Two unexpected associations I pulled out (which surprisingly haven't been commented on here) are

1) in connection with Aladdin, Irwin talks about stories of a magic ring which gets lost in a river and then rediscovered sometime later - I''m sure I've read something about that before... and

2) In connection with Ali Baba, instead of a cave full of gold, one precursor version has a table full of wonderful food that gets replenished - much like the table towards the end of the world in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, though in that case the food was beneficial rather than tricksy, except for the stone knife, a magical item which should not have been touched.

Picking out a couple of bits at random
"Crowns are cheap trash today", said Prezmyra, "whenas the King, with twenty kings to be his lackey, raiseth up now his lackeys to be kings of the earth. Canst wonder if my joyance in this crown were dashed some little when I looked on that other given by the King to Laxus?"

And of a particular building
Surely no potentate of earth, not Croesus, not the great King, not Minos in his royal palace in Crete, not all the Pharaohs, not Queen Semiramis, nor all the Kings of Babylon and Nineveh had ever had a throne room to compare in glory... its walls and pillars were of snow-white marble, every vein whereof was set with small gems: rubies, corals, garnets and pink topaz. Seven pillars on either side bore up the shadowy vault of the roof; the roof-tree and the beams were of gold, curiously carved, the roof itself of mother-of-pearl... the body of each high seat was a single jewel of monstrous size: the lefthand seat a black opal, asparkle with steel-blue fire, the next a fire-opal, as it were a burning coal, the third seat an alexandrite, purple like wine by nights but deep sea-green by day... [and so on for a couple more pages...]

Compare with Torrens
A young man, handsome in face, elegant in his apparel, his countenance fairer than the moon, and his eyes bright dark black [etc]

John Payne
Beloukiya went up to that island and became wondering at it and at the beauty of it and wandered in it and saw it a great island the dust of it saffron and the gravel of it cornelian and precious stones and the hedges of it jessamine and [etc]

And from the main part, in Aladdin
Build me a palace out of porphyry, jasper, agate, lapis and marble, and let it stand opposite the sultan's palace. At the top, you shall build a great domed hall with walls of gold and silver, and with six windows in each wall. The screen on each window shall be set with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds [etc]

I propose that we read the Richard Burton translation of this story ( https://www.telelib.com/words/authors/B/BurtonRichard/prose/arabiannight01/arabiannight01022.html ). That means we read the story, and also get a taste of Burton's translation, to compare to Seale's language.

Any thoughts?

• A cruel way to raise children. Is this opening bit necessary for the story? Isn't ordinary pampering enough?
• Signal of death by blood from a knife: same as in the Jealous Sisters tale.
• Third prince: clever to lie to the princess, a selfless act is rewarded
• Racism: why point out the princess is sleeping with a black man on this night?
• The princess's father isn't the one to punish her for her crime. And is death the appropriate punishment?

Sultan of Samarkand

• Gold and silver, I can see. Rock crystal, maybe. But fishbones?
• Assertion of proety, in that the rituals must be done before moving into the houses.
• Again, the third and youngest sibling is the creative, adaptable one.
• Again, transformation between animals and people. But why?
• Prince is killed by the jinni! But saved by the jinni's daughter. Why did she do this? And why did the other sisters marry the other princes?
• The brothers don't pull up their youngest brother? Six coloured oxen? Where is this story coming from?
• The youngest prince falls asleep while waiting for the beast to devour the princess: what's the role of this detail in the story?
• The prince cuts off part of his own leg to feed to the rukh. But it gets better.
• The youngest prince kills his two elder brothers? What is the moral of this tale?

Purse, dervish trumpet, figs, horns

• There must be much elided before the son find the magical sack of coin transmutation.
• At least this man is using the magic items to turn a profit! He may spend the profit pursuing a princess, but at least he's using the money.
• Again, a man (Ebn Ali Cogia) has his heart set on the beautiful-appearing woman. No consderation of anything except physical beauty, no consideration of what the woman may want.
• I like the idea of the figs that make giant antlers appear.
• But in the end Ebn Ali Cogia doesn't marry the princess?

Jealous sisters: no mention of the princess stuffin her ears to reduce the intensity of the shouting.

These stories are much shorter than Galland's versions, and would only take about ten minutes to tell. These versions hit all the major story beats, but lack much of the detail of Galland's written versions.

Do you prefer the longer or shorter versions?

Personally, I'd like something a bit more expanded than Diyab's notes, but found Galland's retellings a bit long and flabby. What doesn't come through in these notes is any real idea of the personalities of the characters involved. They're story outlines, rather than stories with dramatic change and character growth.

Which prompts the question: what features of the Arabian Nights tales are characteristic of that body of work, as opposed to any other tradition of storytelling?

I've got:

• urban, mercantile, middle-class focus
• ... except when the stories are about the lives of sultans and princes
• stories within stories; some with clear morals, some where the morality is implicit
• huge swings of fate and coincidence, and the fatalism to accept it
• morals and cleverness win the day, over stories hinging on physical prowess and strength of arms
• riches come to the deserving, or "winning the lottery" makes someone a good person
• exoticism, riches, and opulence
• deep, eternal love at first sight
• erudition and nobility of spirit are reflected as physical beauty, and vice versa

What do you think?

• Three sisters reveal their wishes. Sultan overhears and grants them. The elder sisters become jealous
• The younger sister, now sultana, becomes pregnant. The other sisters become her midwives. They steal the baby, putting him in a basket in a stream. He's found the the palace gardener and adopted.
• Next year, the same again. Then a daughter.
• The sultan wants to kill his wife, but she is saved by the vizir. She is condemmed to live in a wooden box.
• The children, including the daughter, grow up highly skilled.
• The gardener retires and the family move to the country. He dies before he can tell the children about how they were found.
• A holy woman visits and tells of three magical wonders to make the house perfect.
• The elder prince, Bahman, sets out to get the treasures, leaving a knife behind.
• Bahman meets a dervish who warns him of the danger ahead. He is turned to stone on the mountain.
• Parviz, the younger brother, sets out on the journey. He meets the same fate.
• Parizade dresses as a man and heads off.
• She shows cleverness by stuffing her ears with cotton so she can't hear the voices. She reaches the bird. The bird tells how how to find the golden water and singing tree. Then she asks about her brothers.
• The bird tells her how to return the petrified people to health. She does so and rescues her brothers. All return home.
• The princes go out hunting and meet the sultan. He invites them to hunt with him. The brothers impress the sultan.
• After a couple of days, the brothers consult Parizade about going to the palace. They consult the bird, who tells them to serve the sultan but invite him to their house.
• The sultan is impressed by the princes and agrees to visit their house.
• The bird gives instructions and Parizade finds a golden chest buried in the garden. She instructs the cook to make cucumbers stuffed with pearls.
• The sultan starts eating and the bird reveals the sultan's haste in judging his wife.
• The sultan is reunited with his children, releases his wife, and executes her jealous sisters

Frame

Finally, Shahriyah relents and agrees to stop killing his wives.

Notes

• Third sister's wish is still gender-role limited: to marry a powerful man and bear children. Do the baker and cook get any say in their marriages?
• The jealous sisters: the same archetype as Cinderella?
• Baby in the basket. Baptism in the Jordan? Baby in a basket like Moses?
• Nobility of heritage equates to beauty of children. A result of the values of the time of translation?
• Again, the air of fatalism throughout the story.
• Again, water as a vehicle of magic.
• Not much story in the latter part, just a reiteration that nobles are superior to commoners in every way.

I think we're in "diminishing returns" territory here.

Palace of Wonders

• Jinni makes the palace in one night
• Huge and ostentatous procession by the princess to Aladdin's palace
• Completing the window takes all the sultan's jewels and some of the vizir's. It's still incomplete.
• Vizir expresses opinion that the palace is magical.
• Aladdin spreads largesse to town and country, making himself popular.

New lamps for old

• Magician divines Aladdin's fate, travels to there.
• Sees the palace, resolves to recover the lamp. While Aladdin is away, "New lamps for old!"
• Badr gives away the magic lamp; magician leaves the city.
• Magician commands the jinni to take him, the palace, and the princess to North Africa.
• Vizir reiterates the use of magic. Sultan arrests Aladdin. Townsfolk protest.
• Vizir stops the execution lest the palace be stormed.
• Sultan agrees to give Aladdin 40 days to find his daughter.

Princess's revenge

• Aladdin stumbles (literally) into using the jinni of the ring. The jinni takes Aladdin to the palace in the Maghreb.
• Aladdin concocts a plan to poison the magician, which Badr must enact.
• She steels herself, puts on a show, and poisons the magician.
• All return, Badr tells her father the story of magic.

Magician's brother

• Magician's evil brother seeks revenge. Travels to China, disguises himself as Fatima (whom he kills).
• Disguised, Badr invites him into the palace. He says the palace needs a rukh egg as decoration.
• In a plot contrivance, the jinni reveals the brother's plot.
• Aladdin kills the brother.

Epilogue

• Explicit moral, back to the frame story of Shahrazad.

Notes

• Rather naive sultan who believes the palace can be built in one night with mundane means.
• Aladdin showing off with the window. What does this say about his character? Is he the child, or the maturing adult?
• The panto version of this story has the wicked vizir as the villain. But here, he's a concerned advisor (with a bit of intrigue thown in). Which version do you prefer?
• When Aladdin uses the lamp, be becomes noble; when he loses the lamp, he returns to being nondescript. What do you think of this connection between material worth and social standing?
• No reaction from the sultan on being told that Aladdin's wealth and power comes from magic (not what the vizir thought)
• Do yyou agree with reading of Aladdin's progression from boy to active man? Is that the key dramatic thread that holds the story together? Or is this just a progression of anecodes?

Sultan's daughter

• Aladdin catches a forbidden glance at Princess Badr at the baths and is infatuated. He resolves to ask the sultan to marry her
• He asks his mother to carry the request. She puts up sensible objections.
• He decides to use the gemstones from the cave as a gift to the sultan. She reluctantly agrees.

Before the sultan

• Aladdin's mother goes to the sultan's audience several times before she is called. She passes on Aladdin's request to marry Badr. He isn't angry, but is surprised by the bundle of jewels.
• The sultan wants to marry Badr to Aladdin right away.
• The vizir wants his son to marry her. He asks for three months to find a better gift.
• Two months later, the sultan has forgotten the deal and agreed to marry Badr to the vizir's daughter.
• Aladdin asks the jinni of the lamp to bring him the bride and groom.

A wedding interrupted

• As they are left alone in the bedroom, the jinni transports bride and groom to Aladdin's bedroom, then the groom to the outhouse.
• Aladdin tells Badr that her father promised her to Aladdin. They go to bed, with a sword between them.
• In the morning, the jinni returns Badr and the groom to his bedroom.
• She says nothing when the sultan arrives in the morning.
• Badr gives a garbled account of her night to her mother.
• Badr and the new husband don't enjoy the next day.
• The jinni repeats its actions the next night. Similar events unfold.
• The next day, Badr tells the sultan what happened. The groom asks for the marriage to be annulled. The sultan does so.

Prince Aladdin

• After another month, Aladdin sends his mother back to the sultan. He regrets his promise.
• At the vizir's urging, he sets the bride-price extremely high.
• Aladdin tasks the jinni of the lamp to get it. It does so instantly. Aladdin sends the slaves and jewels to the sultan.
• The sultan is convinced by the wealth and agrees to the marriage.
• Aladdin gets a bath and fine clothes then goes to the sultan.
• The sultan is overwhelmed by Aladdin's riches and erudition.
• Finally, Aladdin asks the jinni to build a palace.

Notes

• Aladdin hiding to catch a glimpse of Badr: another example of how the "peeping tom" trope is alive, well, and lauded.
• Not much happens in the Sultan's Daughter section. Did it need more than a couple of paragraphs?
• Weak-willed ruler forgetting his promises, and no-one consulting Badr about her wishes.
• All this transporting of the bride and groom seems a roundabout way of Aladdin getting what he wants.
• What do you think of the equating of wealth with worth in this story?

Tailor's son

• Aladdin grows up an ungrateful wastrel
• Maghrebi magician arrives, says is Aladdin's uncle, gives money.
• The magician sets up Aladdin as a cloth merchant

A ring and a lamp

• Magician takes Aladdin to the gardens outside the city, then further.
• In a mountain pass, the magician casts a spell and reveals a trap door. He forces Aladdin to open it and go down.
• Aladdin follows instructions, takes the lamp and plenty of jewel fruit
• Aladdin refuses to hand over the lamp before he emerges. In a rage, the magician traps him in the cave.
• We get the magicians backstory as he leaves

Slave of the ring

• Aladdin rubs the ring, summons the jinni, and is rescued from the cave. He walks back to the city
• He returns home and recounts his story to his mother.

Slave of the lamp

• The mother cleans the lamp in preparation to sell it. Another jinni appears. Aladdin asks it for food.
• Aladdin realises he has power, but must be circumspect.
• He sells the silver tableware for much less than it's worth.
• He matures, no longer playing with boys.
• He eventually understands the true value of what he has, and waits to take advantage of it.

Notes

• Galland tried to connect the story to the frame; Diyab just told a story
• Do the North Americans have christmas panto, or know about it? (Oh no they don't)
• Aladdin the wastrel: is this the version of the character you know? Do you prefer a more sympathetic one?
• Aladdin can't take other treasures: again, the idea of restraint and worthiness. But this time it's imposed, not innate.
• What do you think of the magician throwing away all this work, so easily?
• As per note 50, p. 437: these jinni are good servants, not hostile and not twisting the wishes into something unpleasant.
• This is a pretty obvious "coming of age" story, with Aladdin going from the carefree boy to mature, sensible adult. But this is different from the earlier stories, where people abandon themselves to fate.

• A man brings a magical horse to the king of Persia, offers it to the king in exchange for marrying the princess
• The prince objects, tries the horse, but disappears before receiving full instruction. The horse's owner is held hostage for the prince's return.
• The prince lands on the roof of a palace. He falls in love with the sleeping princess and asks for her protection.
• She falls in love with him, and offers him hospitality.
• Lot of padding...
• The prince wants to return home to reassure his father. The princess wants him to stay, fearful that he'll forget her once he leaves. She persuades him to stay a while
• He asks her to come with him, she agrees.
• The king of Persia agrees to the marriage.
• The owner of the wooden horse kidnaps the princess in full view of the king and prince, going to Kashmir.
• The prince resolves to track them down, disguised as a dervish.
• The princess makes a fuss about her capture (but after eating), and is rescued by the sultan of Kashmir. The sultan has the horse-owner beheaded.
• The sultan takes the princess to his palace and resolves to marry her the next day. She pretends to be mad.
• Doctors from ever-wider regions try and fail to cure her madness
• The prince hears of it and travels to Kashmir. He is reunited with the princess
• He persuades the sultan to bring the enchanted horse to the prince and princess
• Inside a smokescreen, the prince uses the horse to escape with the princess and the sultan's jewels.

Notes

• The princess gets no say in being offered as payment for a mechanical horse.
• Why does the Princess of Bengal have wardrobes full of men's clothes?
• Again, the connection between beauty and virtue. The prince and princess fall in love immediately and recognise each other as royalty; the sultan of Kashmir immediately takes her side over the ugly(?) Indian horse-owner
• Lots of padding of the initial meetings of the prince and princess
• Any comments on all the notes describing how Galland embellished the story with details of the "exotic Orient"? I think it's distracting filler. On the other hand, Galland knows his audience and wants to make some money. It'll be interesting to compare this with the original notes on pp. 539-42
• A lot of talk in this story about food. Hungry prince when he first arrives in Bengal, the princess has breakfast at the pleasure house, she doesn't escape in Kashmir because she's hungry
• Prince of Persia is a trickster, outwitting the sultan of Kashmir. Do you agree?
• What do you think of the imposed moral?

• King's three sons all love their cousin. The king sets them a challenge to see who will marry her, by finding the most extraordinary thing
• First prince (Hussein) travels to Bisnagar, city of merchants and rich. Finds and buys the "flying" carpet, but stays in the city and sees all manner of amazing things. He eventually returns, safe and well, with the carpet.
• Second prince (Ali) travels to Shiraz in Persia. Finds and buys the ivory pipe. Stays a while, then returns to India.
• Third prince (Ahmad) travels to Samarkand. Finds and buys the apple. Stays a while, then returns to India.
• The brothers reunite, show off their treasures.
• They use the pipe to see Nurunnihar dying, use the carpet to get there, and the apple to save her.
• The king judges that all three gifts are incomparable, so sets another challenge: who can shoot an arrow the furthest.
• Ali shoots further than Hussein, but Ahmed's arrow can't be found.
• Hussein leaves to become a dervish.
• Ahmed goes to search for his arrow. He finds it at an impossible distance.
• Ahmed finds an iron door; inside is a palace and inside the palace, a woman. She reveals she is a jinn and that she fixed the competiton between the brothers.
• Pari Banu seduces Ahmed.

Notes

• Again, the claim that much of European folklore comes from the Arabian Nights.
• Marriage between first cousins?
• How much of the story is an excuse for an exotic travelogue?
• Three wonderous treasures, just locked up in the kings palace. Did no-one think of doing good with them?
• How fickle is Ahmed's love? He forgets Nurunnihar as soon as he sees Pari Banu.

Sidi Numan

• Sidi marries a woman who eats suspiciously little
• One night, he follows her and sees her meet a ghoul and eat human flesh
• Next day, he confronts her, she casts a spell and transforms him into a dog. He escapes after a beating
• Shows politeness, is taken in by a baker
• Shows a talent for spotting fake coins, becomes famous
• Eventually a woman takes Sidi the dog to her daughter, a magician; she dispells the transformation
• Sidi tells his story, the daugher gives him the water to punish his wife
• Caliph Harun passes judgement on the man and his wife

Khawaja Hasan al-Habbal

• Saadi and Saad disagree about wealth and happiness. They decide to give riches to a random poor craftsman and choose Hasan
• Hasan buys some hemp and meat but loses the rest of the money stolen by a bird.
• Six months later, he's back in the same poverty as before. Saadi and Saad return, don't believe the story, but give him more money anyway.
• He hides the money in a jar of grain, which his wife gives away. She berates him for keeping secrets
• Saadi and Saad return. They discuss the matter, and Saad gifts Hasan a piece of lead
• He gifts it to a fisherman, who gifts back a fish containing a diamond in its guts
• Neighbour, a jeweller, visits and recognises the diamond. After some haggling, Hasan sells the diamond for a huge sum
• Hasan uses the money to become a capitalist
• Saadi and Saad visit again, disbelieve the tale until Hasan finds both lost purses

Notes

Sidi Numan

• What do you think of Seale's assertion that this is really about incomprehension between sexes?
• Same sorts of magic as the previous story, using splashed water and the undoing being similar to the casting of the initial spell
• Is Harun's decision a just and wise one?
• What about the similarity of this story to others in the collection?
• Is there a moral to this story?

Khawaja Hasan al-Habbal

• Does Hasan not tell anyone about the money, so it can be kept safe?
• What's the moral? How do you think this tale would have been read byGalland's original audience?
• How about the numerous notes about Galland's embellisments of the story? Do you think they add to the story?

Ali Khawaja

• Ali goes on hajj, needs to safeguard his thousand gold coins. Hides them in a jar of olives
• Goes to Mecca, Cairo, Damascus, ... for trade taking seven years in total.
• Meanwhile, the merchant entrusted with the olives eventually opens the jar, takes the money, re-seals the jar
• Ali returns, retrieves jar, discovers the theft; merchant denies it
• Qadi rejects Ali's accusation; Ali appeals to caliph
• That night, caliph overhears children re-enacting the case. They consider the freshness of the olives.
• Caliph hears the case the next day, with the child judge and qadi.

Night adventures

• Harun depressed, but is reminded that he was going into the city in disguise
• Meets a blind beggar who wants to be slapped, a man whipping a horse, and a new house of a rich ropemaker. All three are invited to the palace to tell their stories
• Harun says he will judge them

Baba Abdallah

• Meets a dervish in the desert, who tells of a nearby treasure trove
• They haggle over shares of the treasure, showing Baba's greed
• Dervish uses magic to enter the treasure cave, take all they can
• Dervish takes a small box of ointment, then they part ways
• Baba is envious, reclaims the camels and treasures. Dervish agrees but gives ominous warning
• Eventually, takes the ointment. Is too greedy and is blinded. Dervish takes the treasure
• Baba has begged since then, asks for slaps as punishment
• Harun gives him alms

Notes

Ali Khawaja

• Is this a good template for a prototypical detective story? Compare to Three Apples
• Does the travel guide part give an impression of the size of the Muslim world?
• Expectation of honouring promises
• Harun the idealised ruler

Night adventures

• I'd almost forgotten about Shahrazad!
• Do you see the similarities with other stories, such as the detail of porter and three women?
• What do you think of Harun's goal of keeping order and decorum?

Baba Abdallah

• Obvious morality tale
• Again, based around urban merchants, making the tale relatable to ordinary folk.

• Contrasting fates of Ali Baba and Qasim
• Ali Baba hides from bandits, discovers their hideout
• Takes some gold home
• Qasim's wife discovers that Ali Baba has found gold, she and Qasim become jealous
• Qasim extracts the secret, greedily tries to take too much and forgets the password
• Thieves return, kill Qasim
• Ali Baba returns the body (and takes some more gold), offers to marry Qasim's wife
• Marjana conceals manner of Qasim's death
• Thieves discover their lair has been discovered.
• A thief discovers Qasim's house, but Marjana conceals it; the chieftain kills the thief
• Thieves conceal themselves in oil jars
• Marjana discovers the concealed thieves, kills them all with boiling oil
• Chieftain flees for his life
• Ali Baba frees Marjana, they bury the thieves
• Chieftain returns to the city, posing as a merchant
• Marjana recognises him, kills him.
• Eventually, Ali Baba takes the rest of the gold

Notes

• Differing sources of temptation: food (from Syria) and weath (from France)
• How much did you already know of Marjana?
• Sesame: Babylonian reference?
• Ali Baba taking the gold: is this theft? (He makes not attempt to return the gold to original owners, or give to charity)
• Does Qasim's wife have a name?
• The same "mark all doors" trick was used by Charlie Stross in Halting State, where DNA tracing is fooled by spraying a crime scene with dust taken from several public busses.
• Morality of Marjana killing all the thieves?
• Is Marjana the true hero of the story?
• This is longer tale than most of the previous. How does it compare? More or less satisfying?

It's in this spreadsheet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MYm50XIeMDzfl0UuFvr21spX1Df37z0XvwEw8yDdieQ/edit?usp=sharing

The first four weeks will be split between the introduction and stories. After that, it's stories all the way. I've done the first 600-odd pages, taking about six months. We can worry about the last hundred-odd pages when we get there and see how we feel.

I've pencilled in some dates, proposing starting the first discussion on 25 September.

Please comment, here or on the schedule sheet.

Fourth voyage

• Travels again (against better judgement), thrown overboard in a storm
• Find naked men, Sinbad's fellows are drugged by them
• Shown the way to escape by a man-herder
• Comes across other people, welcomed by them
• Makes a saddle for the king
• As reward, Sinbad is married to a noble woman
• He learns about tradition of people being buried if their spouse dies
• Sinbad's wife dies (quelle surprise!)
• After some time, another widow is lowered into the crypt. Sinbad murders her and eats her food. This repeats.
• Eventually, Sinbad escapes the crypt, taking jewels, but continues to kill widows until rescue arrives

Fifth voyage

• Companions find and break a rukh egg. The rukh attack and destroy the ship.
• Sinbad washes up on a paradisical island, is captured by a man who rides on his shoulders
• Eventually, Sinbad gets him drunk and frees himself. Sinbad kills the Old Man.
• Finds a ship, but is abandoned at the City of Apes
• Sinbad taken in, gains coconuts from the apes.
• Finds a ship, takes passages, luckily trades coocnuts for valuables.

Sixth voyage

• Another voyage, another shipwreck
• Island has great wealth but no food. Eventually all other shipwreck survivors starve
• Builds raft and travels on underground stream
• Finds civilsation, gifts the king and is taken in.
• Eventually finds a ship returning to Baghdad.

Seventh voyage

• Travels to China, but ship attacked by whales
• Finds an island, makes a raft, carries him to a hidden city, rescued and taken in
• Rescuer buys his raft of sandalwood, marries his daughter
• Sinbad notices the men grow wings and fly away once each month. Praising god causes fire
• Abandoned on a mountain, meets others, given a rod of gold, rescues another man from a serpent
• Returns to the city, decides to leave with his wife

Notes

Fourth voyage

• Anything to make of the constant references to food and hunger? Do these foreshadow the ending?
• Do you think Sinbad was justified in his murders? His theft? His concealment of it?
• No miscellany of strange sights. Do you miss it?

Fifth voyage

• Note, p. 242, contrasting Sinbad and Odysseus (former seeks adventure, latter just wants to go home)
• Return to piety. How religious are these stories?
• A good deed is punished. Contrast with all the good deeds that people have paid Sinbad.
• What is the role of luck in these stories?

Sixth voyage

• I take it we're not supposed to ask why no-one else tried to go down the stream
• Is this really a more fantastic tale than the ones before?

Seventh voyage

• Note, p 256: different version of the voyages of sinbad.
• Are cities always places of safety?
• Where does this fit in the ring cycle of the stories? Is that an accurate description of the voyages of Sinbad?
• Is this a good end of this story cycle?

Intro

• Porter laments fate and inequality, is invited to hear the merchant's tales

First voyage

• Inherits young, but wastes it
• Gathers capital, sets sail
• Lands on an "island" that's really a giant fish
• Sinbad abandoned but doesn't drown
• Recovers, meets a man on the island
• Tells of the water-horse
• Taken to King Mihrajan, employed for years
• Eventually the original ship appears, still with his goods
• Sinbad proves his identity, thanks the king and receives gifts, returns home

Second voyage

• Wanderlust prompts the voyage
• Abandoned on an island
• Finds giant dome, then the rukh
• Ties himself to leg, carried away to a valley without exit, but soil made from diamonds, and giant snakes
• Spends the night with a snake
• Finds carcass, gathers diamonds, is carried away by eagle
• Finds solace with another merchant
• More curiosities
• Returns home, rich

Third voyage

• Attacked at the Mountain of Apes, ship stolen
• Finds a house and a giant
• Giant inspects the men, kills and cooks the captain. Another the next day, and the next
• Blind the giant, escape on the raft, a female appears
• All but three men killed
• Wash up on another island
• Other men eaten by serpent
• Sinbad makes wooden "armour", survives
• Hails a ship, which contains his stores
• Convinces the captain of his identity
• More curiosities, returns home

Notes and comments

Intro

• Again, unclear what the "definitive" story is or where it came from
• Transformed into the swashbuckler by Harryhausen's films
• What do you think of the scene-setting and desciption of the merchant's house?
• What lesson do these stories hold? (notes 6 & 7)
• Is this version of Sinbad what you were expecting? What about the stories?
• Structure of serialised tales follows that of the frame story

First voyage

• Strangers welcomed
• Why was the ship so long coming, and still with Sinbad's goods aboard?
• Sinbad is rather passive. Is he anything other than an empty vessel of narrative?

Second voyage

• Again, blown by winds of fate
• Focus on making money
• Again, strangers treated well

Third voyage

• Are these apes, or pirates?
• Very similar to an episode in Odyssey
• Horta seems desperate to assert that these tales couldn't be influenced by anything European!
• Monster and the more monstrous female: Beowulf?

• Dyer sets out to find Delila (more later?)
• Dalila finds head of merchant guild, decides to abduct the young son
• Talks the maid into handing over the boy
• Finds a gemcutter, spins a yarn, gets riches and leaves the boy.
• Boy's absence discovered, all merchants go looking
• Dyer appears, reveals Dalila's previous form
• Donkey driver has teeth removed, Dalila robbed the shop
• All ask governor for help and compensation
• Arrest Dalila, but she escapes, sells the dyer, merchant, etc to the governor's wife
• Eventually found again and captured
• Persuades a passing Bedouin to take her place
• All go to the caliph, who orders Ahmed the Plague to capture Dalila
• Zaynab sets out to trick Ahmed, does so
• Calamity Hasan spots a chance for improvement
• Get caliph to agree to pay Dalila's husband's wages, give her a job

Notes and comments

• Jews living in Baghdad / Cairo, expect justice
• Dalila: clever rogue, but how much violence and pain caused by her actions (e.g. the donkey driver's teeth)
• At what point did your suspension of disbelief give up?
• Neat ending to the tale
• What do you think of Dalila's motivation?
• Corrupt watchmen in Baghdad / Cairo

Three apples

• Random fisherman pulls up chest containing a murdered woman
• Caliph gives Jafar three days to find culprit, but spends first two in a funk
• At the last minute, two men confess to the murder
• Young man tells of his faultless wife, her illness, and craving for an apple
• He travels to Basra, gets apples, but she doesn't want them
• Then young man meets his wife's lover with one of the apples
• He then murdered his wife.
• Then his son reveals that the slave stole the apple from the boy
• Caliph orders the slave executed instead
• Jafar waits, then finds apple was stolen by one of his daughter's slaves
• Caliph laughs at the tale, no executions

Dalila the crafty

• Sets out to prove her equal to the men
• Assembles strange collection of items: pitcher with coins, beads, flag
• Hassan Road-Hazard is angry because he has no son, blames his wife Khatun
• Dalila targets Khatun
• Cons her way to Khatun
• Gets her clothes, the merchant's purse, the contents of the dyer's shop, the donkey
• The victims fight

Notes and comments

Three apples

• Is this the inspiration behind the modern detective novel?
• Is this a mirror for princes, a comment on Shahriyah's murder spree
• Trope of caliph in disguise
• Caliph responsible for the actions of his people. True in other Arabian Nights tales? True in European tales?
• If this is a detective story, Jafar doesn't do much detecting
• Story ends with laughter: do you think this a fitting end?

Dalila the crafty

• Lovable rogue character: heists, capers, cons
• Cairo setting
• Translation avoids assumption of deceitful women, clever men
• Commonplace magic, visions, etc allow Dalila to run her con
• Who deserves to be a victim of the crimes? Khatun maybe, but the others?
• We've got to an actual mid-story cliffhanger. Does this break-point work make you keen for next week?

Third dervish

• Exploring, got lost at sea
• Ship wrecked on lodestone island
• Has a prophetic dream, not to mention name of god
• Carries out the steps, is almost saved by another man of brass, but utters name of god at last moment
• Washes up on an island, spies people digging to a trapdoor
• Fill chamber with supplies, old man leaves a beautiful boy there
• Ajib meets boy, hears he is prophesied to kill the boy
• Forms friendship, but kills him by accident on the fated day
• Eventually leaves the island, comes across city in the desert
• Ten young men, each missing an eye. They do pennance.
• Eventually, Ajib asks for their story. Ram and rukh to go to sandalwood palace
• Spends a year of pleaure there
• Women leave, tell him not to open door of red gold
• He does, on the last day. Finds a flying horse, which takes out his eye and returns him to the house of one-eyed men

First woman, the owner

• Three sisters, two half-sisters
• Elder two sisters repeatedly swindled by husbands
• Youngest sister goes on trading trip, finds city with people of stone
• Gets lost in palace, eventually finds a man reading the qur'an
• He tells how everyone was petrified for refusing to convert to Islam
• She proposes marriage to the man.
• The sisters, jealous, threw the couple overboard. He drowned.
• Knowingly rescues a jinni, who rewards the woman and curses the sisters into dogs, the woman to beat them knightly

Second woman, the keeper

• Rich widow, asked by poor woman to attend her daughter's wedding
• Meets the daughter's brother, love at first sight, married, but with oath of never looking at other men
• Going to buy cloth, has a piece of her cheek bitten off
• Husband questions her, threatening excessive collective punishments, eventually threatens to kill the woman
• Old woman intervenes, the keeper is beaten and expelled
• The husband's house is destroyed

Conclusion

• Marriages all round, justice served, happily ever after

Notes and comments

Third dervish

• Initally claims to be a stranger tale than what told before. is this true? Would these stories have worked better in a different order?
• Automaton with written charms: connection to Jewish golem?
• How much of Ajib's story is fate, how much his own doing?
• Is the relationship between Ajib and the boy friendship, romantic, sexual?
• Repeat of motifs of women living alone, debauchery
• Door of red gold: reversal of gender of typical story (woman's curiosity is punished)
• Did you enjoy the descriptions of the wonders in the rooms?
• Is there a moral to this tale? (e.g. note 96, p. 142, that curiosity is ungodly)

First woman

• Change in power dynamics: now the caliph demanding the truth
• Another change: assertive woman
• Another change: she obeys instructions, and has good fortune

Second woman

• Undefined oath: look at men, talk to them, what is forbidden?
• Is such an oath reasonable?
• Another victim of fate. Did she break the oath?
• Destruction of the husban's house: do you miss any explanation?

Conclusion

• What do you think of the tidy resolution of these tales?
• Imposition of status quo: people must be married, women subservient.

First dervish

• Son of a king
• cousin persuaded him to escort cousin and a woman into a chamber below a tomb
• Dervish couldn't find the tomb
• Captured by usurping vizir on return home
• Blinded by vizir for childhood accident
• Executioner allows the dervish to flee
• Returns to uncle, finds the tomb, finds cousin and woman turned to charcoal. Uncle is pleased
• Uncle reveals incest between cousin and his sister, adopts dervish
• Vizir attacks uncle
• Dervish goes into hiding as a dervish

Second dervish

• Son of a king, well-learned.
• Ambushed while travelling to king of India
• Wanders, finds a city, but in a feud with his father
• Takes up woodcutting to make ends meet
• Finds a hidden chamber containing a beautiful woman.
• She was kidnapped by a jinni, who "visits" her every ten days
• She invites him to stay for a while, they fall in love
• Drunk, he summons the jinni intending to kill him, but flees
• He seals the chamber, leaving jinni to torture the woman
• Jinni tracks him down, takes him to the woman's chamber
• Collusion via eyebrows, refuse to kill each other
• Jinni kills(?) the woman, about to transform the man

Envied and envier

• Envied man lives blameless life, receives reward
• Envier pushes envied into a well
• Jinn haunting the well discuss him, the king's daughter, and how to rid her of possession
• Next day, the envied does that and, over time, becomes vizir then king.
• Later, rewards envier and does not punish him

Second dervish

• jinni persuaded by the moral, spares the man, but transforms him to an ape
• Eventually leaps aboard a ship
• Gains sympathy of captain, then proves worth with calligraphy
• King's daughter sees through the enchantment, revealing her magical abilities
• She battles the jinni, shifting shapes. Eventually wins, breaks the spell, but dies soon after
• King exiles the man, who becomes a dervish mystic

Comments and questions

General

• From the length of the comments, it's clear that these are fast-paced stories with little description and character development. Do you think a more novel-type writing, with a slower pace, would be better?

First dervish

• More drinking being a plot point
• Lots of reversals of fortune.
• What killed the incestuous cousins?
• Note on . 105. Is there evidence of the first dervish not adhering to his faith? How are we supposed to learn this lesson?
• Do you think this tale hangs together? Is it anything other than a run of bad luck? What lessons should we learn from it?

Second dervish

• Contrast between dangerous countryside and safe cities. Again, stories by and for the urban people
• Another story of royalty laid low.
• If he was in the city for a year, couldn't he arranged to have left and returned home? Bah, logic isn't for stories!
• Jinni has a family, and treats the woman as a hidden mistress! Jinni are human in many ways
• Leaving a woman to be tortured: not exactly heroic acts!
• Virtuous nature of hte kidnapped bride: a contrast to the cuckolding wives of earlier in the book?

Envied and envier

• Pretty clear moral here! Does the story do anything other than present the moral?

Second dervish

• Accepting of fate as a monkey: fatalism is good?
• Why didn't he write down his story at first? Again, bah, logic.
• Fun magic battle! What did you think of this?
• Again, the belief that the caliph will make everything good.

Enchanted prince's story

• Prince overhears that his wife is unfaithful
• He follows, spies her pleading with her lover
• It's revealed she's a sorcerer of some form.
• Prince attempt to kill the lover
• Wife builds house of grief, secretly nurses wounded lover
• Eventual confrontation, wife curses the prince (to half stone), the people (to fishes), the land (to a lake)

Enchanted prince

• King kills the lover and hides
• He tricks the wife/sorceress into undoing her spells
• Returns home, all live happily ever after

Porter and three women

• A beautiful woman hires a porter, buys varied and exotic foods
• They eventually go to her home, where she's greeted by even more beautiful women, in a private home
• Porter talks his way into staying for a while, sworn to secrecy, but is overwhelmed and becomes bawdy
• The women become bawdy, debauchery ensues
• Porter asks to stay, accepted when he promises to ask no questions
• Three dervishes arrive, porter declines to answer their questions
• Then the incognito caliph appears, is invited in
• Later, the owner beats two chained dogs, the buyer sings to the keeper, who is mysteriously covered in bruises
• The men conspire to ask the women their story, but are captured and must tell their stories for their lives.
• The porter tells his and leaves

Comments

Enchanted Prince's story

• How much should we read this story as a comment on Shahriyah's cuckolding and revenge, and how much is this just a fun adventure tale in its own right?

Enchanted prince

• Re note 66 (p. 73): is this story more engaging than others?
• The style has moved from fable to horror
• The notes stress the importance of speech and words in the story. Do you agree?
• Different styles of magic: Duban's of potions for healing or killing, the womans of chants to transform
• Various dangling elements in the story: the admonition to only fish the lake once per day, the woman talking to the cooked fish.
• Very obviously two disconnected tales put together. I've not been able to find anything about the origin of this frankenstein-story.

Porter and three women

• I remember reading this one in the other translation, and it's fun.
• A story of the Islamic golden age, Abbasid caliphate
• What do you think of the flowery language describing the market, the women, the house?
• wine drinking is not unheard of
• Do you get the impression that the women's house is outside the mundane realm? Is that a good bit of writing?
• The set-up of just these people arriving on this night: more or less believable than the fisherman and jinni, or other stories?

Yunan and Duban

• Duban heals king of leprosy, by medicine in a polo mallet
• Yunan showers him with gifrs
• Jealous vizir speaks against Duban

Sinbad and falcon

• Falcon warns t he king of poison, but the king doesn't understand and kills the falcon.

King's son and ghoul

• Vizir sends the king's son on a false hunt.
• Son is found by a ghoul, but escapes by reciting a prayer
• King kills the vizir

Yunan and Duban

• Vizir persuades Yunan to kill Duban
• Duban laments his fate
• Repetiiton of "spare me and god will spare you, but kill me and you will be killed", relating to Fisherman's statement.
• "I am in no condition to tell you a story" Ha!
• Duban asks for, and gets, leave to settle his affairs
• Presents Yunan with a book laced with poison
• Both die

Fisherman and jinni

• Fisherman says moral of the tales.
• Jinni promises to aid the fisherman, shows him magical lake
• Fisherman takes fish to the sultan.

Fisherman and jinni, part 2

• Girl magically appears, talks to frying fish
• Repeats for vizir
• When the king watches, a giant appears
• The king explores, finds the black palace
• Comes across beautiful boy, sad, with lower body of black stone

Notes

"And I will kill you in the morning": Connection to Princess Bride?

Yunan and Duban

• How is this tale about a trapped jinni persuading a fisherman to release him? (Refer to the outer story)

Sinbad and falcon

• Alternate tale in the marginal notes: back to questions of sources of the tales.
• Comparison to "Boy who cried wolf"?
• King Sinbad is meant to represent the jealous vizir? Isn't that the wrong way around, in terms of status?

King's son and ghoul

• Comments on the note that "the story of a duplicitous vizir is an odd choice"
• Does this story advance the vizir's case?

Yunan and Duban

• Did you anticipate the ending?
• Do these stories reinforce the theme of unjust actions bringing ruin to the actor? How does this relate to fisherman and jinni?

Fisherman and jinni

• Do the subtales reinforce the statement the fisherman is making?
• What about the jinni's warning to only fish the lake once per day?
• Do you get a sense of wonder about the lake, the fish, the palace?
• The rich description of the second half of this tale is a change of style from prevous stories. Any thoughts on this?
• Lots of nested stories, including some not told. Are you following the structure?

Modern and postmodern

• Many western authors intrigued by nesting of tales, structure.
• Arabian authors treat as commentary on politics and power
• Shahrazad as feminist pioneer
• Ongoing invitation to add stories, to be heard

The annotated Nights

• Summary of tales in the book
• Justification for what's included.

The Seale translation

• The need of a new translation, free of Victorian worldview (essentialism, exoticification)
• Need to show women characters a whole people
• Claim that this is a truer translation than what has gone before, inclusion of Diyab
• Original Arabic text is unadorned language.
• Outline of Seale's choices in this translation

Notes and questions

• How many of these stories can be read as invitations to hear contemporary voices?
• Are there any references to modernism and postmodernism in the introduction?
• Are there any tales here you're particularly interested in reading?
• How beautiful should the prose be?
• Have you appreciated Seale's prose in the stories so far? (e.g. description of jinni in "Fisherman" tale)

Stories

Second old man

• First two brothers lose all on foreign trading trips, waste gifts given by third brother
• Eventually persuaded him to go on trading trip, make large profit
• Third brother marries a disguised jinniya
• First two brothers grow jealous, attempt to kill the third.
• He holds his wife back from vengance
• But her sister curses the brothers

Third old man

• Adulterous wife curses her husband, butcher's daughter breaks the spell
• Daughter gives the husband the means to curse his wife

Merchant and jinni

• Jinni enjoys the tales, agrees to let the merchant live

Fisherman and jinni

• Poor fisherman has no luck for first three times
• Fourth time, finds a jar and releases a jinni
• Jinni threatens the fisherman, tells his tale
• Fisherman tricks the jinni back into the jar

Notes

Second old man

• Another tale of shape-shiftting and magic
• A good wife being faithful and obeying husband, while retaining agency

Third old man

• Short!
• Demonstration of how to punish without killing?

Merchant and jinni

• Another example of violence tempered, this time by a story. Lesson for Shahriyah?

Age of Empire

• English translations from arabic came later. Lane had genuine desire to communicate and educate.
• Burton's translation was a personal take, feeding into Decadent literary community
• But most Western translations based on Galland
• Inspired realist fiction and Western form of novel: Dickens, Shelley, Brontë drew from the tales

Visual delights

• Ballet, fashion, theatre, all inspired by Modernist versions of Nights.
• Stressing eroticism and violence over adventure and wonder
• Popular with early film makers, especially special effects
• Spectacle over adherence to stories

Notes and questions

• Anyone know the history of the European novel? Are the Arabian Nights this influential?
• Seems to be an increasing emphasis on the exotic, otherworldly elements of the Tales
• Does the role of Tales in film, a visual medium, overshadow the narrative of the Tales? Something to pay attention to in the read.

Stories

• Notes point out connection between this tale and Shahrazad's position.
• Prompt to consider justice
• Social / cultural context. What did you learn?
• Merging of magical and realistic, fatalism

Merchant and Jinni

• Merchant inadvertently kills a jinni's son
• jinni swears to kill the man in retrubution, but he bargains for a delay of a year.
• When he returns to the jinni, three old men appear.
• First man bargains a tale for a third of hte merchant's life
• Tales for merchants, not rulers
• Accepting of fate, upholding of oaths

First Old Man

• Man married, but childless. Takes a lover, fathers a son.
• Wife learns magic, transforms lover and son into cattle
• After some time, man kills his transformed lover, but refuses to kill his son.
• Shepherd's daughter discerns the truth
• She marries the restored son and curses the wife
• Jinni agrees it is a strange tale

Notes and questions

• First tale by Shahrazad, first nested tale.
• Shahrazad chose a dangerous tale to tell first. How much attention should we pay to this, or is this just a good opening story, frame be damned?
• Thoughts on the presentation of Shahrazad's and Shahriyar's interjections each night? And that Shahriyah isn't named, only referred to as "the king"
• What do you think of the merging of magic in the tales, and the matter-of-fact way people accept it?
• How do these stories compare to what you thought they'd be, in terms of tone and content?
• There's a lot of notes, setting context and drawing out themes. Are these useful in the book, or getting in the way of enjoyment?

Voyage to Europe

• Tales first in Europe by Galland.
• Popular, sold as fairy tales.
• Back to the notion of what is the definitive story collection
• Explanation of the sections of tales in this book: Arabic, French, Diyab

Diyab

• His stories not strict retellings of traditional stories, but drew on traditional motifs, and creating new stories is a tradition
• His stories have more magic and wealth than other stories. Was that his preference? Was it aimed at popular opinion?
• Influenced by travels with Lucas, sympathy with common folk.
• Several common plots / structures introduced by Diyab into European traditions
• Galland (or editor) created the conclusion of the Nights, the happy ending.

European imagination

• Structure used and exploited by many European authors
• Atomized and published in serial form
• Many interpretations. Stories received "as a source of pure narrative pleasure, as a means to deliver didactic lessons, and as an instrument of political critique."
• Sanitized version a staple of children's literature.
• Continued to be considered low brow, but some deeper themes. However, escapism and distraction were more common
• Heavily influenced Romanticism and Gothic. Emphasis on imagination and the world beyond senses.

Notes on introduction.

• How much of earlier influence is import, or parallel invention?
• Is the role of translator to be faithful, or to interpret to become accessible? Is it wrong to criticise Galland's decision?
• The different nature of Diyab's stories. Was that his preference? Was it aimed at popular opinion?
• Does the selling of these stories as fairy tales colour modern perception? They're treated as children's stories not serious literature. (Similarly, "magical realism" wins nobel prizes, but "urban fantasy" is young adult pulp.)
• This book emphasises the influence of Arabian Nights on European literature. Is it over selling the case?
• How familiar were you with these stories growing up, whether retellings of the stories, or re imagining in other settings?

Tales

Donkey and ox

• Ox laments his fate, Donkey tells him to feign illness.
• Ox does, but the merchant makes Donkey do his work.
• Donkey laments the outcome and muses on how to turn the tables. (Foreshadowing the next story)
• Interpretation: stay in peace.

Merchant and Wife

• Donkey tells ox of the impending doom.
• The merchant's wife is upset that the merchant doesn't reveal his secret.
• He prepares for his death.
• The merchant overhears the rooster tell the dog that the merchant should beat his wife. The merchant does so and the wife withdraws her question.
• Interpretation: discipline and women should obey men.

Frame

• Shahrazad persuades her father she will not be swayed. He goes to the king with her offer.
• Shahrazad enlists Dunyazad in her plot.
• Shahrazad starts her first story

Notes on the stories

Donkey and Ox

• Another example of using animal stories as moral fables? (Aesop?)
• What human features do you think the donkey and ox represent?
• The notion of a ruse, and that the tales are a ruse by Shahrazad
• Is the interpretation by the vizir the one you draw from this tale?

Merchant and wife

• What does this say about honesty and stubbornness in a marriage? Who is at fault here? The merchant for concealing a secret, the wife for insisting it's told?
• The rooster, going from wife to wife: is this Shahriyah?
• Is this a story about marriage and relations between spouses, or one about the common people holding leaders to account?

Frame

• What do you think of Shahrazad's bravery?
• Questions about how Dunyazad came to stay in the marriage bedchamber. Does this need explaining? Who else is present?