Arabian Literature

Full of mischief, valor, ribaldry, and romance, The Arabian Nights has enthralled readers for centuries. These are the tales that saved the life of Scheherazade, whose husband, the king, executed each of his wives after a single night of marriage. Beginning an enchanting story each evening, Scheherazade always withheld the ending: A thousand and one nights later, her life was spared forever.

In Volume 2 of Arabian Nights we return to Sultan Shahriyar’s palace where Scheherezade is using her spellbinding storytelling abilities to save both her and her sister’s lives. As much as the Sultan wants to kill her, each night he is drawn in by her tales and spares them. Scheherezade weaves a long, winding and exciting tale about Sinbad the Sailor, a reckless young man who has inherited his father’s wealth and spends it foolishly. His debts eventually force him to leave Baghdad and find his way alone.

The vengeful King Schahriar agrees to stave off the execution of Queen Scheherazade until she finishes a particularly compelling story. Her plan? Bleed one tale into another. Through fanciful histories, romances, tragedies, comedies, poems, riddles, and songs, Scheherazade prolongs her life by holding the king’s rapt attention. With origins in Persian and Eastern Indian folklore, the stories of The Arabian Nights have been reworked, reshaped, revised, collected, and supplemented throughout the centuries by various authors and scholars.

Though The Arabian Nights are generally known as stories for children, they were originally tales for adults full of adventure, sexuality, violence, and the supernatural. They certainly inspired the imagination of Sir Richard Burton, the 19th century explorer, linguist, and erotologist who brought all his worldly experience and superbly expressive prose style to bear on the tales of Sindbad the Seaman and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

The central core of the stories concerns a Persian king and his new bride. The king has a brother who is a vizier in faraway Samarcand, and he invites him to come to the palace for a visit. Just before his departure, the vizier is shocked to discover his wife's infidelity. Enraged, he kills her. Full of pain and grief, the vizier continues on to the court of his brother, the king. But, once arrived at his brother's palace, the vizier soon discovers the king's wife is also involved in an even more flagrant infidelity.

The stories in this collection can be traced back to Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age The works were collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa. Some tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Greek, Indian, Jewish, and Turkish folklore and literature.

Here is a selection of some of the best-known and best-loved tales of The Arabian Nights, including "Sinbad", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", "Aladdin", "The Talking Bird", and the "Fisherman and the Genie". In this "treasure house of pleasant things" you will find golden palaces, gem studded caves, and breathtaking gardens.

This delightfully narrated classic is a story within a story. In an attempt to postpone execution, the king's new bride spends one thousand and one nights enchanting him with story after story of true love, tragedy, sorcerers, and jinns.

These tales are told with a rare beauty, rhyme, and rhythm. Richard Burton's translation catches the epic beauty in his unique style. It takes time to get used to Burton's prose poetry, but once you do, the reward is as deep as Shaharazad's story. As a storyteller, it was a joy to narrate these tales and bring the music of the work to life.

Toby Stephens takes us back to the world of cunning, adventure, mishap, and fun. Sheherezade, night after night, weaves her tales and Aladdin and his Magic Lamp, Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and other tales come alive. The unforgettable music of Rimsky-Korsakov sets the scene perfectly. A delightful treat for young listeners.

Martyn Green reads a selection of stories from The Arabian Nights including "Aladdin", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", "The Flying Horse", and "The Speaking Bird".

A terrorist mastermind will start World War III...unless a US submarine crew and a crack team of Navy SEALs can stop him first.

The teacher, Patrick Healy, traveled around the world, talked with people in different places, and collected around half a thousand myths, legends and folktales and their several alternative versions. His opinion and comments (directly or indirectly) are inevitable.

This is the first volume of his work. Patrick grouped together 33 famous Arabian children's stories and myths with his words. He retold the stories with his own opinion and approach to them. Patrick is an Australian writer who has an abiding interest in the folklore of different cultures. He has lived and worked in Hong Kong for over 25 years as a high school teacher. Patrick has traveled extensively throughout Asia and speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin fluently.

This most celebrated collections of tales feature shape-shifting and miraculous transportation across continents, powerful jinn who rise like smoke from simple vessels, and dreams that delve into the secrets of the subconscious. This innovative book retells a selection of tales that have captured the imaginations of countless people over many centuries. Accompanying each is a contemporary short story that reframes the messages and teachings of the original, specifically written for an adult audience.

When people need something, Inverness, New Jersey tailor Lincoln Blackthorne is the man they turn to and in turn Linc generally gets them what they want. Sometimes — like every time he turns around — there's somebody else there trying to do Blackthorne out of what he's after...usually threatening bodily harm and more often than not attempting to make good on the threat.

The beautiful Sheherazade, threatened with death, manages to postpone the fatal day by telling one marvellous story every night. The stories themselves are folk tales, fairy tales and poems collected over many centuries, from ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Mesopotamian, Indian, and Egyptian folklore and literature. This makes The Arabian Nights a priceless treasure, as it takes us to the very roots of our culture in a delightful and passionate way...

Giant birds and magic carpets share the skies with flying horses and mighty genies. Brave adventurers set out to find jeweled palaces and caves stuffed with treasures. So sit back and listen and like King Sharhya of the story let our Sheherezade enchant you with tales of romance and delight.

Pat Walsh is a highly decorated infantry officer living life between the lines until the day he picks the wrong side in a Pentagon political battle. When an old Army buddy recruits Pat to work as an asset for the CIA, he reluctantly agrees, and his adventure begins. Caught up in the shadowy world of Middle East Arms dealing as a CIA contracted arms dealer, he stumbles upon a conspiracy that is re-shaping the region and threatens to draw the world into a global conflict. Now that he knows the secret, his life is on the line.

Starring Brian Blessed and Rory Bremner, 1001 Arabian Nights is the first tale from The Opus Pocus: a series of symphonies transformed into funny, action-packed stories helping children to discover the magic of classical music, starting with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's dazzling composition Scheherazade. Here is the first chapter of the first story from The Opus Pocus, 1001 Arabian Nights or The Princess, the Pirate and the Baboon! It's a hairy tale of a princess, a sultan, a genie, and a shipwreck, and an unlucky pirate who keeps getting turned into a baboon!

When a bomb goes off in a crowded square, Pat Walsh finds himself on the run looking to clear his name. Framed by an unknown enemy, Pat takes to the high seas, begins unraveling the mystery, and works to discover the enemy lurking in the shadows. This takes Pat into the heart of the conflict in Syria and pits him against the most unlikely alliance of villains. With only the help of an arms dealer and his special-forces training, Pat unleashes his wrath. This military thriller takes the listener on an action-packed adventure spanning three continents.