1001 Arabian Nights: The Story of Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp / The History of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves / The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor

by Anonymous, Jonathan Scott (Translator), Shawn Conners (Editor)

"1001 Arabian Nights" is a beloved collection of folk tales and other stories. It is often known in English as "Arabian Nights," from the first English language edition (1706), which named the title, "Arabian Nights Entertainments."

Originally, there were 12 volumes published, totaling more than 2,000 pages.

This full sized paperback edition has been restored for a modern audience, and contains the 3 most popular and well known sagas from Arabian Nights, including the complete "Seven Voyages of Sindbad," "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp," as well as "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves."
Excerpt from The Fifth Voyage of Sindbad
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Scarcely had they finished their repast, when there appeared in the air, at a considerable distance, two great clouds. The captain of my ship, knowing by experience what they meant, said they were the male and female parents of the roc, and pressed us to re-embark with all speed, to prevent the misfortune which he saw would otherwise befall us.
The two rocs approached with a frightful noise, which they redoubled when they saw the egg broken, and their young one gone. They flew back in the direction they had come, and disappeared for some time, while we made all the sail we could in the endeavor to prevent that which unhappily befell us.
They soon returned, and we observed that each of them carried between its talons an enormous rock. When they came directly over my ship, they hovered, and one of them let go his rock; but by the dexterity of the steersman it missed us and fell into the sea. The other so exactly hit the middle of the ship as to split it into pieces. The mariners and passengers were all crushed to death or fell into the sea. I myself was of the number of the latter; but, as I came up again, I fortunately caught hold of a piece of the wreck, and swimming, sometimes with one hand and sometimes with the other, but always holding fast the plank, the wind and the tide favoring me, I came to an island, and got safely ashore.
I sat down upon the grass, to recover myself from my fatigue, after which I went into the island to explore it. It seemed to be a delicious garden. I found trees everywhere, some of them bearing green and others ripe fruits, and streams of fresh pure water. I ate of the fruits, which I found excellent; and drank of the water, which was very light and good.

Genres: Classics, Fantasy, Fiction, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Adventure

152 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2009

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* 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

Reviews

[Ginger Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am like many people. I had heard, read, or seen versions of the most well-known stories from 1001 Arabian Nights. I had also learned how Scheherazade used her stories to keep the sultan from executing her, however, until I read the whole book, it wasn’t clear how she managed to link the stories together. All of the stories are complicated, with stories within stories that are reminiscent of Shakespeare’s plays within a plan. This book is of that caliber.

However, there are a few things that are surprising. Scheherazade has her sister with her every night. Sinbad s rather dull, even if it strange. Ali Baba’s slave, Morgaiana is the smartest person in the whole book. Finally, there are alternate endings to the story of Scheherazade and the sultan. If you ever wonder if the sultan and Scheherazade had children during the 1001 nights, there is a version that includes that. Unfortunately, it was not the version I read. I found that version via Google when my curiosity got the best of me. I won’t reveal the answer if you want it to remain a mystery.

Overall, the book was most excellent and I recommend it highly.

[Jamie Quinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not actually read 1001 Arabian nights. I read the 1968 Dell Yearling Books “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and nine other tales from the Arabian nights”. Edited by Ned Hoopes.
Stories were:
Ali baba and the forty thieves
The magic winged horse
The king and his physician
Aladdin and his enchanted lamp
The man who never laughed again
The talking bird, the singing tree, and the golden water
A dog and a horse
The lazy boy and his monkey
A midget’s last joke
Sinbad the sailor and his seven voyages

I had never read any of these stories before and they are fun adventure tales with a fable-esque theme. Very much so written as children’s stories and because of this, the vocabulary is quite limited and the short stories are indeed very short so they are quite choppy in their development.

Overall a fun and easy read. Finally reading some of the famous tales from the Arabian nights.

[Cookie (Susan)]

Actually I recently read not this version but rather a hefty copy of “Arabian Nights” from my mother’s childhood (c 1914, translated from the Arabic by Jonathan Scott in 1811. Windermere series.). It was wonderful to read the (more or less) original stories. Some I was very familiar with and others completely new to me. Besides a sense riches of rubies, etc are the be-all and end-all, it was a treat to become acquainted with the creativity and circumstances related in these 16th century tales. My favorite was the fabulously imaginative travels of Sinbad the Sailor.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly enjoyed reading this book, it's interesting to read the original versions of well-known stories today like Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad and learn how they've been re-interpretted for mass consumption. Some of the other stories in 1001 Arabian Nights become redundant to a point. Man encounter beautiful woman, face like the moon, they are united, man is told not to do something, he does it, then is punished by removal of a limb or eye.

[Mrs Reddy Mallender-Katzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to this on Audio and the First Volume was quite fun and quite interesting however volume two i got totally lost, i couldnt figur out with the stories within stories where one began and one ended, they all blended in together and with repetative words, racism and sexism aswell as an aabundance of material goods i have given up on it ....

[Aly McWilliams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the short stories in this book. I thought there may be too many language barriers to like it but I did. But then at the end... what happened to the new sultana? Was she put to death? Did he keep her? What the heck, the stories ended and nothing else was said.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Sinbad the Sailor. It was really good and enjoyable. A fun time.

[Urbanigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

i dont know any other arabic literature but this was fire

[Bella Pickup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Morgiana was the real MVP

[Lynette]

Only read a handful of the tales

[Veeti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good children's book

[Hamza]

.

[Novels and Neckties - Kira Murasaki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely think everyone should read The Tales of 1001 Nights. - And do yourself a favour and listen to the music of Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov. This piece - in my humble opinion - perfectly captures the romance and the tension that both take turns in the stories.

You know it when you read it: The reason why I urge everyone to read the tales is the florid writing style. It sucks you in completely. Many authors of romance stories try to mimic that flowery style, but only in the 1001 Tales have I ever really enjoyed that kind of word-magic that transports you directly into the dessert or the oasis. After all, the Sultan would listen to those stories for 1001 nights, which is about 3 years. Everyone should try and find out what was that magic that made the sultan listen for such a long time and everyone should allow oneself to be enchanted by the stories.

I read these stories as a kid and they never really left me, I have always been under their spell in the best kind of ways.

[gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This version of the 1001 Arabian Nights included only the stories of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad. I enjoyed the detail in the stories, although I was a bit disappointed that there were not more stories in this particular collection.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many editions of this, I had read a childrens edition, and I have read an edition published 1896 that I found among my grandparent's things which did not have a cover, it was over 1000 pages. Excellent literary work!

[Eralda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, loved it, loved it!!!

[Rehab Ali]

i forgot how fun is english novels :)

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this since Sheherazade was mentioned in one of my fave movies The English Patient. Finally getting around to it. Over 1100 pages...so far, very entertaining!

[Mido Reigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my childhood. My mom used to read me some stories from this. Then I read all of them in a three years span, iirc.