool:
While he was sitting there, three birds looking like doves came flying through the air to settle beside the pool. After having played around for some time, they took off their feathers and emerged as three girls, beautiful as moons, without a match in the world. They then went down to swim in the pool, playing and laughing, and filling Janshah with admiration for their beauty, grace, and elegant figures, and then they came out of the water and went around looking at the garden. When Janshah saw them there, he almost went out of his mind… (p. 406)
Janshah’s witnessing of this Ovidian metamorphosis leads to a passionate love that he shares with one Shamsa, the youngest and most beautiful of this sisterhood of bird-women. At the same time, there are many obstacles that must be surmounted – some of them with the aid of a djinn or genie – before Janshah and Shamsa can share a life together.
The seven voyages of Sindbad the Sailor are part of this volume of The 1001 Nights, and are recounted on Nights 536 through 566. The stories follow an interesting and internally consistent cycle that situates them in the mercantile society within which they were written. Invariably, Sindbad grows restless at home, and longs for a sea voyage on which he can travel forth, find adventure, and grow rich through successful trading. Each time, the voyage goes drastically wrong, leaving Sindbad alone and in despair, until he decides to trust in God and do what he can to save himself.
The sixth voyage of Sindbad is characteristic in that regard. Sindbad takes trade goods from his home in Baghdad to Basra, and then commissions a ship for a sea voyage. But the captain of the ship loses his way, the winds and waves rise up, and the ship wrecks on a remote shoreline. It turns out that the island abounds in precious stones and other treasures – quite a potential windfall for Sindbad, if he is able to return to civilization – but there is nothing to eat. Those few survivors who got to shore with Sindbad weaken, and “Within a short time every one of my friends and companions had died…leaving me alone on the island” (pp. 499-500).
Seeing that there is a swiftly flowing stream, Sindbad builds himself a raft, reasoning that it is at least possible that the stream might take him someplace where there will be food, shelter, and help. As he prepares to launch himself and his makeshift raft into the unknown, Sindbad quotes a poet’s words that combine hope for the future with acceptance of one’s fate:
Do not let the blows of fate concern you;
Every misfortune will reach its end.
Whoever is fated to die in a certain land
Will die in no other place than that.
Send out no messenger on a grave matter;
The soul’s one sincere advisor is itself. (p. 501)
And on this voyage, just as on the other six, Sindbad’s combining of ingenuity and determination with acceptance of God’s will leads to success. Not only does he survive his adventures each time, but he returns home to Baghdad wealthier and more socially prominent than ever before.
The epic story of the virtuous King Gharib and his treacherous brother ‘Ajib goes all the way from Night 624 to Night 680. Gharib emerges as the model Muslim hero – courageous in battle, concerned for the welfare of the fighting men under his command, faithful to the teachings of Islam. Repeatedly, Gharib defeats enemies in honourable battle – demons as well as humans – and then sees them convert willingly to the Islamic faith. ‘Ajib meanwhile engages in one vile bit of double-dealing after another, and consistently aligns himself against the Muslim forces.
One battle, between Gharib’s Muslim forces and an infidel force led by one al-Jaland, a pagan sun-worshipper who has allied with ‘Ajib, shows the moral texture of the two sides. When Gharib arrives to lead the Muslim forces in person, “the Muslims were delighted…and they kissed the ground before him in greeting as they circled around him. He returned their greeting cheerfully, delighted at their safety” (p. 701). Gharib then sends al-Jaland a communication, offering him the chance to surrender and accept Islam: “You must know that the religion of Abraham, the Friend of God, is the one true religion and if you accept it you will save yourself from the cutting swords and, in the world to come, from the torment of hellfire. If you refuse, you will be destroyed, your lands ravaged, and all traces of you wiped away. Send me the dog ‘Ajib so that I may avenge my father and mother” (pp. 701-02).
Al-Jaland’s response shows that ‘Ajib remains treacherous to ally and adversary alike – “Tell your master that ‘Ajib has fled with his people and we don’t know where he has gone” – and in spite of ‘Ajib’s treachery, al-Jaland makes clear that he himself is not ready to give up his sun-worshipping ways: “[A]s for me, I shall not abandon my religion; tomorrow we shall meet in battle, and the sun will grant us victory” (p. 703). An epic battle ensues, and no reader will be surprised to hear that the Muslims soundly defeat the sun-worshippers.
Now that I am about 72 percent of the way through The Arabian Nights, having read the tales from 719 out of 1001 nights, I look forward to reading the rest of these enthralling tales that teach the reader about classical Arabian culture as surely as they relate rich, sensual, and suspenseful tales of magic and mystery.
The frame for the tales is, I trust, familiar. One Shahriyar, king of the Sasanians, was betrayed by a woman once, and therefore he has been taking revenge on all women since then by sleeping with a virgin each night and then executing her the following morning. Shahrazad, the daughter of the Sasanian vizier, has brought that cycle of blood revenge to an end by beguiling the king, every night, with stories that end every morning at a high point of tension and suspense. The king finds that he must keep Shahrazad alive and let her finish that story – but then each story leads into another story that is just as compelling. Like King Shahriyar – though without his bloody-minded predilections – we, the readers, just can’t stop listening to Shahrazad’s stories.
As one reads The Arabian Nights, one sees the emergence of certain themes that link these 1001+ tales. One of those themes is the strength and power of women, as with the story of Tawaddud, an enslaved woman who gains the attention of the renowned caliph Harun Al-Rashid – not for her beauty (considerable though it is), but for her intellect. Learning of her knowledge of a variety of subjects, Harun Al-Rashid arranges for a series of competitions of knowledge between Tawaddud and the caliph’s greatest experts in fields like law, medicine, theology, philosophy, and astronomy. In a series of dueling catechistic dialogues, from Night 436 to Night 462, Tawaddud wins every time, leading to a series of scenes like this one involving the caliph’s greatest medical expert:
The doctor, taken aback, stayed silent and made no reply. His colour changed and he hung his head for a while without speaking. “Doctor,” she said, “say something or else strip off your robe.” He got up and said, “Commander of the Faithful, I testify that this girl knows more than I do about medicine and other subjects. There is nothing I can do to overcome her.” He then took off his robe and fled. (p. 303)
Ultimately, Tawaddud, through the power of her intellect, wins her own freedom and that of the man she loves. One senses a parallel with the story of Scheherezade herself – like Tawaddud, a woman who succeeds and prevails, in a world where the odds are distinctly against women, by out-thinking and outwitting male adversaries who might never have foreseen such an outcome.
That motif of women’s strength and intelligence emerges again in the story of “an old woman known as Dalila the wily, with a daughter who was known as Zainab the trickster” (p. 801). They are unhappy because the caliph Harun al-Rashid has appointed two men as commanders of the Baghdad city watch; Dalila’s husband had held one of these prestigious positions, but he has died, leaving Dalila and Zainab with no apparent means of support. Unhappy with their life situation, Zainab “told her mother to play some trick to win them a reputation in Baghdad and get them the salary that her father had been paid”. Dalila, for her part, is described as “a mistress of wiles, deception and subterfuge. She could trick a snake out of its hole, and could tutor Iblis [the devil] in double-dealing” (pp. 801-02). And, over the period of Nights 698-708, Dalila and Zainab repeatedly show their ability to outwit wealthy and powerful make adversaries – another striking example of women making good in a male-dominated world.
The Islamic faith emphasizes the power and perfection of God, and therefore it should be no surprise that many of the stories of the 1001 Nights emphasize the limits on human power, as with one Egyptian story related on Nights 397 and 398. “A story is told that when al-Ma’mun, the son of Harun al-Rashid, came to Egypt, the guarded land, he wanted to destroy the Pyramids in order to take the treasures that they contained”. Yet “in spite of the efforts that the caliph made and the huge amounts of money that he spent in an attempt to destroy the Pyramids, he failed, and all he was able to do was to open up a small hole. It is said that in this hole he found exactly the amount of money that he had spent – neither more nor less. This astonished him, and he took the money and abandoned his intention” (p. 208).
What follows is a poetic expression of appreciation for the beauty and strength of the Pyramids – one poet asks, “Do you not see that the Pyramids have remained/Unchanged by Time’s disasters?”, while another asks, “[I]s there beneath the sky a building/To rival in its excellence the Pyramids?/Time itself fears them, while all else/Upon the face of Earth fears Time” (p. 209). The reader of the time would no doubt agree, even while recognizing that al-Ma’mun, for all the earlier faults in his thinking, ultimately did well in acknowledging the will of God and abandoning his arrogant plan to destroy the Pyramids and steal their wealth.
A comparably helpful insight into Islamic culture is provided by a prince’s response, on Night 603, to a request that he evaluate an ethical conundrum: a merchant sent his slave girl to buy a jug of milk for his guests, but a drop of snake venom fell into the milk, and the merchant and his guests died from drinking the milk. Who, the prince is asked, is at fault in this situation – The merchant? The slave girl? The guests who drank?
The prince replies that “Neither the girl nor the company were at fault. Their life spans, and what God had allotted to them by way of provision, had come to an end, and because of that it was fated that they should die” (p. 603). This invocation of Islamic values of accepting one’s fate as the will of God “astonished all who were there, and they raised their voices, invoking blessings on the prince and saying, ‘Master, there never was so good an answer as this, and you are now the most learned of the people of your age’” (p. 603). The prince responds in a humble manner that would have earned the approval of the tales’ original listeners, weaving a tale that shows how “A blind old man, a three-year-old child, and a five-year-old child know more than I do” (p. 603).
What often draws readers to The Arabian Nights is the tales’ wealth of fantastic elements, as in the story of Janshah that covers Nights 499 through 531. To call Janshah’s life story eventful would be an understatement: at different times in his adventures, he survives a fight with cannibals that can split themselves in two, he leads an army of apes against an army of ghouls, and he survives a journey through a place that is called the Valley of the Ants (and is just as dangerous as it sounds). Yet many readers have no doubt found the romantic and erotic aspects of Janshah’s story most compelling. Having been befriended by Shaikh Nasr, the king of the birds, Janshah is granted access to Shaikh Nasr’s castle, and is told not to open the door to one particular room. Naturally he opens the forbidden door, and here is what he sees, in a garden by a pavilion and a pool:
While he was sitting there, three birds looking like doves came flying through the air to settle beside the pool. After having played around for some time, they took off their feathers and emerged as three girls, beautiful as moons, without a match in the world. They then went down to swim in the pool, playing and laughing, and filling Janshah with admiration for their beauty, grace, and elegant figures, and then they came out of the water and went around looking at the garden. When Janshah saw them there, he almost went out of his mind… (p. 406)
Janshah’s witnessing of this Ovidian metamorphosis leads to a passionate love that he shares with one Shamsa, the youngest and most beautiful of this sisterhood of bird-women. At the same time, there are many obstacles that must be surmounted – some of them with the aid of a djinn or genie – before Janshah and Shamsa can share a life together.
The seven voyages of Sindbad the Sailor are part of this volume of The 1001 Nights, and are recounted on Nights 536 through 566. The stories follow an interesting and internally consistent cycle that situates them in the mercantile society within which they were written. Invariably, Sindbad grows restless at home, and longs for a sea voyage on which he can travel forth, find adventure, and grow rich through successful trading. Each time, the voyage goes drastically wrong, leaving Sindbad alone and in despair, until he decides to trust in God and do what he can to save himself.
The sixth voyage of Sindbad is characteristic in that regard. Sindbad takes trade goods from his home in Baghdad to Basra, and then commissions a ship for a sea voyage. But the captain of the ship loses his way, the winds and waves rise up, and the ship wrecks on a remote shoreline. It turns out that the island abounds in precious stones and other treasures – quite a potential windfall for Sindbad, if he is able to return to civilization – but there is nothing to eat. Those few survivors who got to shore with Sindbad weaken, and “Within a short time every one of my friends and companions had died…leaving me alone on the island” (pp. 499-500).
Seeing that there is a swiftly flowing stream, Sindbad builds himself a raft, reasoning that it is at least possible that the stream might take him someplace where there will be food, shelter, and help. As he prepares to launch himself and his makeshift raft into the unknown, Sindbad quotes a poet’s words that combine hope for the future with acceptance of one’s fate:
Do not let the blows of fate concern you;
Every misfortune will reach its end.
Whoever is fated to die in a certain land
Will die in no other place than that.
Send out no messenger on a grave matter;
The soul’s one sincere advisor is itself. (p. 501)
And on this voyage, just as on the other six, Sindbad’s combining of ingenuity and determination with acceptance of God’s will leads to success. Not only does he survive his adventures each time, but he returns home to Baghdad wealthier and more socially prominent than ever before.
The epic story of the virtuous King Gharib and his treacherous brother ‘Ajib goes all the way from Night 624 to Night 680. Gharib emerges as the model Muslim hero – courageous in battle, concerned for the welfare of the fighting men under his command, faithful to the teachings of Islam. Repeatedly, Gharib defeats enemies in honourable battle – demons as well as humans – and then sees them convert willingly to the Islamic faith. ‘Ajib meanwhile engages in one vile bit of double-dealing after another, and consistently aligns himself against the Muslim forces.
One battle, between Gharib’s Muslim forces and an infidel force led by one al-Jaland, a pagan sun-worshipper who has allied with ‘Ajib, shows the moral texture of the two sides. When Gharib arrives to lead the Muslim forces in person, “the Muslims were delighted…and they kissed the ground before him in greeting as they circled around him. He returned their greeting cheerfully, delighted at their safety” (p. 701). Gharib then sends al-Jaland a communication, offering him the chance to surrender and accept Islam: “You must know that the religion of Abraham, the Friend of God, is the one true religion and if you accept it you will save yourself from the cutting swords and, in the world to come, from the torment of hellfire. If you refuse, you will be destroyed, your lands ravaged, and all traces of you wiped away. Send me the dog ‘Ajib so that I may avenge my father and mother” (pp. 701-02).
Al-Jaland’s response shows that ‘Ajib remains treacherous to ally and adversary alike – “Tell your master that ‘Ajib has fled with his people and we don’t know where he has gone” – and in spite of ‘Ajib’s treachery, al-Jaland makes clear that he himself is not ready to give up his sun-worshipping ways: “[A]s for me, I shall not abandon my religion; tomorrow we shall meet in battle, and the sun will grant us victory” (p. 703). An epic battle ensues, and no reader will be surprised to hear that the Muslims soundly defeat the sun-worshippers.
Now that I am about 72 percent of the way through The Arabian Nights, having read the tales from 719 out of 1001 nights, I look forward to reading the rest of these enthralling tales that teach the reader about classical Arabian culture as surely as they relate rich, sensual, and suspenseful tales of magic and mystery.
March 20, 2020
Editorial Note
Introduction, by Robert Irwin
--The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2: Nights 295 to 719
Glossary
Maps
Index of Nights and Stories
Introduction, by Robert Irwin
--The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, Volume 2: Nights 295 to 719
Glossary
Maps
Index of Nights and Stories
July 2, 2014
Volume 2 of The Arabian Nights begins with night 295 of tales and goes through night 719. The stories at the beginning of the book are all very short, some only around a page or two long, and it wasn't until about halfway through the book that the tales grew into longer epics once again, including the seven voyages of Sindbad. There's a lot of risk of tedium when you binge read these books like I'm doing. The shorter tales all stacked on top of each other begin to blur together and longer tales can grow to such epic lengths as to be too long, and long or short there are repeated kinds of stories, themes, and phrases throughout. But if I had not read these books in the rapid way I'm going, I'm not sure that I would have figured out the genius of Shahrazad.
Shahrazad is Brilliant
At the beginning of The Arabian Nights, readers are introduced to Shahrazad and King Shahriyar. Following a betrayal by his wife, the king has been marrying young women and executing them the morning after consummating the marriage. Shahrazad agrees to marry Shahriyar in order to save other women from a similar fate and preserves her own life by telling tales, stopping each night so that the king will have to keep her alive if he wants to learn the ending. After a few nights, her story fades into the background of the tales, the only reminder that she is the tale-spinner being a single sentence: "Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say, and then when it was the one hundred and fifteenth night, she continued."
And yet, Shahrazad's own story is ever present and the reader can see this in the arc of the stories she chooses to tell. Her selection of stories is very methodological and careful, based on her audience and what will mostly keep him interested and her alive.
At the beginning of The Arabian Nights, when her life is at the greatest risk, she has to catch his attention and speak to his sympathies. So, she tells stories involving men betrayed by women and how they get retribution. With the king in an 'all women are evil, so I have to kill them after marrying them" mentality, these stories are likely to grab his interest and keep it.
As she weaves story after story, she begins to include stories of humor and adventure, entertaining tales and epic sagas of brothers and kings going to war. These tales focus less on the "women are root of evil" theme and more on the daring deeds of men. Some of these stories even feature good women as companions to the heroes. By this point, she would have his interest fully engaged; the king is more wrapped up in the stories than in his need for revenge.
At which point, Shahrazad switched tone again. The tales presented at the beginning of Volume 2 are religious or morality tales. It seems clear to me that now that Shahrazad has King Shahriyar's trust and complete attention, she feels safe enough to present him with a few life lessons. These tales include:
death comes to a wealthy, squandering man begs for more time to get his affairs in order, but death gives him none; meanwhile the noble, generous man meets death prepared
virtuous women who refuse to be seduced by men choose death in order to remain holy in the eyes of God
good kings who treat their people well and are remembered fondly by their people
Shahrazad seems to be guiding King Shahriyar toward a new perspectives. First, in proper behavior for Kings as with the common man, there are rules for treatment of others. And second, that women can be as noble and virtuous as men, a clear change from the stories she began with.
Following these morality and religious tales, the stories became more mixed with adventure, religion, romance, and so forth. I'm curious to see if the tales in Volume 3 reflect other levels of Shahrazad's personal story arc.
And because it ran really long, The rest of my observations, awesome female characters, funniest moment, and repeated phrases are on my blog.
Shahrazad is Brilliant
At the beginning of The Arabian Nights, readers are introduced to Shahrazad and King Shahriyar. Following a betrayal by his wife, the king has been marrying young women and executing them the morning after consummating the marriage. Shahrazad agrees to marry Shahriyar in order to save other women from a similar fate and preserves her own life by telling tales, stopping each night so that the king will have to keep her alive if he wants to learn the ending. After a few nights, her story fades into the background of the tales, the only reminder that she is the tale-spinner being a single sentence: "Morning now dawned and Shahrazad broke off from what she had been allowed to say, and then when it was the one hundred and fifteenth night, she continued."
And yet, Shahrazad's own story is ever present and the reader can see this in the arc of the stories she chooses to tell. Her selection of stories is very methodological and careful, based on her audience and what will mostly keep him interested and her alive.
At the beginning of The Arabian Nights, when her life is at the greatest risk, she has to catch his attention and speak to his sympathies. So, she tells stories involving men betrayed by women and how they get retribution. With the king in an 'all women are evil, so I have to kill them after marrying them" mentality, these stories are likely to grab his interest and keep it.
As she weaves story after story, she begins to include stories of humor and adventure, entertaining tales and epic sagas of brothers and kings going to war. These tales focus less on the "women are root of evil" theme and more on the daring deeds of men. Some of these stories even feature good women as companions to the heroes. By this point, she would have his interest fully engaged; the king is more wrapped up in the stories than in his need for revenge.
At which point, Shahrazad switched tone again. The tales presented at the beginning of Volume 2 are religious or morality tales. It seems clear to me that now that Shahrazad has King Shahriyar's trust and complete attention, she feels safe enough to present him with a few life lessons. These tales include:
death comes to a wealthy, squandering man begs for more time to get his affairs in order, but death gives him none; meanwhile the noble, generous man meets death prepared
virtuous women who refuse to be seduced by men choose death in order to remain holy in the eyes of God
good kings who treat their people well and are remembered fondly by their people
Shahrazad seems to be guiding King Shahriyar toward a new perspectives. First, in proper behavior for Kings as with the common man, there are rules for treatment of others. And second, that women can be as noble and virtuous as men, a clear change from the stories she began with.
Following these morality and religious tales, the stories became more mixed with adventure, religion, romance, and so forth. I'm curious to see if the tales in Volume 3 reflect other levels of Shahrazad's personal story arc.
And because it ran really long, The rest of my observations, awesome female characters, funniest moment, and repeated phrases are on my blog.
January 22, 2020
Normaal gezien lees ik zonder twijfelen de onverkorte versie van een boek, want zo heeft de auteur het bedoeld. Maar hier had ik er beter wat langer over nagedacht: hier is geen auteur die iets bedoeld heeft, dit zijn mondelinge verhalen die op schrift zijn gezet. En ook al zitten hier heerlijke verhalen tussen, vol fantasie en verbeelding, er zijn ook veel saaie stukken die bovendien heel vaak herhaald worden in een opeenvolging van verhaaltjes die dan steeds een variatie zijn op hetzelfde thema, vermoedelijk omdat ze didactisch bedoeld zijn. In dit tweede deel, veel meer dan in het eerste deel, zit de balans inspanning-resultaat niet zo goed.
Uiteraard ben ik blij dat ik het verhaal van Sindbad gelezen heb, en nog enkele andere leuke verhalen die voorkomen in dit boek. Maar moet ik daarvoor een boek van bijna 900 pagina’s lezen? Het antwoord is simpel genoeg.
Had ik dus geweten wat ik nu wist, dan had ik een mooie verkorte versie met de beste verhalen van 1001 nachten gelezen. Ik zou er veel meer van genieten, ik zou perfect een idee hebben van wat deze verhalen inhouden, én ik zou er minder tijd in moeten steken.
Uiteraard ben ik koppig, ik heb tenslotte al 2 van de 3 delen gelezen, en ga ik verder met het derde deel. Volgens andere reviews op Goodreads zit de balans in dat deel het best. Ik ben benieuwd.
Uiteraard ben ik blij dat ik het verhaal van Sindbad gelezen heb, en nog enkele andere leuke verhalen die voorkomen in dit boek. Maar moet ik daarvoor een boek van bijna 900 pagina’s lezen? Het antwoord is simpel genoeg.
Had ik dus geweten wat ik nu wist, dan had ik een mooie verkorte versie met de beste verhalen van 1001 nachten gelezen. Ik zou er veel meer van genieten, ik zou perfect een idee hebben van wat deze verhalen inhouden, én ik zou er minder tijd in moeten steken.
Uiteraard ben ik koppig, ik heb tenslotte al 2 van de 3 delen gelezen, en ga ik verder met het derde deel. Volgens andere reviews op Goodreads zit de balans in dat deel het best. Ik ben benieuwd.
July 19, 2019
I only read the introduction by Robert Irwin in this book. It is extremely useful as a summarized history of the manuscripts and translations of this collection of stories.
May 21, 2023
1001 Night, Volume 2
Continuamos con las historias
Me gustaron mucho las siguientes:
- La historia de Ali Shar y Zumurrud, que es genial mas que nada por Zumurrud que es la que logra las cosas, porque Ali inicia derrochando su herencia
- La del príncipe y el caballito volador
- La de Uns al wujud y Al-Ward, y sus artos poemas y canciones
- La de la esclava Tawaddud y los muchos sabios que se quedan sin túnicas, aunque vaya premio le dan por vencerlos.
- La de Hasib y la reina serpiente
- Obviamente la de Sinbad es muy divertida
- La de Judar y sus hermanos, vaya paciencia la de Judar, pero también que buenas aventuras tuvo por eso.
- La de Gharib y Ajib, harta acción, peleas y aventuras.
- La de Dalila, esa señora con sus trampas y engaños es la mejor, y la continuación con Ali Al-Zaibaq y la hija de Dalila.
También hay algunas historias un tanto raras
- Como la de la chica y el oso que descubre el carnicero. Y luego otra con chango
- Abu Nuwas y su gusto por jovencitos, y otra después donde untipo y una señora discuten que si es mejor novio o novia
- La del rey que se la pasa entre si quiere o no matar a su hijo según el consejo de su concubina o visires
En fin, ahí vamos avanzando y ahora a leer el tercer tomo
4.5 stars
Continuamos con las historias
Me gustaron mucho las siguientes:
- La historia de Ali Shar y Zumurrud, que es genial mas que nada por Zumurrud que es la que logra las cosas, porque Ali inicia derrochando su herencia
- La del príncipe y el caballito volador
- La de Uns al wujud y Al-Ward, y sus artos poemas y canciones
- La de la esclava Tawaddud y los muchos sabios que se quedan sin túnicas, aunque vaya premio le dan por vencerlos.
- La de Hasib y la reina serpiente
- Obviamente la de Sinbad es muy divertida
- La de Judar y sus hermanos, vaya paciencia la de Judar, pero también que buenas aventuras tuvo por eso.
- La de Gharib y Ajib, harta acción, peleas y aventuras.
- La de Dalila, esa señora con sus trampas y engaños es la mejor, y la continuación con Ali Al-Zaibaq y la hija de Dalila.
También hay algunas historias un tanto raras
- Como la de la chica y el oso que descubre el carnicero. Y luego otra con chango
- Abu Nuwas y su gusto por jovencitos, y otra después donde untipo y una señora discuten que si es mejor novio o novia
- La del rey que se la pasa entre si quiere o no matar a su hijo según el consejo de su concubina o visires
En fin, ahí vamos avanzando y ahora a leer el tercer tomo
4.5 stars
Read
September 28, 2020The middle section of The Nights and a lot more boring and repetitive than the first volume. Full review to come when I finish all three volumes + the unabridged Persian edition.
June 19, 2022
A couple of 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. Be warned, though. The unabridged version runs to three volumes, each of around 900 closely printed pages. Volume II covers nights 295 to 719 and includes the tale of Sindbad and his seven voyages. There is also a useful introduction describing the various European translations of the text over the last four hundred years, as well as a glossary and some maps of Baghdad and Cairo.
If you think that Shahrazad tells 1001 separate tales, you’ve been led astray. What you get here are a serious of tales within tales within tales. Some of these inter-linked tales last for up to forty or fifty nights in some cases. If that sounds a bit daunting, it isn’t. You soon get the hang of it. What happens is that in many of the tales a character will start telling a tale about someone else, and on it goes. There is a useful index at the end showing how the tales are linked. Splitting these tales into “nights” is a handy device because it splits the tales into bite-size chunks. Some “nights” are shorter than others – barely a page in some cases. Either it’s summer or Shahrazad and her husband were otherwise engaged for part of the night. The “nights” are also a reminder that Shahrazad’s life is on a knife edge. If she fails to entertain the tyrannical King Shahriyar sufficiently to make him want her to continue her story-telling the following night, she faces the chop. Literally. Fortunately, she is a narrator of genius and the demanding king and demanding reader are equally entertained.
One observation (assuming that this is an accurate translation): blackness is frequently associated with wickedness and ugliness. By contrast, beautiful characters are not just white. They have silver skin and are compared to the moon. Male and female beauty are often described using identical terms. At times beautiful men have the same physical characteristics as beautiful women. There is a strong homoerotic element in some stories with some male characters either openly homosexual or seemingly unaware of their homosexuality as they feel a strong attraction for a beautiful young man. There is a lot of wine drinking. There is an obsession with wealth and palaces and political power and signs of early capitalism with lots of trading and wealth acquisition going on. There are women who seem to be living independently, often with vast wealth and making their own decisions about marriage. There are women who are highly intelligent and inventive, especially the trickster Dalila the Wily (nights 698 to 708). Amazing how she gets away with it.
Highly entertaining and I am looking forward to reading Volume III.
If you think that Shahrazad tells 1001 separate tales, you’ve been led astray. What you get here are a serious of tales within tales within tales. Some of these inter-linked tales last for up to forty or fifty nights in some cases. If that sounds a bit daunting, it isn’t. You soon get the hang of it. What happens is that in many of the tales a character will start telling a tale about someone else, and on it goes. There is a useful index at the end showing how the tales are linked. Splitting these tales into “nights” is a handy device because it splits the tales into bite-size chunks. Some “nights” are shorter than others – barely a page in some cases. Either it’s summer or Shahrazad and her husband were otherwise engaged for part of the night. The “nights” are also a reminder that Shahrazad’s life is on a knife edge. If she fails to entertain the tyrannical King Shahriyar sufficiently to make him want her to continue her story-telling the following night, she faces the chop. Literally. Fortunately, she is a narrator of genius and the demanding king and demanding reader are equally entertained.
One observation (assuming that this is an accurate translation): blackness is frequently associated with wickedness and ugliness. By contrast, beautiful characters are not just white. They have silver skin and are compared to the moon. Male and female beauty are often described using identical terms. At times beautiful men have the same physical characteristics as beautiful women. There is a strong homoerotic element in some stories with some male characters either openly homosexual or seemingly unaware of their homosexuality as they feel a strong attraction for a beautiful young man. There is a lot of wine drinking. There is an obsession with wealth and palaces and political power and signs of early capitalism with lots of trading and wealth acquisition going on. There are women who seem to be living independently, often with vast wealth and making their own decisions about marriage. There are women who are highly intelligent and inventive, especially the trickster Dalila the Wily (nights 698 to 708). Amazing how she gets away with it.
Highly entertaining and I am looking forward to reading Volume III.
October 11, 2024
With 1,001 nights not all of them can be winners and that surely shows in this 2nd volume. The stories in here are more stripped down and less nuanced than the stories in the first volume. There is also a repeating theme of merchant redemption and lovers being separated and then reuniting. After reading through these nights, I can say with confidence that unless you're a completist, go with an abridged version of the Arabian Nights. You won't miss any of the entertaining stories and you'll skip all of the Islamic heavy stories that were intended to teach religious lessons. Also, the Sindbad stories are completely overrated and nobody should travel with Sindbad unless they have a death wish.
November 13, 2012
Will stick to the reviews I posted on volume one. The stories just kept coming and was becoming tedious until I reached the story of Sinbad!!
August 30, 2025
Never meet your heroes, and never read the books that inspired the very best Disney cartoons. If you think Scar was a villain, best don’t Google what male lions do when they seize control of a new pride. From the very first page of The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights, I realised that this was no kids' rodeo. The second volume plots a well-trodden path and suffers little in the process.
Once upon a time, a cuckolded king became Bluebeard (or Henry VIII) to a series of unfortunate, nameless brides. The sole survivor — so far — has been Shahrazad, who has had to barter her life in exchange for a story every night. We’re about 700 nights in at this point, and all the stories feature a similar rapid pace. Sinbad finally shows up — far less cool than his anime counterpart.
The stories themselves are rarely boring. But at this point, they’re becoming more predictable. Part of the reason is that this volume is more interested in Islamic catechism than adventure. The tales originated from oral Indian and Persian sources. The tension between the polytheist sensualism of its source material and the monotheist asceticism of its writers had always loomed large in the text. In this volume, the latter quality starts to prevail; parts of the text swerve needlessly towards chauvinism.
I shan’t claim that The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights is an unmissable literary masterpiece. However, I believe that its true value is anthropological and didactic. The Indian Ocean was the central hub of global trade before the Columbian Exchange and post-Marshall Plan rise of the dollar trading regime. The Islamic polities also interacted across the tropics and temperate regions with Africans, Asians and Europeans. In their heartlands, they warred with competing monotheisms and against declining polytheist States in the shadows of whose achievements they, nonetheless, dwelt.
The stories of The Arabian Nights open an unvarnished window into the mindsets of the men of that era. In the process, it might lead us to question some of the things we take for granted due to our blindness to other perspectives.
The stories are good, and the translating prowess of the Lyons duo makes the prose sparkle. There are worse ways to spend your time.
Once upon a time, a cuckolded king became Bluebeard (or Henry VIII) to a series of unfortunate, nameless brides. The sole survivor — so far — has been Shahrazad, who has had to barter her life in exchange for a story every night. We’re about 700 nights in at this point, and all the stories feature a similar rapid pace. Sinbad finally shows up — far less cool than his anime counterpart.
The stories themselves are rarely boring. But at this point, they’re becoming more predictable. Part of the reason is that this volume is more interested in Islamic catechism than adventure. The tales originated from oral Indian and Persian sources. The tension between the polytheist sensualism of its source material and the monotheist asceticism of its writers had always loomed large in the text. In this volume, the latter quality starts to prevail; parts of the text swerve needlessly towards chauvinism.
I shan’t claim that The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1001 Nights is an unmissable literary masterpiece. However, I believe that its true value is anthropological and didactic. The Indian Ocean was the central hub of global trade before the Columbian Exchange and post-Marshall Plan rise of the dollar trading regime. The Islamic polities also interacted across the tropics and temperate regions with Africans, Asians and Europeans. In their heartlands, they warred with competing monotheisms and against declining polytheist States in the shadows of whose achievements they, nonetheless, dwelt.
The stories of The Arabian Nights open an unvarnished window into the mindsets of the men of that era. In the process, it might lead us to question some of the things we take for granted due to our blindness to other perspectives.
The stories are good, and the translating prowess of the Lyons duo makes the prose sparkle. There are worse ways to spend your time.
December 29, 2021
This volume opened with quite a long stretch of boring tales for me. Then a long, detailed outline of Islam. Once we hit the Janshah story it picks up. Then we get the epic Sindbad tale, which was a lot of fun! Following that, we get another fun extended story of The City of Brass. This middle section of this volume was really fun and exciting - the very stuff that makes the Arabian Nights so enticing. However, this middle bit is book-ended by many throw away quick moral lesson tales and boring exposition on Islam or extended battle sequences to crush the infidels, etc… which dropped the rating down for me. I do still wish they made this an epic modern television show!
September 1, 2019
I can't find the edition of Arabian Nights that I actually read... The one I read doesn't have a barcode and is part of the best loved classics series, so I'm tagging this edition. It has a blue cover, 297pgs. The stories included are: The History of Codad and His Brothers and of the Princess Deryabar, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Sinbad the Sailor, Alladin and the Wonderful Lamp, the story of the Three Calenders, the story of the King of the Ebony Isles, the story of Prince Assad and the Fairy Perie Nashara, the story of Baba Abdalla, and the story of Ganem the Slave of Love.
September 19, 2021
read it in school age ten years m/l. it was great! still remember it fondly. a much sanitised version i'm sure but very enjoyable, was reading nordic tales, Homer, Fennimore Cooper, Robin Hood, Long John Silver and about to dive into the Three Musketeers, Moby Dick, Two Years before the Mast, Sharks and |Little Fishes, accounts of the conquistodors, the Russians , Steinbeck, Hemmingway were to follow. Wish I still had these old companions on my shelves today. All much too tame and unsophisticated for today's preteens?
November 21, 2023
The stories are even harder to parse and remember now. Triple nested epics told by ancient snake queens to the man she knows has been prophesied to break his oath to never set foot in a bath, thus causing her death. Doomed voyage after doomed voyage. Wars fought by jinn. Crossdressings. Women taking men’s clothes by scholarship and wit. Endless horniness and conflicts lasting generations. To hear is to obey. At one point, the inciting incident of all these stories reappears in another form, threatening to begin everything all over again, a near plummet into an abyss within itself.
April 28, 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 to 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 to 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.
October 15, 2019
Scherezade's getting better with time!
April 29, 2021
Another enjoyable volume of this story.
September 19, 2021
Tiền, ngoại tình, các thần, vua, hoàng hậu… lặp lại n lần 🙄
February 26, 2022
Such fun stories.
December 3, 2023
5 star translation, average of 4 for the stories.
April 19, 2024
Total waste of time.
September 16, 2025
save your energies for something better.
November 24, 2025
There are so many tales that shaped Disney and our childhood ....but I'm definitely glad they changed some ..."details" :)
March 16, 2015
This middle volume of the massive Arabian Nights collection is a very mixed bag.
Right away, I need to say that I find the translation excellent. I don't know Arabic or any of the other source languages, but this version by Lyons is extremely easy for modern readers, and it conveys the wonder and humor in what seem to be all of the right places. This is no small feat for a translation of a text that is over 1,100 years old.
The highlights in these stories come mostly in the middle sections. There are several very long, epic travels by a few Gulliver-type characters who encounter no end of fantastic lands, magical items, and terrifying beasts. One such is the world famous Sindbad, but his is not nearly as entertaining as a few of the characters who precede him. These sections carried this collection for me.
Many of the Tales, though, I found to be laborious to read. One 40-plus page section is basically a didactic piece on the minutiae of Islamic laws, presented in a "Will Hunting" genius-versus-teachers set-up. It's dry reading to say the least. The last 100 or so pages also drag, as we follow a shifting cast of underhanded tricksters who try to constantly one-up each other. This may sound fun, but it's far duller than you would hope. There are several other passage which, due to their length, can test one's patience.
I hope the third and final volume of the set is a bit more lively. This one had more duds than the first volume.
Right away, I need to say that I find the translation excellent. I don't know Arabic or any of the other source languages, but this version by Lyons is extremely easy for modern readers, and it conveys the wonder and humor in what seem to be all of the right places. This is no small feat for a translation of a text that is over 1,100 years old.
The highlights in these stories come mostly in the middle sections. There are several very long, epic travels by a few Gulliver-type characters who encounter no end of fantastic lands, magical items, and terrifying beasts. One such is the world famous Sindbad, but his is not nearly as entertaining as a few of the characters who precede him. These sections carried this collection for me.
Many of the Tales, though, I found to be laborious to read. One 40-plus page section is basically a didactic piece on the minutiae of Islamic laws, presented in a "Will Hunting" genius-versus-teachers set-up. It's dry reading to say the least. The last 100 or so pages also drag, as we follow a shifting cast of underhanded tricksters who try to constantly one-up each other. This may sound fun, but it's far duller than you would hope. There are several other passage which, due to their length, can test one's patience.
I hope the third and final volume of the set is a bit more lively. This one had more duds than the first volume.
January 2, 2015
This book was split up into individual nights which made it easier to pick up and put down, reading sections in small chunks, which is all I could manage at a time without being a bit bored with the repetitiveness of the stories. Some of the stories lasted over a few nights while others only the one. It gives and interesting insight into past Arabic cultures, punishments etc. and the opulence of the time, but many of the stories followed the same format off finding something, being punished and coming under some piece of magic, before finding happiness or revenge and I really had to push myself to complete the volume. I still have volume 3 to get through, and if it wasn't part of the challenge I had set myself to read 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die I wouldn't have read this volume or waiting to plough through volume 3.
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 II:
Night 308: “To meet others brings you nothing but senseless babble. Meet only a few, except to acquire knowledge or to better yourself.”
Night 332: “…forgiveness is one of the qualities of the noble.”
Night 535: “Whoever digs a pit for his brother will fall into it.”
Night 561: “The soul’s one sincere advisor is itself.”
4 stars. I found Volume II the weakest of the three. In my opinion, many of the tales featuring the maxim that women are not to be trusted no longer maintains resonance within the modern age. Still, I’m glad I read it.
Night 308: “To meet others brings you nothing but senseless babble. Meet only a few, except to acquire knowledge or to better yourself.”
Night 332: “…forgiveness is one of the qualities of the noble.”
Night 535: “Whoever digs a pit for his brother will fall into it.”
Night 561: “The soul’s one sincere advisor is itself.”
4 stars. I found Volume II the weakest of the three. In my opinion, many of the tales featuring the maxim that women are not to be trusted no longer maintains resonance within the modern age. Still, I’m glad I read it.
May 5, 2021
Whew! There's a lot to this volume, some good, some bad, some fun, some very much a product of its centuries-ago time. It has some highlights back-to-back: "Hasib Karim al-Din and the snake queen" and the sea-spanning stories within the story, the justifiably famous voyages of "Sindbad the sailor", and the eerie "City of Brass".
Late in the volume is another highlight, the rollicking picaresque story of "Dalila the wily" and her daughter Zainab the trickster. Both of these characters live up to their monikers magnificently by piling scheme on top of scheme till it seems like the whole edifice will come crashing down, but miraculously it doesn't! By Arabian Nights standards, in which any woman who tries to make a name for herself tends to either get killed or sent back to the kitchen for her trouble, this seems downright progressive.
Late in the volume is another highlight, the rollicking picaresque story of "Dalila the wily" and her daughter Zainab the trickster. Both of these characters live up to their monikers magnificently by piling scheme on top of scheme till it seems like the whole edifice will come crashing down, but miraculously it doesn't! By Arabian Nights standards, in which any woman who tries to make a name for herself tends to either get killed or sent back to the kitchen for her trouble, this seems downright progressive.
April 4, 2012
More sex, beheading, stabbings, fake identities, royalty, and trickery. Plus, propaganda -- If you are a Muslim and praise God, He will save you from ANY situation, no matter HOW crazy and outlandish it is. I can definitely imagine these stories being told as warnings/words of wisdom.
Okay, but getting kind of repetitive after 1800-ish pages.
My review of volume 1.
My review of volume 3.
Okay, but getting kind of repetitive after 1800-ish pages.
My review of volume 1.
My review of volume 3.
June 4, 2016
Well, it starts pretty good. But it's getting boring pretty fast and you cannot wait to finish current story and came to the next one - but only to see they are similar. You read only a few different timelines all over again with some slightly different "decorations".
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