Books with title The Arabian Nights: Sixteen Stories From Sheherazade

Every night, King Shahryar married a new bride. Every morning, he chopped off her head. So when the lovely Sheherazade became the latest of his wives, she had to do some quick thinking to stay alive. Over a thousand and one nights, she kept the King enthralled with her storytelling, and the stories, gathered together as The Arabian Nights, have become one of the world’s classics. You will find famous stories such as Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and also others such as How Many Fools? and The Keys of Destiny, which will quickly become firm favourites.Full of magic and mystery, a selection of the original Arabian Nights stories are here retold for children in a lively and robust way. Read how through fanciful histories, romances, tragedies, comedies, riddles and songs, the enterprising maiden Sheherazade prolongs her life by holding the king’s rapt attention. With vibrant illustrations by Sheila Moxley, The Arabian Nights offers a ride on a magic carpet into a world of adventure and excitement. Ideal to read aloud or for older readers to enjoy discovering by themselves.

Scheherazadè, the heroine of the Thousand and one Nights, ranks among the great story-tellers of the world much as does Penelope among the weavers. Procrastination was the basis of her art; for though the task she accomplished was splendid and memorable, it is rather in the quantity than the quality of her invention—in the long spun-out performance of what could have been done far more shortly—that she becomes a figure of dramatic interest. The idea which binds the stories together is greater and more romantic than the stories themselves; and though, both in the original and in translation, the diurnal interruption of their flow is more and more taken for granted, we are never quite robbed of the sense that it is Scheherazadè who is speaking—Scheherazadè, loquacious and self-possessed, sitting up in bed at the renewed call of dawn to save her neck for the round of another day. Here is a figure of romance worth a dozen of the prolix stories to which it has been made sponsor; and often we may have followed the fortunes of some shoddy hero and heroine chiefly to determine at what possible point of interest the narrator could have left hanging that frail thread on which for another twenty-four hours her life was to depend.

In a certain town in Persia there lived, once upon a time, two brothers. Their names were Cassim and All Baba, and when their father died all he had was divided between them, so they both started life with the same fortune. But before very long Cassim married a rich wife, and Ali Baba married a poor one; so while Cassim lived like a lord and did nothing, Ali Baba had to work hard for his living, Every day he went to cut wood in the forest, loaded his three horses with it, and then brought it back to sell in the town...

In a certain town in Persia there lived, once upon a time, two brothers. Their names were Cassim and All Baba, and when their father died all he had was divided between them, so they both started life with the same fortune.But before very long Cassim married a rich wife, and Ali Baba married a poor one; so while Cassim lived like a lord and did nothing, Ali Baba had to work hard for his living, Every day he went to cut wood in the forest, loaded his three horses with it, and then brought it back to sell in the town.Now one day, while All Baba was in the forest, he noticed, far off, a great cloud of dust, and as it came nearer he saw that the dust was made by a company of men galloping along."These must be robbers," said Ali Baba to himself, trembling.Quick as thought he hid his horses and climbed into a tree to see what would happen. The tree into which he had climbed stood near a great rock, and when the robbers came under this tree they all dismounted and began to take off their saddle-bags. These were so heavy that Ali Baba guessed that they must be filled with gold...

There was, once upon a time, a Sultan of Arabia who thought all women were bad. Every day he married a new wife, and every morning he ordered that she should be beheaded. So there was much sorrow in all that land, until a brave woman thought of a clever plan which would put an end to this cruel custom. She went to the palace, and offered to marry the Sultan, and that night she began to tell him such wonderful stories, that when morning came he still wished to hear more, and commanded that she should not be beheaded until all the stories were finished. So, night after night, for a thousand and one nights, she told him new stories, and by that time the Sultan had grown to love and trust her, and they lived happily together ever after.Now the stories in this book are some of those which the Sultan loved to hear, and I have told them again to you, because I think they will charm you now quite as much as they once charmed the Sultan of Arabia, in the happy days of Long Ago.AMY STEEDMAN.

This collection includes the following stories as retold by Laurence Housman: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; The Story of the Wicked Half-Brothers; The Story of the Princess of Deryabar; The Story of the Magic Horse; The Fisherman and the Genie; The Story of the King of the Ebony Isles; The History of Badoura, Princes of China, and of Camaralzaman, the Island Prince; Sinbad the Sailor; The first voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; The second voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; The third voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; The fourth voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; The fifth voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; The sixth voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; The seventh voyage of Sinbad the Sailor; and Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.