ARABIAN LITERATURE
Introduction
Arabic Literature, literature written in Arabic language, from the 6 th century to
the present. This literature has its roots in semi-nomadic societies on the Arabian
Peninsula. Its spread its linked to the rise of Islam in the 7th and 8th centuries. The
influence of the Arabic language and Arabic culture eventually expanded with Islam
throughout the Middle East, as far east as Afghanistan and as far west as Spain and
northern Africa’s coast. Arabic literature today crosses geographical and national
boundaries and includes numerous genres.
The Qur’an (or Koran), the holy book of Islam, was revealed to the Arabian
Prophet Muhammad, through the intervention of the angel Gabriel, during the 7 th
pculture as well. The Qur’an is considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God,
and as such is deemed perfect both from a literary and a religious point of view.
Arabic literature began before Islam in a period called the jabiliyya. This
literature of a partly Bedouin (nomadic) society was dominated by poetry, and the
poet often acted as the oracle of his tribe. A major poetic form of this time was the
qasida, or ode. It required the poet to sustain the same rhyme and meter throughout
the entire poem, which ran anywhere from 25 to 100 lines. The poet was supposedly
moved to compose his poem by the sight of animal dropping, which signaled an
abandoned encampment. Ibn Qutayba, a famous critic and writer of the 9 th century,
tied the creation of the ode of the remnants of the camp. The poet could describe his
love, his camel, and his adventures, all in an ode with highly formal structure. The
qasida remains a favored form in Arabic literature to this day.
The Book of Thousand and One Nights, (also known as The Book of a Thousand
Nights and a Night, One Thousand and One Nights, 1001 Arabian Nights, Arabian
Nights, The Arabian Nights Entertainments, The Nightly Entertainments or simple
The Nights) is a collection of stories compiled over thousands of years by various
authors, translators and scholars. These collections of tales trace their roots back
to Ancient Arabia and Ancient Persia. Though and original manuscript has never
been found several versions date the collection’s genesis to somewhere between
AD 800- 900.
THE STORY OF THE FRAME OF THE NIGHTS
There are two brothers, Shahrayar and Shahzaman. Shahrayar rules India
and Indo-China, and he gives Samarkand to his younger brother, Shahzaman, to
rule. After Shahzaman has been in Samarkand for ten years, his older brother,
Shahrayar longs to see him, so he sends his Visier (his chief administrator) to his
brother to ask him to come and visit. The Visier travels to Samarkand to invite
Shahzaman to visit his brother in India. The Visier camps with his retinue outside the
city. King Shahzaman goes to the camp to visit with the Visier, BUT, unknown to his
wife, the Queen, he returns to his palace in the middle of the night. Shahzaman
finds his Queen in bed with the cook, and becomes so enraged that he kills them
both with his sword. He says nothing of this to anyone, and leaves with the Visier to
visit his brother, Shahrayar.
One day, while Shahrayar is out hunting, Shahzaman stays in the palace
feeling very depressed about his dead wife. He looks out at the garden and sees his
brother's wife enter the garden with twenty slave girls, ten white and ten black. They
undress and prove to be ten men and ten women, who proceed to have sex
together, while another slave, Mas'ud, jumps down from a tree when the Queen
calls to him and they have sex. Then they all re-garb as slave girls, except for
Mas'ud who jumps back over the wall and is gone. Shahzaman marvels that his fate
is not so bad as his brother's, and consequently he feels much better. When
Shahrayar returns, he notices that his brother is more cheerful and asks why.
Shahzaman tells him and Shahrayar insists on seeing his Queen deceiving him.
This is done and he is enraged and suggests to his brother that they leave the
kingdom and seek a lover who is even MORE unfortunate than they are. Only if they
find him will they return home.
They travel to the sea shore where they hear a great commotion. A black
pillar emerges from the sea until it touches the clouds. It is a huge demon carrying a
glass chest locked with four padlocks. The demon wades to shore and stops under
the tree where the two brothers are hiding. He unlocks the glass chest and pulls out
a beautiful woman. He places her under the tree, puts his head in her lap, and goes
to sleep. The woman looks up and notices the two kings hiding in the tree. She
gestures to them to come down or she will wake the demon. Then she insists they
make love to her or she will wake the demon. Afterwards, she takes a ring from
each brother to add to her collection of 98 rings from 98 other lovers. This shows her
scorn for the demon who has not realized that he cannot control what is pre-
destined, or stop a woman from satisfying her desires.
This is indeed worse than the two brothers' situations, so they return to their
kingdoms. Shahrayar has his Queen killed and he personally kills all his slave girls.
He then swears to marry a new woman each night and have her killed the next day,
so she will not be able to betray him. And this is just what he does for quite a while.
Shahrazad tells her father, the Vizier, that she wants to marry the king and try to
save more women from being killed. Her father gets very angry and says that what
happened to the donkey and the ox will happen to her. And what is that, she asks?
Now the Vizier tells the first sub-story of the Nights, to convince Shahrazad
that she should not marry the king.
1st story: “The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey”
This sub-story is about a donkey that persuaded an ox to stop feeding
and act sick in order to avoid working. Unfortunately for the donkey, the ox's
owner, a merchant, understood animal language and tricked the donkey by
making him do the ox's work, so the donkey suffered while the ox had an easy
life.
This is not a very close analogy to Shahrazad's situation, so she rejects the
moral of the story and insists that she must marry the king.
The Visier then warns her that unless she desists from her plan, he'll do to
her what the merchant did to his wife. Shahrazad asks, what was that? This
introduces the second substory.
2nd story: “The Tale of the Merchant and His Wife”
When the merchant's wife realizes he understands animal language,
she INSISTS he tell her what the donkey and the ox were saying. The merchant
refuses, objecting that he will die if he tells. But, she insists and he prepares
to tell her and die. However, he overhears a rooster who says that he, the
merchant, is foolish because he can't control one wife, while the rooster
controls fifty wives. The rooster recommends that the merchant beat his wife
until she stops trying to get him to tell her the animal language. This proves a
successful ploy, and the merchant gains control of his wife and doesn't die,
because he refuses to reveal the animal language.
The vizier warns Shahrazad that if she will not listen, he’ll beat her, too. BUT,
Shahrazad refuses to accept the message of this tale, because it, like the Vizier's
first tale, offers a weak analogy to her situation. She is no nagging wife to be beaten,
nor is the Vizier in danger of death from her marrying the King; she is the one
putting herself in danger. The unafraid Shahrazad insists marrying King Shahrayar,
but she has a plan. She arranges for her younger sister, Dinarzad, to be in the
wedding room. After Shahrayar and Shahrazad make love, Dinarzad asks her sister
to tell a story. Each night, Shahrazad will tell a story but stop mid-tale, a move aimed
to keep the king in suspense and herself alive. ”and it will cause the king to stop his
practice, save myself, and deliver the people.'"
This is the great power of wonderful stories, when told well and for a good
purpose. They will cure the King, save Shahrazad's life, and free the kingdom from
the terror of having its young women killed night after night. Shahrazad duly marries
the King and summons her sister to her bedchamber, where Dinarzad asks her to
tell a story. This starts the series of Shahrazad's stories, many of which include
other stories within stories, like a set of interlocking puzzle boxes.
Shahrazad’s Tales:
1st Tale: “The Story of the Merchant and the Demon”
Shahrazad’s first tale begins with a wealthy merchant. While traveling, he
eats dates and throws the pits onto the road. A demon appears, accuses the
merchant of killing his son with a pit, and says he must die, blood for blood. Three
times, the demon raises his sword to kill, but each time, the merchant begs for
mercy. Finally, the demon grants the merchant for a year’s respite to settle his
affairs. The merchant agrees to return on New Year’s Day the next year. At home,
the merchant and his family grieve his impending death.
A year later, the merchant returns and waits for the demon. Three old men
appear and, upon hearing the merchant’s story, wait with him to see how it will turn
out. When the demon arrives, each old man offers to tell a story in exchange for
one-third of the merchant’s life. The demon agrees.
2nd Tale: “The First Old Man’s Tale”
The first old man tells a story about a man who is married to a young woman
who bore him no children, so he took a mistress, who gave birth to a son. While the
man travels, his wife turns the mistress into a cow and the son into a bull. When the
man returns, he butchers the cow to celebrate a Muslim feast, but there is no meat
or fat on her. He prepares to butcher the bull but stops when a shepherd tells him
that his daughter, a sorceress, knows about the spell on the bull and can reverse it.
The shepherd’s daughter reverses the spell and marries the son who is human
again. The man wants to kill his wife for what she’s done, but the shepherd’s
daughter turns her into a deer instead.
The demon enjoys the story and grants the first old man one-third of the
merchant’s life.
3rd Tale: “The Second Old Man’s Tale”
The second old man tells a tale about his two brothers. The two brothers
close their shops and travel but return penniless. The old man takes them in and
gives them money to open their shops again. Years later, the old man goes on a trip
with his two wayward brothers. During their travels, a woman approaches the old
man and begs him to marry her. Soon after, his two brothers become jealous and
throw the man and his new wife into the sea. The wife, however, is a she-demon
who saves her and the old man’s lives and turns the two brothers into dogs.
The demon enjoys the story and grants the second old man one-third of the
merchant’s life.
4th Tale: “The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon”
An old fisherman casts his net four times. He pulls up a dead donkey, a jar of
mud, trash, and a brass jar with a stopper. When he pulls the stopper from the jar, a
smoky demon emerges who threatens to kill the fisherman. However, the fisherman
tricks the demon into returning to the jar. When the demon offers to make the
fisherman rich if he releases him again, the fisherman tells him a story about a king
and a sage.
5th Tale: “The Tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban”
King Yunan, who is afflicted with leprosy, meets the sage Duban who offers
to cure him by fashioning a mallet filled with medicine. When King Yunan runs, his
perspiration releases the medicine. Duban’s cure works, and King Yunan rewards
him with money and friendship, arousing the envy of his vizier. The vizier then
cunningly turns King Yunan against Duban, as told in “The Tale of the King’s Son
and the She-Ghoul.”
6th Tale: “The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot”
Shahrazad then tells a tale about a jealous man with a beautiful wife. When
the man travels, he leaves his parrot at home. When the man returns, the parrot
describes his wife’s unfaithfulness. The wife convinces the man that the bird is a liar,
so the man kills the parrot. The man later discovers that the parrot told the truth, and
he regrets killing it.
7th Tale: “The Tale of the King’s Son and the She-Ghoul”
The envious vizier tells King Yunan a story about a king’s son who, while
hunting with the king’s vizier, is attacked by a she-ghoul. Both men escape, but the
king kills the vizier for taking the son hunting in the first place.
King Yunan now distrusts Duban, so he orders his death. Before his
beheading, Duban gives the king a book, explaining that if the king reads it, Duban’s
severed head will answer any question asked. However, the book is poisoned, and
when King Yunan reads from it, he dies.
The tale then returns to the fisherman and the re-released demon. The
demon takes the fisherman to a lake with fish in four colors. He tells the fisherman to
take four fish to the king for a reward. When the fish are cooked, a beautiful woman
emerges from the palace kitchen wall and then disappears. The king travels to the
lake to learn the mystery of the fish.
8th Tale “The Tale of the Enchanted King”
On his way to the lake, the king meets a man whose body is black stone
from the waist down. The man tells his story.
One day, the man tried to kill his unfaithful wife and her lover, but he only
injured the man. His wife put her maimed lover in a mausoleum. Then, she turned
half of her husband’s body into stone and all of the city’s people into fish. Every
morning, the wife lashes her husband and visits her lover.
 To help the man, the king kills the lover, tricks the wife into releasing her
husband and the city, and then he kills the wife. The king returns home and marries
one of the fisherman’s daughters, while the enchanted man marries the other.
9th Tale: “The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies”
Shahrazad begins a new cycle of stories.
Three sisters invite a porter to dinner. One by one, the four undress and
jokingly ask what they call their genitals. The sisters say the porter can stay as long
as he questions nothing.
Three one-eyed dervishes soon arrive and make music. Then, a caliph, his
vizier, Ja’far, and a servant arrive. The sisters say they can stay as long as they
question nothing. One sister brings out two dogs and beats them. Another sister
tears her dress, revealing whip marks.
When the visitors question this, men with swords arrive to kill them.
However, the sisters agree to spare their lives if each dervish tells his tale.
10th Tale: “The First Dervish’s Tale”
The son of a king and his cousin see a woman in a sepulcher. The cousin
and woman descend into the sepulcher. The next day, when the king’s son returns
to his father’s city, he is beaten and bound by a vizier who has plotted against the
king. The vizier gouges out one of the son’s eyes and sends him to the wilderness to
die.
The king’s son goes to his uncle. Together, they enter the sepulcher, where
they find the cousin and the woman turned to charcoal. Soon, the king’s son learns
that the vizier has overtaken the city, so he disguises himself as a dervish.
11th Tale: “The Second Dervish’s Tale”
A king’s son, who is learned in calligraphy, travels to India. Horsemen kill all
the men traveling except the son, who wanders until he reaches a city. There, he
meets a tailor, who explains that to survive, the king’s son must hide his identity. For
a year, the king’s son cuts wood and sells it. One day, he discovers a subterranean
palace where a beautiful woman is held captive by a demon. He and the woman
make love and drink wine. When the demon returns, the king’s son runs back to the
tailor, leaving his shoes and axe behind.
The demon arrives at the tailor’s house and takes the king’s son to the
underground palace. The demon severs the woman’s arms and then turns on the
king’s son, who begs for mercy with the following tale about envy.
12th Tale: “The Tale of the Envious and the Envied”
One man envies the good fortune of his neighbor. The envied man moves
away and builds a hermitage. The envious man visits the hermitage and pushes the
envied man into a well. However, demons save the envied man. Soon, a king
arrives, seeking a cure for his daughter, who is possessed by a demon. The envied
man cures the king’s daughter and marries her. He eventually becomes king
himself. Later, he summons the envious man to his palace and showers him with
riches, rewarding envy with goodness.
Upon hearing this tale, the demon spares the king’s son’s life, but turns him
into an ape. While sailing home, the ape wins over the captain with his human-like
ways. One day, a king summons the ape who can write calligraphy. As the ape eats
and plays chess like a human, the king’s daughter knows he’s under a spell. She
conjures the demon, and they battle, each turning into different animals until the
demon is defeated and the daughter dead. The man is restored, but he's lost one of
his eyes. He becomes a dervish.
13th Tale: “The Third Dervish’s Tale”
Through a series of unfortunate events, the third dervish, the son of a king,
finds himself shipwrecked on a rock, where he dreams instructions to topple a brass
horseman, which he later does. In his travels, he witnesses an old man sealing a
youth being beneath a trapdoor. Curious, he unseals the trapdoor and meets the
youth, who explains that his father sealed him inside to protect him from a man who
topples a brass horseman.
One day, the king’s son accidentally slips with a knife and pierces the youth’s
heart. He flees before the old man returns. In his travels, he watches ten one-eyed
men enter a copper palace. They tell him how to get inside. Once inside, the king’s
son meets forty ladies, whom he sleeps with night after night. They tell the king’s
son that he can go into any room of the palace, except one. Each door reveals a
new paradise. Soon, he’s obsessed with the last door. Inside is a flying horse
gouges his eye with his tail, the same fate met by each of the ten one-eyed men.
When the ten men reject him, he becomes a dervish.
14th : “The Tale of the First Lady, the Mistress of the House”
The two older sisters become destitute when their husbands spend their
inheritances and leave. The youngest sister journeys to a foreign city where she
sees people made of stone. She enters an opulent dwelling, where she meets a
beautiful young man reciting the Quran who tells her his story.
One day, a mighty voice tells everyone to abandon their worship of fire and
instead follow the Almighty. All but the young man refuse and are turned to stone.
The youngest sister and the man marry, but while sailing home, two of her sisters
become jealous and throw the couple into the sea. The young man drowns, but the
youngest sister washes ashore. Walking home, she meets a she-demon with two
black dogs. The demon explains that she turned the jealous sisters into dogs and
that the youngest sister must beat them every night or she will be turned into a dog,
too.
15th Tale: “The Tale of the Second Lady, the Flogged One”
One day, an old lady invites the sister to the woman’s daughter’s wedding. At
the wedding, the sister meets the bride’s brother, whom she later marries. Later, a
merchant at the market asks to kiss the sister’s cheek instead of accepting payment,
but he bites off a piece of her flesh instead. Back at home, the sister refuses to tell
her husband how she got the wound. He orders three slaves to beat her. When he
orders her death, the old woman intervenes and returns the sister to her own home,
where she recovers.
Upon hearing the stories, the caliph summons the demon who turned the two
jealous sisters into dogs. The she-demon appears and tells the caliph that the man
who beat his wife is the caliph’s own son. The caliph turns the dogs back into
women. He arranges for all the guests to marry, receive riches, and palaces of their
own.
16th Tale: “The Story of the Three Apples”
The caliph, Ja’far returns to the city where he offers to pay for whatever the
fisherman catches. The fisherman pulls up a chest containing a dismembered young
girl. The king commands Ja’far to find her murderer. A young man confesses and
offers his story to the caliph.
The murdered girl was his wife. One day, she asked him for an apple. The
man purchased three apples for his wife. When the young man saw a slave with an
apple, the slave lied and said his mistress gave it to him. Thinking his wife unfaithful,
the young man cut off her head. Soon after, however, his son explained that the
slave took the apple from him.
The young man, crushed by guilt, begs the caliph to take his life. Instead, the
caliph commands Ja’far to find the slave. When Ja’far finds the slave, he’s upset to
see it’s one of his own. The slave confesses, and the caliph orders him put to death.
However, in an attempt to save his slave’s life, Ja’far offers the caliph an amazing
story about two viziers.
17th Tale: “The Story of the Two Viziers, Nur al-Din Ali al-Misri and Badr al-Din
Hasan al-Basri”
Shams al-Din, the vizier of Cairo, proposes that he and his brother, Nur al-
Din, the vizier of Basra, marry on the same day, have children on the same day and,
in the future, have their children marry. However, they argue about the dowry and
turn on each other. In time, both brothers marry on the same day, and have children
on the same day—one a son, the other, a daughter.
Just before Nur al-Din dies, he tells his son Badr al-Din five lessons for life.
Badr al-Din falls asleep near his father’s sepulcher. There, two demons fly Badr al-
Din to Egypt in the hopes of stopping the wedding between the vizier’s daughter, Sit
al-Husn, and a hunchback. Sit al-Husn and Badr al-Din fall in love immediately.
While the demons trap the hunchback in the toilet, Badr al-Din and Sit al-Husn make
love.
The demons fly Badr al-Din to Damascus, where he’s taken in by a cook.
Back in Egypt, Sit al-Husn’s father, Shams al-Din, discovers the man she fell in love
with is his nephew, the very man he wanted her to marry. However, his nephew is
nowhere to be found.
For years, Shams al-Din, Sit al-Husn, her son ‘Ajib, and Badr al-Din’s mother
search for Badr al-Din. One day, ‘Ajib eats at the shop, where he tells the cook
about the father he has lost, not realizing the cook is indeed his father. Badr al-Din,
hearing the boy’s words, weeps over his own lost family, not realizing that the boy is,
in fact, his son. When ‘Ajib leaves, Badr al-Din follows him, but ‘Ajib hurls a rock at
him. Later, ‘Ajib feels bad about hurting the cook, so he apologizes and brings home
a pomegranate dish for his grandmother. When she tastes the dish, she knows that
only her son, Badr al-Din, could have made it.
Shams al-Din orders men to beat Badr al-Din, lock him a wooden crate, and
take him to Cairo. There, they threaten to crucify him for not seasoning the
pomegranate dish. It’s all a trick. Badr al-Din is released, and led to a bedroom,
where Sit al-Husn waits. Badr al-Din later reunites with his mother and all live
happily. Ja’far’s story is so entertaining the king spares his slave’s life.
18th Tale: “The Story of the Hunchback”
A tailor and his wife bring a drunken hunchback home for dinner, but he
chokes on a fishbone and dies. The couple carry him to a Jewish physician’s house.
When the physician trips over the body, he assumes he killed him and moves the
body to the steward’s house. The steward thinks the man a thief and clubs him, then
props the body in a street. A drunken Christian broker passes and, thinking the
hunchback will steal his turban, hits him. He’s arrested for murder, and just as he’s
about to be hanged, the steward, physician, and tailor appear, each claiming
responsibility.
The hunchback was a favorite entertainer of the king of China, who
summons the men. To avoid punishment, each offers to tell a tale.
19th Tale: “The Christian Broker’s Tale: The Young Man with the Severed Hand
and the Girl”
While in Cairo, a beautiful woman approaches the broker to buy fabric. It’s
love at first sight. He visits her home where they drink and make love. He returns for
many nights, giving her money each time, until he is broke. In despair, he steals a
soldier’s purse. He is caught, and officials chop off his hand. A month later, the
beautiful woman dies, leaving her wealth to the broker.
The Chinese king is unimpressed, so the steward tells his tale.
20th Tale: “The Steward’s Tale: The Young Man from Baghdad and Lady
Zubaida’s Maid”
One day, Lady Zubaida’s maid visits a young man’s shop to purchase fabric,
and the two fall in love. She sneaks the young man into the palace in a chest of
clothes. While in the chest, he fears he’ll be killed, but Lady Zubaida’s maid releases
him in secret. Soon, the two marry. In their marriage bed, the woman goes mad,
cursing him for eating curried ragout without washing his hands before touching her.
She then cuts off his thumbs, and he promises never to eat ragout without washing
his hands.
The Chinese king remains unimpressed, so the Jewish physician tells his
tale.
21st Tale: “The Jewish Physician’s Tale: The Young Man from Mosul and the
Murdered Girl”
While living in Damascus, a beautiful woman appears at a man’s door, and
they feast and make love. She returns every three days, eventually asking if she
might bring a younger friend. One morning, the man awakes to discover that the first
woman has slain the younger out of jealousy. He buries the young woman and
escapes to Cairo, where he stays for three years.
Upon returning to Damascus, the man discovers a necklace under the bed
where the girl was slain. When he tries to sell it, he’s arrested and his right hand cut
off, for the necklace was stolen. When the man tells the governor his story, he
learns that the two women were the governor’s daughters. The older daughter killed
herself mourning for her sister. The governor pities the man and gives his remaining
daughter to the man to marry.
The Chinese king remains unimpressed, but the tailor offers his tale, hoping
to save all their lives.
22nd Tale : “The Tailor’s Tale: The Lame Young Man from Baghdad and the
Barber”
One day, a young man falls in love with the judge’s beautiful daughter. He
pines for her until he grows ill. An old woman arranges for him to meet the beautiful
woman. To prepare for the visit, he asks a barber to cut his hair. The barber, a
highly educated man, will not stop talking and cut his hair.
Hours pass. The barber keeps talking but never finishes his job. The young
man leaves, but the barber follows him and stands outside the beautiful woman’s
house. When a servant of the household screams, the barber assumes that the
young man is being killed. As the barber searches the home, the young man hides
in a chest. When he jumps out of the chest, he breaks his leg. The barber follows
him even now.
23rd Tale: “The Barber’s Tale”
The barber explains that he once lived in Baghdad, where the caliph arrested
ten robbers and put them on a boat. The barber jumped in the boat with them,
thinking it was a party. After the executioner chopped off the robbers’ heads, the
barber explained why he was on the boat in the first place.
The barber then tells a story about each of his six brothers.
25th Tale: “The Tale of the First Brother, the Hunchbacked Tailor”
The first brother falls in love with a beautiful woman. However, this woman,
her husband, and their maid play a series of tricks on him. First, they do not pay him
for the clothing he makes for them. Then, they trick him into marrying the maid, but
before the wedding, they put him in a mill where a miller ties him to a yoke and
whips him. Later, the maid and her mistress tell him that, while the master is away,
they want to have sex with him. Just as it looks like the tailor will sleep with both
women, the master appears. He lashes the tailor and parades him through the city
as a warning to others.
26th Tale: “The Tale of the Second Brother, Baqbaqa the Paraplegic”
One day, a woman invites the second brother, Baqbaqa, to a beautiful house
to meet a lovely woman. She warns him, though, that he must refrain from meddling
and not talk too much. There, ten ladies appear. They hit him, dye his eyebrows red,
pluck his mustache, and shave his beard, but he doesn’t resist. He finally meets the
lovely woman. Hearing she likes to play chase, the man takes off his clothes and
runs after her. Suddenly, he falls through the earth and into a marketplace where
he’s crippled for being naked. He’s arrested, lashed, and banished from Baghdad.
27th Tale: “The Tale of the Third Brother, Faqfaq the Blind”
The third brother knocks on a door, asking for a handout, but the man who
answers the door brings him upstairs and gives him nothing. On his way back
downstairs, the blind brother falls and cuts his head. The owner of the house follows
the blind man home and hides inside. When the blind man and his blind friends
discover the intruder, they call the police. The house-owner lies to the police, saying
that all the men pretend to be blind to rob houses. The police believe the intruder
and beat all the blind men.
28th Tale: “The Tale of the Fourth Brother, the One-Eyed Butcher”
The butcher sells meat to an old man who pays with fake money. When he
accuses the old man of stealing, the old man accuses the butcher of selling human
flesh. A human body hangs inside the shop instead of the ram he has just
slaughtered. The police flog and banish the butcher.
He goes to a new city and becomes a cobbler. One day, the king has him
flogged because he cannot tolerate anyone with one eye. So, he goes to another
city where men accuse him of being a robber. Again, the police flog him. The barber
brings his unfortunate brother home and cares for him.
29th Tale: “The Tale of the Fifth Brother, the Cropped of Ears”
The fifth brother dreams of becoming so rich by selling glass that he can buy
houses, slaves, and even the vizier’s daughter. While kicking his wife in his
daydream, he kicks his basket of glass instead.
Later, an old woman takes him to a beautiful woman’s house. There, slaves
beat him, pour salt in his wounds, and toss him in the cellar with other bodies.
Somehow, he escapes.
Disguised as a Persian, he finds the old woman, who again takes him to the
house. There, he beheads both slaves and the old woman. The beautiful woman
appears and leaves with all the money. When he tells his story to the police, they
banish him from the city.
30th Tale: “The Tale of the Sixth Brother, the Cropped of Lips”
A rich man invites the sixth brother to dine. At the feast, the rich man
pretends to eat invisible food. The brother follows suit. Suddenly, the sixth brother
hits the man. When the man asks why, the brother replies that he is drunk. The rich
man laughs. The brother stays with the rich man until the man dies.
The sixth brother soon falls prey to some Bedouins, who cut off his lips and
penis for trying to seduce their wives.
king calls for the barber, who looks at the hunchback and revives him by
pulling the fishbone from his throat. The king of China bestows robes of honor on
the storytellers but keeps the barber as his companion for life.
31st : “The Story of Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar and the Slave-Girl Shams al-
Nahar”
Per Shahrayar’s request, Shahrazad tells the story of a druggist in Baghdad.
The druggist is close friends with a handsome young man, Ali ibn-Bakkar,
who is the descendent of kings of Persia. One day, the beautiful Shams al-Nahar
visits the druggist, where she and Ali ibn-Bakkar meet and instantly fall in love. She
invites both men to a feast.
At the feast, Shams al-Nahar enters, and Ali ibn-Bakkar is overwhelmed with
passion and desire. He learns that she is a slave and concubine to the caliph Harun
al-Rashid, and this is his palace. Ali ibn-Bakkar and Shams al-Nahar exchange
words of love and embrace. When Shams al-Nahar learns that the caliph wishes to
spend the night with her, she asks a woman to sneak the druggist and Ali ibn-
Bakkar out of the palace. Ali ibn-Bakkar is beside himself with despair. He returns
home, feeling ill. The next day, Shams al-Nahar’s maid arrives and tells him that her
mistress is also sick with love and desire.
The lovers exchange letters professing their desires and torment, which
worries the druggist. He doesn’t want the caliph to know he’s involved. The druggist
confesses his fears to a friend who is a jeweler. After hearing the story, the jeweler
vows to help Ali ibn-Bakkar. Soon, Shams al-Nahar’s maid and the jeweler work
together to keep the lovers’ letters secret.
The jeweler arranges for the lovers to meet at his house. While they feast, a
servant exclaims that robbers are raiding the house. The frightened jeweler hides.
The next day, a man leads the jeweler across a river to a house where the robbers
have imprisoned Ali ibn-Bakkar and Shams al-Nahar. After the jeweler tells the
lovers’ story, the robbers agree to return the jeweler’s goods and release the lovers.
The jeweler later goes to Ali ibn-Bakkar’s home and finds him near death from
wanting Shams al-Nahar but begs him to be patient.
The jeweler goes to see Shams al-Nahar but the caliph, having heard rumors
from a servant, has imprisoned her. The caliph doesn’t believe she was unfaithful,
but he is still furious just to hear the story.
To hide from the caliph, the jeweler and Ali ibn-Bakkar flee to a mosque.
There, a heartsick Ali ibn-Bakkar dies. The jeweler returns to the city to tell Ali ibn-
Bakkar’s mother of his passing. There he learns that Shams al-Nahar has also died.
32nd Tale: “The Story of the Slave-Girl Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-
Khaqan”
A benevolent king had two viziers. One vizier, Fadl al-Din ibn-Khaqan, was
kind and just. The other, Al Mu’in ibn-Sawi, was evil and vicious. When the king
desired a wife, he sent Fadl al-Din to find the perfect choice. The brokers provide a
young girl, Anis al-Jalis, but instead of falling in love with the king, the girl falls in
love with the kind vizier’s son, Nur al-Din.
Fortunately, the king forgets about Anis al-Jalis, and Nur al-Din lives happily
with her for a year. After his father dies, Nur al-Din inherits a fortune and begins to
lavishly feast and bestow his friends with gifts until his steward cautions him to
cease. Soon, Nur al-Din is destitute, and his friends abandon him. To survive, Nur
al-Din sells his possessions and, finally, the beautiful Anis al-Jalis.
The evil vizier bids on Anis al-Jalis, but Nur al-Din’s steward cautions him
that the vizier will never pay, so Nur al-Din refuses the sale. He and the evil vizier
fight, the vizier is badly cut, and Nur al-Din goes home with Anis al-Jalis. The vizier
goes to the king and tells him the whole story, making himself the victim and Nur al-
Din the villain. Before the king’s men can arrest the couple, they flee on a ship to
Baghdad. The king promises to reward anyone who finds them.
In Baghdad, Nur al-Din and Anis al-Jalis fall asleep in a caliph’s garden.
When the old man who manages the garden sees them, he takes them to the
caliph’s palace, and feeds them and gives them wine. The caliph notices that his
palace is lit, he asks his vizier, Ja’far, about who is there. The caliph and Ja’far climb
a tree to see what’s going on inside. For a while, they watch the three drink wine.
Anis al-Jalis sings a song that enchants the caliph, who wants to go inside
disguised. He stops a fisherman and orders him to give him his clothes and some
fish. The disguised caliph enters the palace and sells Nur al-Din the fish. When the
caliph again hears Anis al-Jalis sing, he becomes infatuated, so Nur al-Din offers
her to the caliph. He then tells the caliph their story. Moved, the disguised caliph
writes to the king on their behalf and has Nur al-Din leave to deliver the letter. The
caliph then promises he’ll send Anis al-Jalis home when the time is right.
In the meantime, Nur al-Din gives the letter to the king, who agrees to
comply with the caliph’s orders. However, the evil vizier convinces the king that the
letter is a forgery. Nur al-Din is beaten, imprisoned, and sentenced to death. As the
executioner is about to strike off Nur al-Din’s head, Ja’far and the caliph of Baghdad
arrive. They release Nur al-Din and allow him to behead the evil vizier instead. The
caliph gives Anis al-Jalis back to Nur al-Din, and they live out their lives happily
together.
33rd Tale: “The Story of Jullanar of the Sea”
A Persian king marries a beautiful, slender woman named Jullanar who is an
exiled sea creature. Soon, Jullanar is pregnant with her son, Badr. After Badr is
born, Jullanar’s brother, Sayih, takes Badr to his home in the sea. Years later, when
his father dies, Badr returns home and becomes king. Badr wants Jauhara, the
fairest daughter of the sea king, as a wife. Sayih and Badr plunge into the sea to
fetch Jauhara without telling Jullanar.
 The sea king, however, won’t allow Jauhara to marry Badr, so Siyah takes
the sea king hostage. Jauhara turns Badr into a bird and sends him to a distant
island. A bird catcher sees a stunning bird and brings it to her king. When the king’s
wife sees the bird, she recognizes that the bird is actually a man, and changes the
bird back into King Badr. On Badr’s way home, his ship sinks, and he ends up in a
city where he is attacked by beasts. There, an old man gives him shelter, and Badr
tells the man his story.
The old man explains that his home, the City of Magicians, is ruled by a witch
named Queen Lab who has turned the men into the beasts. The old man claims
Badr as his nephew and cares for him for a month. Against the old man’s wishes,
Lab takes Badr to her palace where they drink and make love and remain happy for
forty days.
One day while in the garden, Badr sees two birds having sex, and he
recognizes one to be Lab. Wracked with jealousy, Badr visits the old man, who tells
him to beware. That night, Badr pretends to be asleep and sees Lab do magic with
barley seeds. The next day, the old man gives Badr his own barley to feed Lab. Lab
eats the barley and turns into a mule, which Badr rides out of the town. Soon, he
encounters an old woman, who turns the mule back into Lab.
Lab turns Badr into an ugly bird and cages him. A girl pities the bird and
takes him to the old man, who in turn sends her to Jullanar with the news that Badr
is alive. Jullanar orders sea demons to kill everyone in the City of Magicians except
the old man and the ugly bird. Jullanar turns the bird back into Badr and gives the
girl to the old man. Badr only wants Jauhara for a wife, and now, Jauhara’s father
agrees.
The translator adds a postscript that reveals that King Shahrayar learned to
trust Shahrazad and made her his queen. Shahrazad later bore three sons.
Characters:
Shahzaman
Shahrayar’s younger brother who is king of Samarkand. Summoned to his
brother’s palace, he inadvertently learns of his wife’s sexual exploits with a cook in
his kitchen, which leads him to kill them both and descend into despair and ill health.
Dinarzad
Shahrazad’s younger sister and the daughter of Shahrayar’s vizier. Dinarzad
prompts the stories that keep her sister, Shahrazad, alive.
Ja’far
A vizier who appears in several of the stories. He solves the mystery in “The
Story of the Three Apples,” and he aids the caliph in “The Story of the Slave-Girl
Anis al-Jalis and Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan.” Unlike the character in the
popular Aladdin movie, Ja’far is a good man and a devoted servant.
The Hunchback
A comic buffoon who reeks of wine and plays a tambourine. He initiates the
cycle of stories about the Christian broker, the steward, the Jewish physician, and
the tailor.
Caliph Harun al-Rashid
The ruler in several of the stories. For example, in “The Story of the Three
Apples,” he orders Ja’far to find the person who killed the young woman.
The Barber
well-educated yet too talkative man who annoys and then stalks the tailor.
He narrates a series of six stories about his six brothers.
Nur al-Din Ali al-Misri
The vizier of Basra, brother to Shams al-Din, and father to Badr al-Din.
Shams al-Din Muhammad
The vizier of Cairo, brother to Nur al-Din, father to Sit al-Husn. Shams al-Din
wants his daughter to marry his brother’s son, and when he has the chance to
arrange their happy reunion, he lovingly does so.
Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar
A young man who falls desperately in love with a caliph’s servant and
concubine, Shams al-Nahar. Despite his friends’ efforts, he and Shams al-Nahar are
doomed to never be together.
Shams al-Nahar
A slave and concubine of the caliph who falls in love with Nur al-Din Ali ibn-
Bakkar. Believing she’s been unfaithful with her beloved Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Bakkar,
her husband imprisons her. She dies a prisoner of the palace.

Badr al-Din Anis al-Jalis

Son of vizier Nur al-Din, beloved of Shams al-Din’s daughter, Sit al-Husn, A slave girl in love with Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan, the son of a kind vizier.
and father to ‘Ajib.

Nur al-Din Ali ibn-Khaqan

Sit al-Husn The son of a kind vizier. Nur al-Din inherits great wealth, but foolishly loses it
Daughter of vizier Shams al-Din, beloved of Nur al-Din, and mother to ‘Ajib. all. At one point, he even sells his beloved Anis al-Jalis.

‘Ajib Jullanar
The young son of Badr al-Din and Sit al-Husn, whose compassion reunites to An exiled sea creature who marries a land-bound king. Jullanar gives birth to
families long torn apart by an old bitter feud. a son, Badr, who will one day inherit his father’s throne.

King Yunan Sayih

A king who suffers from leprosy and is later fooled by his jealous vizier’s tale Jullanar’s brother. Without permission, Sayih takes Badr back to the sea
to behead the loyal sage, Duban. soon after Badr is born. He later helps Badr marry the sea king’s daughter, Jauhara.

Duban Badr
A wise and well-educated sage who cures the king’s leprosy but is murdered Jullanar’s son. Badr wishes to marry the sea king’s most beautiful daughter,
when the king’s vizier plots against him. Jauhara, but the sea king refuses at first.

Lady Zubaida’s Maid Queen Lab

A maid who sneaks her lover into the palace in a chest. On their wedding An evil sorceress who rules over the City of Magicians. Lab turned all of the
night, she realizes her husband hasn’t washed his hands after eating a ragout, so city’s inhabitants into animals, with the exception of one old man. Lab enchants Badr
she cuts his thumbs off. and keeps him as a prisoner for some time. She is defeated by Jullanar and her
family, and Badr is set free, able to marry his beloved Jauhara and rule as king.
Jauhara
The sea king’s most beautiful daughter and Badr’s wife and queen.