Arabian Nights

Sinbad's story collection

The Arabian Nights, also called One Thousand and One Nights, is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk tales framed by the story of Scheherazade, who tells her king a new tale each night to delay her execution.

The tales include Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad.

By extension, Arabian Nights describes anything exotic, fantastical, or labyrinthine: The palace was something out of the Arabian Nights.

Related

jinni · thieves · storytelling · sorcerers · Sinbad · Islamic Golden Age · Harun al-Rashid · Middle East · oral tradition · folklore · Baghdad · open sesame · magic lamps · scimitar · sultan · turban · harem · spices

Categories
Opposites
cultural/geographic origin of folk literature

Arabian NightsBrothers Grimm

German folklorists, sibling scholars

Mother Goose · Norse sagas · Arthurian legends · Hans Christian Andersen · Norse mythology

EXOTIC VS. FAMILIAR (Western perspective)

Arabian NightsCanterbury Tales

Medieval English story collection

English folklore · Western canon

narrative tone and setting

Arabian Nightsnursery rhymes

Traditional poems for toddlers

morality tales · children's fables

Family

night, midnight, nightfall, nighttime, overnight, nightly, Arabic, Arabian, arabesque

Familiarity
Top 200,000
Profile
Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Positive · Everyday, not technical · Rated G