Arabian Nights

If you like stories threaded within stories, intrigue, magic, voyages and danger, then “Aladdin and The Arabian Nights” is for you. Images of deserts, royalty, ships and oceans are conjured from my mind when I think of these stories. It is a book that runs all over the place, new characters popping up only to tell a whole other story from the original. It may frustrate others but for me it just layers on the magic and intrigue.

Welcome to the Middle East, Africa and Asia. These stories are centered on these geographic regions and give you a little taste of their historical culture. There are so many genies, royalty and adventures in a way it is reminiscent of The Odyssey. These stories consist of Sinbad ( Middle East) and his seven journeys and Aladdin (a boy from China.) but it also tells of Ahmed (Middle East) and his fairy wife hidden in the caves, and another story about a king trapped by a sorceress and cursed with half of his body made out of stone. Genies are not always kind and women are not always true. You can take that last comment with a grain of salt. I believe that when we read books of the past we do not be too harsh on them. It is better we judge them according to their time and not our present. Often we forget the progress we have made and expect books of the past to know better. Don’t avoid reading old books because of this, there is always a lesson to be learned from them, good and bad.

Fun Fact: Antoine Galland was the first to translate this story, in french. “Sinbad and the Seven Voyages,” “Ali Baba and the Forty Theives,” as well as “Aladdin” were not actually in the original manuscript of “Arabian Nights.” Galland heard these stories in Paris from a Syrian story teller and decided to add them. Now when we think of Arabian Nights, these are the stories that stick out to us because they have gained the most popularity. There are plenty of adventures within these pages to keep your attention.

If you had three wishes what would they be? That is another thing, these genies do not always grant the popular three wishes and they seem to have a say in whether they want to grant you wishes or not. Check out “Aladdin and The Arabian Nights” for a compilation of adventures.