Some of the stories came to Europe through Spain and some through Greece. Many of the elements from the collection can be found in stories written by Bocaccio or Chaucer. Stories from Arabian Nights influenced European literature much before Galland's translation. He didn't only leave 'adult' scenes in the book, he even added footnotes to provide additional info on oriental intimate practices.ĩ. His approach was totally different than Galland's. Most influential translator of Arabian Nights in English language was Sir Richard Burton. Galland heavily edited the tales, erasing most of the poetry and scenes which he considered as inappropriate.Ĩ.

Most experts believe they were written by Antoine Galland, first translator of the 1001 Nights. This list includes some of the most known titles as Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Sinbad the Sailor (in illustration on the left presented by Arthur Rackham) and Ali Baba and 40 thieves. Some of the tales in the collection of Arabian Nights are called 'orphans' because they don't have known ancestors in oriental folklore. We also have a problem to identify which are the 'original' tales, which came into collection from other sources and which are not a part of folklore at all.Īnd of course pretty complicated narration with frames, unfinished stories and two or three variations of many of the stories don't help either.ħ. There are versions with only a dozen tales and versions with several hundreds available. There is no definite answer to the question 'How many stories are in 1001 Nights?'. He wants to kill her as all his previous wives after the first wedding night but decides to postpone the execution because he wanted to know how story ends (and she always starts the next before he notices the first one is finished). 1001 Nights only gives a time frame in which stories are told by Scheherazade to her husband. Many people believe Thousand and one is the number of the tales in the collection but this is also not true. In Europe Arabian Nights are mostly known as 1001 Nights. The main story which serves to present all the others, for instance is going on in Persia.Ģ.

The collection consists of fairy tales, fables, riddles and verses from large area of Asia and Africa, with India probably being the biggest contributor. In USA and Great Britain these tales are known as Arabian Nights (sometimes Arabian Nights Entertainment) but many of them have nothing to do with Arab countries.

Tales from 1001 arabian nights