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.

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.

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.

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.

Like Scheherazade, Stevenson, the consummate storyteller is at the peak of his craft. Who can resist the charm of the medieval romance in "The Sire de Maletroit's Door", the strangely enigmatic rogue Villon of "A Lodging for the Night", or the sheer delight of "Providence and the Guitar"?

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.

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.

To save herself from certain death, the beautiful Scheherazade must beguile a Persian sultan with her enchanting stories. In two of her most well-known tales, Aladdin's and Ali Baba's cleverness and quick-thinking save the day - and a great treasure. Andrew Lang's masterful version of these ancient Middle Eastern folk tales will captivate listeners of all ages, just as they did when Scherazade was the storyteller.

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.

At the festival of the New Year, the King of Persia is given a horse carved from ebony. It has the power to fly riders anywhere they wish to go, and it flies the king's son all the way to Bengal. There he meets and falls in love with Princess Ameera. But to marry her, Prince Firouz will have to convince her father by defeating an army, then fool a sultan by pretending to be a doctor. Luckily anything is possible with a magic horse.

Galahad and Steve are still trying to find their footing in a new marriage as a gay couple, and each feels like they have taken the leap a little too quickly. They decide to go on an expensive boat cruise to save their relationship. All hell breaks loose when Steve meets Khalid, a wealthy Arabian royal who has fallen hopelessly for Steve. Events quickly unfold as Galahad goes beyond the call of duty to save his dying marriage. Are the vows of marriage enough to keep them together, or will an Arabian night shatter the bonds of their union?

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.

On nights 566 to 578, Shahrazad entertained her sultan with the tale of the City of Brass. She told how a Caliph sent an expedition under Emir Musa to explore in Africa. There they found a vast deserted castle, a jinni imprisoned in a pillar, and finally the City of Brass itself, with its people lying dead in the streets and houses.

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.

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".

There was an old, poor fisherman who cast his net four times a day and only four times. One day he went to the shore and cast his net. When he tried to pull it up, he found it to be heavy. When he dove in and pulled up the net, he found a dead donkey in it. Then he cast his net again and netted a pitcher full of dirt. Then he cast his net for a third time and netted shards of pottery and glass.

Days before starting a history-making excavation in a remote sector of the Valley of the Kings, Dr. Alexandria Randall’s father, a fellow Egyptologist, goes missing. Alex will stop at nothing to find her father—a gargantuan task in an ancient land where she doesn’t make the rules—even if she’s also a target. Alex must swallow her pride and ask for protection from an arrogant journalist named Dan. To find her father, Alex must play Dan’s wife—a ruse that both find insufferable.

Ten of the best known tales from The Arabian Nights including: "The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree, and the Golden Water", "The Fisherman and the Jinni", "The Young King of the Black Isles", "Gulnare of the Sea", "Aladdin", "The Story of Prince Agib", "The City of Brass", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", "Codadad and His Brothers", and "Sinbad the Sailor".

Selections include "The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree and the Golden Water", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", "The Story of the City of Brass", "The Story of the Fisherman and the Genie", and "The History of the Young King of the Black Isles".