One Thousand and One Nights

“‘Allah has sent you one who is not only a barber of great repute, but also a master of the arts and sciences: one who is not only deeply versed in alchemy, astrology, mathematics, and architecture, but also […] well schooled in the arts of logic, rhetoric, and elocution, the theory of grammar, and the commentaries on the Koran.’”

This quote provides comic relief in the sense that the barber purports to be a humble and quiet man while he praises himself quite grandly and is endlessly chatty. The quote also harkens to this period in Islamic history known as the Golden Age of Islam when Baghdad was a world-renowned center of learning.

“‘When you are alone with her, let your words be loving and your deeds lusty. Thus shall her beauty and all her wealth be yours.’”

The shadowy old women tells this to the barber’s fifth brother, Al-Ashar. The quote demonstrates a common theme throughout the work: The promise of possessing a woman of beauty and great wealth seduces men. In the end, Al-Ashar obtains neither, getting a beating instead.

“Taking shape, the smoke resolved itself into a jinnee of such prodigious nature that his head reached the clouds, while his feet were planted on the sand. His head was a huge dome and his mouth as wide as a cavern, with teeth ragged like broken rocks. His legs towered like the masts of a ship, his nostrils were two inverted bowls, and his eyes, blazing like torches, made his aspect fierce and menacing.”

This is the first jinnee, or spirit, that the reader encounters in this compendium. He arises out of a bottle opened by the fisherman, and his appearance relates how jinnees were different from humans in physical appearance and embodied the supernatural.

“At this point the fisherman thought to himself: ‘Though I am but a man and he is a jinnee, my cunning may yet overreach his malice.’”

After the jinnee vows to kill the fisherman because of his foul mood after being trapped for centuries, the fisherman musters up the courage to match wits with the jinnee for his life. He ends up distracting him with a story, a common theme throughout the work celebrating inventive cleverness.

“Then she bewitched my entire kingdom, turning its four islands into mountains with a lake in their midst and transforming all my subjects-Moslems, Jews, Christians, and heathers-into four fishes of four different colors.”

This quote speaks to both magic and sorcery within this tale as well as the fearful power of women. However, this particular anecdote also harkens to religious diversity within the Abbasid caliphate.

“The young woman, who lacked neither cunning nor knowledge of the ways of men, at once perceived the Governor’s intent.”

This story celebrates the ingeniousness of one young woman, and this quote demonstrates that she is both shrewd and experienced. Moreover, there is a hint of criticism aimed at men who are blinded by lust.

“‘Presently, my brother, you shall hear the tale of my fortunes and all the hardships that I suffered before I rose to my present state and became the lord of this mansion […] For only after long toil, fearful orders, and dire peril did I achieve this fame. Seven voyages I made in all, each a story of such marvel as confounds the reason and fills the soul with wonder. All that befell me had been pre-ordained; and that which the moving hand of Fate has written no mortal power can revoke.’”

Sindbad makes this speech before he tells the story of his first voyage. Through the speech, we find that he has suffered much yet earned even more through his perilous voyages. The narrative hints of the wonders that a merchant sailing the seas encountered as well as his staunch belief as a Muslim that his voyages were preordained.

“‘In those distant seas I once saw a fish two hundred cubits in length, and another with a head that resembled an owl’s. This I saw with my own eyes, and many other things no less strange and wondrous. Whenever I walked along the quay I talked with the sailor and travelers from far countries.’”

Sindbad reveals some of the many marvels that he encountered on his travels that seemingly inspire him to keep adventuring and learning. He speaks to a common figure in the tales, the merchant, and how these individuals were able to both travel and see wonders but also meet people from various corners of the world.

“‘For some time after my return to Baghdad I continued to lead a joyful and carefree life, but it was not long before I felt an irresistible longing to travel again about the world and to visit distant cities and islands in quest of profit and adventure.’”

Sindbad makes such a statement to explain his second voyage and then continues to make a similar statement each time he sets out on his next voyage. His words truly demonstrate his persistent wanderlust as well as his preoccupations and priorities.

“‘Abu Hasan,’ he said to himself, ‘the day of your fart hast become a date which will surely be remembered till the end of time.’”

This quote aptly demonstrates the tragicomic humor throughout the tales. In the larger scheme of things, Abu Hasan commits a social faux pas by farting at his wedding. However, he is so embarrassed that he actually runs away to India, arguably cementing the fart as a historical market in his town.

“At once the sky was overcast with darkness and the earth shook and opened before him, revealing a marble slab topped with a copper ring […] ‘Below that marble slab there is a treasure which none may open but yourself.’”

This quote provides the imagery for the iconic first encounter between Aladdin and the supernatural world, when he is shown a slab of a stone with a ring as a gateway to treasure. The sorcerer appeals to his desire for wealth to get him to open the chamber.

“Glory be to Him who changes others and remains Himself unchanged!”

This quote is uttered by the narrator in the tale of Aladdin, noting that Aladdin had undergone a transformation upon donning new robes and being groomed. The narrator reminds us of the Islamic religious and cultural context through the exultations to Allah.

“‘I require a carpet of rich brocade, woven with gold […] It must be stretched from this palace to the Sultan’s, so that Princess Badr-al-Budur may walk upon it without treading the ground.’”

This quotation provides the imagery for the iconic flying carpet usually associated with Aladdin. It also reinforces Aladdin’s deep devotion to Badr-al-Budur and his recognition of her close relationship with her father, the sultan.

“It was a glorious night, such as not even Alexander spent in all his life.”

This quote refers to Alexander the Great, and it is not the only reference to him in the tales. It demonstrates the extent to which storytellers and tales from the medieval Islamic world pulled from predecessors such as the Greeks.

“Know, my friends, that when no more than eight years of age, I had already cultivated a remarkable habit of telling on big lie a year.”

Kafur, a eunuch in the service of the Abbasid caliph, starts his tale by frankly stating that he became a pathological liar at a very young age. His bizarre account confirms this, and throughout it, he continues to be unabashed about his lying and the trouble that it has caused.

“[S]he stopped at a fruiterer’s, where she bought Syrian apples and Othmani quinces, Omani peaches, cucumbers from the Nile, Egyptian lemons and Sultani citrons, sweet-scented myrtle and henna flowers, chamomile, anemones, violets, sweet-briar, and pomegranate-blossom.”

This quote relates how the porter of Baghdad met one of the three girls of Baghdad and ended up a party to the revelry and storytelling at their house. However, the quote also reveals the richness of markets in Baghdad and how well-connected the capital city of the Abbasid Empire was to other parts of the world.

“That night the Caliph Haroun al-Rashid went out into the streets and alley-ways of Baghdad in quest of new adventures. Disguised in merchant’s attire, he was accompanied by Ja’afar, his vizier, and Masrur, his executioner.”

This quote reveals much about the personality of one of the most famous of the Abbasid caliphs, Harun al-Rashid. It was rumored that he went about Baghdad disguised in search of entertainment. This sets up an image of him as a fun-loving trickster along with being a celebrated caliph.

“‘So I was forced to battle with him under the earth and in the air and beneath the water, and each time he tried a weapon against me I used another more powerful, until at length he employed the weapon of fire. When that weapon is used none can survive its peril.’”

Here, the second dervish relates an extraordinary story of a brave and powerful princess and sorceress who sacrifices herself to vanquish the jinnee who has spelled the dervish and threatens her father. The princess wages a fierce battle, ultimately defeating the jinnee but losing her life in the process.

“‘Marriage will not make you happy,’ I said, ‘for honest men are hard to find these days. You tried marriage once and nothing came of it but ruin.’”

The first girl in “The Porter and the Three Girls of Baghdad” attempts to counsel her sisters and convince them not to re-marry and squander their money. Later, her own almost-marriage results in tragedy, so she remains firmly wary of men and marriage until a chance encounter with all the characters in this tale.

“‘Surely this is a blessed day from first to last! It began with a sinister-looking monkey; and if the contents of a scroll can be divined from its title, this must indeed be a day of monkeys! There is not a single fish left in the river and we shall catch nothing today but apes!’”

Khalifah embarks on this diatribe when he is desperate to make money by fishing but pulls up nothing but apes. His reaction is typical of the irony and comedy sprinkled through the tales.

“‘Sir,’ said the fisherman, ‘you should have known that Khalifah can take more blows than ten donkeys put together.’”

This is Khalifah’s humorous response to being beaten by the servants of a wealthy and influential trader. His statement even makes the trader laugh and agree to come to a deal with Khalifah. Again, the quote is typical of the humor peppered throughout the tales.

“‘Know then, you food,’ he cried, ‘that I too have heard a voice in my sleep […] But would I go? Of course not. Yet, fool that you are, you have come all the way to Cairo on the strength of one idle dream.’”

This is the response of a police chief to a downtrodden merchant who comes to Cairo from Baghdad to search for a fortune promised him in a dream. By ridiculing him for taking such a seemingly foolish chance, the police chief inadvertently tells the merchant exactly how to enrich himself.

“The old proverb says: ‘Where candor fails, cunning thrives.’”

This is the advice given by Ali to Ma’aruf upon his arrival in a new city penniless. Ali, a merchant, encourages Ma’aruf to fake it until he makes it and pretend that he is a wealthy merchant. The anecdote speaks to a motif running through the tales, wily and clever merchants.