Tales from the Thousand and One
Nights (Penguin Classics) by
Anonymous
Fantastic Tales
A selection of the tales told by Shahrazad in an attempt to save her life,
including The Young Woman and Her Five Lovers, The Fisherman and the
Jinnee, The Historic Fart, and The Tale of Kafur the Black Eunuch.
Personal Review: Tales from the Thousand and One Nights
(Penguin Classics) by Anonymous
This book is a selection of the choicest tales from the Thousand and One
Nights. The translator, N.J. Dawood, also translated the Koran for the
Penguin Classics series. Dawood explains in the introduction that the first
of these tales appeared in a written form around 850 C.E., in a book called,
"A Thousand Legends." More tales, of lesser quality, were added over the
years until an anonymous editor in Cairo finally codified them in the 18th
century. A French version of some of the stories appeared in the 17th

century, and was followed by several English versions in the 19th century;
the best known adaptation came from Sir Richard Burton, in 10 volumes.
The stories are a mix of Arabic, Persian, and Indian tales and appear to
have been written in response to classical Arabic literature. The Arabs do
not consider them part of the classic canon, and after reading these
stories, I can see why. They are aggressive and highly sexualized, and are
loaded with sorcery, fantasy, and criticism of authority figures.Whatever
their origins and means of transmission, these are excellent and
entertaining stories. I cannot think of one tale in this selection that I did not
like. Included in the book is the instantly recognizable Aladdin story, as
well as the Sinbad voyages. Other tales are just as interesting: "The Tale
of the Hunchback," "The Tale of Judar and his Brothers," "The Porter and
the Three Girls of Baghdad," and many others. Many of these stories are
cycles; they have stories within stories, as characters in one story tell their
own stories. At the end of the cycle, the story is cleverly wrapped up,
usually with a happy ending. I do not think I need to go into detail about
Aladdin or Sinbad, except to say that I was surprised to see Aladdin
described as Chinese. Providing details to these stories would be useless
anyway because they are so detailed as to be impervious to
summary.There is no doubt that many of these stories started as oral
stories, and retained that shape into the written versions. The best
example is the Sinbad cycle. All of the stories in this cycle are framed in
the same way. This repetition made it easier to memorize the stories, or at
least the basic outline. A good storyteller could take the frame and fill in the
blanks with whatever his heart desired. You often see this kind of writing in
the Bible.Social roles and class play a large part in these stories. Women
are presented as wily and dangerous, but not always. Several stories show
men trying to pull fast ones on the ladies, with the results much to the
detriment of the men. Many stories show how the high and mighty come
crashing down, or how the lowly are elevated to great status. These
movements are attributed to the grace or condemnation of Allah, and the
characters all act out their movements with Allah close by.You will not go
wrong with this book. These are immensely entertaining stories for both
children and adults, although you might want to find a toned down version
for the kiddies. Why? I am thinking about the tale where a man and some
women play "name that body part." My only criticism of this version is that
the tale of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is absent. I have no idea why it
is missing, but the book loses one star for this grave omission.
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