The Arabian Nights' Entertainments

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The Arabian Nights' Entertainments, sometimes referred to popularly as A Thousand and One Arabian Nights, consists of interwoven folktales told by a new bride to her misogynistic husband. After executing his adulterous wife, King Shahriyar of Persia persuades himself that women are naturally unfaithful and resolves to marry a new bride each night and execute her the next morning, before she has a chance to betray him. After three years, wise Shahrazad, the eldest daughter of the grand vizier, volunteers to marry the king. That night, she starts to tell a fascinating story about a merchant's dealings with Jinni (genies), supernatural spirits who, according to Muslim belief, occasionally interact with human beings. As the night passes, Shahrazad leaves her story unfinished, connecting it to a further story. The king is enchanted by the ever-growing series, and she is granted reprieve after reprieve as the marvelous tales continue. Finally, after a thousand and one nights and many more interwoven stories, the king repents of his evil ways and accepts his clever bride.

Most of the stories in the collection feature the dovetailing of the marvelous and the mundane; merchants, sailors, and explorers struggle against magicians, monsters, and villainous Jinni. Not all stories concern supernatural events; some are simply clever tales about human error. For example, in "The Story of the Humpback," four cowardly characters-a tailor, a physician, a sultan's steward, and a broker-are on trial for the death of a hunchback. In the first part of the tale, a hunchback apparently suffocates while he is being entertained by a tailor and his wife. Afraid of being tried for murder, the tailor carries the corpse to a physician's house and leaves him in the lobby. The doctor, accidentally kicking the corpse in the dark, concludes that it is he who has...