All Questions
Tagged with arabian-nights or one-thousand-and-one-nights
11 questions
14
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Meaning of "I love my love with an S—" in Richard Burton's "Arabian Nights"
The following poem occurs in a footnote by Richard Burton in his Arabian Nights translation, at the beginning of the Tale of Aziz and Azizah, in night 112. Burton elaborates on the "fond ...
- 143
10
votes
1
answer
368
views
When did Ja'far ibn Yahya start being portrayed as an evil vizier?
Ja'far ibn Yahya or Ja'far al-Barmaki was an 8th century vizier of the caliph Harun al-Rashid. From a distinguished central Asian family, he was known for his knowledge of science, as well as his ...
- 1,513
11
votes
1
answer
439
views
What significance does the opening grid illustration of Burton’s 1,001 Nights have?
In Burton’s The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, the first thing in each volume is a whole page illustration of a grid or a maze:
What’s the significance of this? Arabic art centres on ...
- 213
11
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Which story from 'One Thousand and One Nights' does the following artwork by Léon Carré depict?
The following illustration by Léon Carré supposedly depicts a passage from a story in One Thousand and One Nights. I am searching for the title of the story the artwork was intended to illustrate. ...
7
votes
1
answer
124
views
Which book had a character read 1001 Arabian Nights for extra credit?
I remember my school teacher reading to us a book where part of the story was that the main character wants to get extra credit at school for reading a very long book. So he (?) goes to the library ...
- 181
5
votes
1
answer
218
views
How can we explain the porter's order of events in The Arabian Nights?
In The Arabian Nights, translated by Husain Haddawy, the following chronology appears in The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies on the 28th night (my emphasis):
She walked before him until ...
- 3,529
1
vote
0
answers
654
views
Why is poetry so important in 1001 Nights?
I'm currently reading "1001 Nights", the first book, and I realized that a lot of characters seem to be very fond of expressing themselves through poetry, this seems to be true (I haven't finished the ...
- 19
11
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What are the 1001 stories in One Thousand and One Nights?
Recently I bought a One Thousand and One Nights book hoping that I would read 1001 stories. But then I find out that the number of stories varies depending on the version.
Some versions have 200 - ...
- 203
3
votes
1
answer
434
views
Automata in the Arabian Nights, specifically "The Story of the Magic Horse"
Christa A. Tuczay writes in “Motifs in ‘The Arabian Nights’ and in Ancient and Medieval European Literature: A Comparison” that automata remain a recurring motif in The Arabian Nights and that their ...
- 31
1
vote
1
answer
270
views
In "Sinbad the Seaman and Sinbad the Landsman", from Arabian Nights, what does gars me pine mean?
From The Arabian Nights:
Each morn that dawns I wake in travail and in woe,
And strange is my condition and my burden gars me pine.
Many others are in luck and from miseries are free,
And Fortune ...
- 21
27
votes
3
answers
142k
views
Origin of the phrase "Open Sesame"
The phrase, "Open Sesame", is a curious one indeed. Until a few days ago I foolishly believed that it was derived from a slurring of the words "Open, says me".
But after coming to the story of Ali ...
- 389