Arabian Nights (Jennylyn Herradura)

By: Joey D. Zantua Jr.

Arabian Nights is a collection of stories from the Islamic Golden Age. Though each collection
features different tales, they are all centered on Sultan Shahrayar and his wife, Scheherazade. After
finding out that his first wife was unfaithful, Shahrayar executes her and vows to marry a different woman
each night and killing them the following morning to prevent further betrayal. But things changed when
Scheherazade, his vizier’s daughter fabricates a plan to end his cruel pattern. She marries Shahrayar and
begins to tell him stories every night but stopping the story in the middle, so that he will be excited to
hear the rest the following night. After the end of the story, she tells another one and this pattern is
repeated for 1,001 nights until Shahrayar has a change of heart. The stories she tells comprise the
collection, and we were told to pick one story that we like and one story that we dislike. I chose “The
Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor” as my favorite and I chose “Alladin’s Lamp” as my least favorite.

Like: The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor

Over the course of Sinbad’s voyages, he faced: various shipwrecks; strange beasts such as giant
eagles, orcs, giants; malicious figures such as the Old Man of the Sea; and many other obstacles. Even
though he dealt with extreme danger on every voyage, Sinbad continued to sail, enticed by the thrill and
excitement of the sea. Finally, after seven voyages, he decided to settle down with his wealth. I like this
story the most because even though Sinbad faced too many hardships and tribulations, he never gave up
and he kept fighting despite the odds. He wasn’t that greedy at all, he was contented by what he already
have.

Dislike: Aladdin’s Lamp

The story about a peasant boy (Aladdin) who is tricked by an Evil Magician into retrieving a magic
genie lamp from a cave. However, Aladdin outsmarts the Magician, keeping the lamp for himself. Through
the genie’s power, Aladdin became rich and marries the Sultan’s daughter. When the Magician steals the
lamp back, Aladdin and his wife thwart and kill him. The Magician’s brother then attempts to avenge the
dead man, but is equally defeated. And by that, Aladdin and his wife lived happily ever after. This is my
least favorite because even though it’s a good story, it somewhat destroyed my childhood memories.
Some of you might know the movies “Aladdin”, and it’s the same as Aladdin’s Lamp. However, in the
movie, Aladdin and Josephine did not kill Jafar or anyone. But in this story, they did and it was
inconceivable.