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One Thousand and One Nights
The Arabian Nights are basically folk tales that originated in Persia, India and Arabian countries and have been passed on to generations through oral and written prose and verse. Originally composed in Arabic, these have been later translated into English and many other languages. Of course, no translation can match Sir Richard Burton's most famous 19th century adaptation. Centuries passed but the stories retain their freshness, enthralling authors and translators who get trapped into Shahrazad's web, time and again. The latest to give us what we may call "The best of Arabian Nights" is by Hanan Al-Shaykh, who admits to being drawn to Alf Layla since she was a little girl, dying to lay her hands on the forbidden book. She's chosen 19 tales for her anthology that burst with energy, bawdiness and the noise and boisterousness of the Arabian bazaars, fascinating because these are so gloriously flamboyant and yet so familiar. The technique consists of a story frame that forms the mother lode of tales. It is like a great river that post spring forms hundreds of tributaries and rivulets and surprise the reader with more stream like stories, while some are stand-alone stories. Filled with mischief, heroism and romance, their sanitised versions are narrated to children as fairy tales, and even converted into delightful animation movies — Sindbad the Sailor, Alibaba and The Forty Thieves and The Fisherman and the Genie — to name a few. In truth, One Thousand and One Nights is multi-layered and thought provoking, talking of cultures and manners of times gone by. It is even an ‘explicitly sexual’ book that has to be completely read, and it is certainly not bedtime reading for kids. However, so great is the spell cast by tales of genies, fabulous treasures, love, desire and ambition, that these have captivated audiences for several centuries all across the world. Most of the text is in prose but it is interspersed with verse, which are used as expressions of heightened emotions or as riddles. These add to the richness of the reading. Full of mischief, valour, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the life of Shahrazad, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Shahrazad always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever. The frame story is about King Shahryar and his wife Shahrazad. After learning of the flagrant unfaithfulness of his wife, the king vows to execute 1001 virgins after marrying them and deflowering them so that they may never be unfaithful. He begins to do so with a vengeance until the Vizir's daughter offers herself as a bride in a bid to stop the wilful murder. On the wedding night, the witty and intelligent girl starts telling the king a tale but does not end it. Interested to hear the end, the king defers her execution. One tale leads to another and another and so it continues for 1001 nights. Shahrazad is somewhat of a messiah for women, who saves her sisters by telling stories. One Thousand and One Nights is certainly worth a read. It's an excellently chosen anthology of 19 stories. If for nothing else, it could be read to revisit the ancient literature but this time through adult eyes. The reader who has been brought up on the sanitised version of the tales, might be somewhat surprised (and delighted) at what he finds.
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