{ M~djtrrrnnran .~ta ASIA •Jerusalem Cairo•

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0 \~ Medina t.,,."'\ ARABIA The Thousand ~"::-'- i \.Mecca V and One Nights AFRICA A.rttbiun ) .'i:L'd (c. 850-c. 1500) MEDIEVAL ARABIA

ver since the writer Antoine Galland trans­ Scheherazade is a spellbinding storyteller Elated The Thousand and One Nights--or The and a clever woman besides. Each night she Arabian Nights' Entertainments-into French in entertains the sultan with a new tale, but she the early eighteenth century, this collection of delays revealing the ending until the following tales has been the best-known and most widely night. The captivated sultan keeps postponing read work of Arabic literature in the West. The her execution in order to hear the end of each often fantastic adventures of the characters Ali story. After one thousand and one nights of Baba, Aladdin, and Sindbad are known through­ tales, he abandons his plans to kill Schehera­ out the world today. zade, and the couple remains happily married. The original stories in The Thousand and One Nights came from many oral and written sources, including such collections as the In­ dian Panchatantra (see page 171) and tales brought by travelers from China, India, and every part of the Middle East. Scholars have identified sources for many of the stories, but the true origins of many others remain unknown because they exist in more than one version and in more than one language. The earliest references to The Thousand and One Nights appear in manuscripts from as early as the ninth century. Kept alive by Arab story­ tellers throughout the Middle Ages, the collec­ tion grew and changed. By the mid-sixteenth century, an unknown Egyptian had put the sto­ ries into the form we know today. The tales were first published in Arabic in I 548. The tales in the collection are loosely held together by a frame story. In the frame story a sultan, Shahriyar, is enraged at his wife's unfaithfulness and orders her executed. He then takes a new wife each day but has her killed at dawn the next day because he believes that no woman can ever be faithful. The Princess in the Kitchens by Edmund Dulac. Illustration The supply of potential wives is running low for a 191 I edition of Th'e Arabian Nights. Lithograph. when the sultan takes Scheherazade Private Coll ection/The Bridgeman Art library. Reproduced by permissio n (sha.her'a.zad') as his wife. of Hodder and Stoughton Lim ited.

178 The Middle Ages Before You Read from The T4ird Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor

Make the Connection Background Think of monsters you might find in popular Sindbad is a rich young man from Baghdad stories and movies today. What qualities do (now the capital of Iraq) who goes to sea to these monsters usually have? What does a regain his fortune after recklessly spending all - typical monster or villain look like? What his wealth. His marvelous adventures at sea are his or her habits? How does he or she are the subjects of the three Sindbad stories feel about other people? Where do these that form a story cycle in The Thousand and monsters liv~that is, what settings are One Nights. Some scholars believe the tales associated with them? originated in Baghdad, but others argue persuasively that they came from Oman literary Focus (a country on the southeast coast of the Archetypes Arabian Peninsula) and only later became An archetype is a very old pattern used in associated with Baghdad. storytelling. An archetype can be a plot, a character, a setting, or even just an object. One of the most universal archetypes is the Vocabulary Development "monster-slaying story." If you have read disconsolately (dis. kan'sa. lit, le) adv.: Homer's Odyssey, you might even recognize dejectedly; unhappily. the monster in this Middle Eastern story. This is a characteristic of archetypes: They corpulent (kor'pyoo, lane) adj.: fat. cross borders and cultures. In storytelling, approbation (ap'ra. ba'shan) n.: archetypes seem co satisfy or excite the approval. most basic human needs and longings. nimbly (nim'ble) adv.: in a quick, light way. contrived (kan, trivd') v.: managed. An archetype is the basic pattern or model of a character, a plot, a setting, or an object that recurs in storytelling. For more on Archetype, see the Hand­ book of Literary and Historical Terms.

Reading Standard 3.6 Analyze the way in which authors through the centuries have used archetypes drawn from Sindbad the Sailor being carried by a sea monster, myth and from One Thousand and One Nights ( 18th century). tradition in Archivo lconografico. S. A JCORBIS. literature.

The Thousand and One Nights 179 from The Third Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor

from The Thousand and One Nights translated by N. J. Dawood

now, my friends, that for soml' timl' after swarm of locusts. Barely four spans I in height, K my return I continued to kad a happy and they were the ugliest of living creatures, with tranquil life, but I soon grew weary L>f my idk lillk glc,iming yellow cyl's and bodies thickly existence in Baghdad and once again longed lo covered with black fur. And so numerous were roam the world in quesl L>f profit and adven­ they that we did not dare to provoke them or ture. Unmindful of the dangers of ambition and attempt to drive them away, lest they should worldly greed, I resolved to set out on another set upon us and kill us to a man hy force of voyage. I provided myself wilh a greal store of numbers. goods and, after taking them down the Tigris, 1 They scrambled up the masts, gnawing the set sail from Basrah,~ logclhn with a band of cables with their teeth and biting them to shreds. honest merchants. Then they seized the helm and steered the vessd The voyage began prosperously. We called at to their island. When the ship had run ashore, many foreign ports, trading profitably with our the dwarfo carried us one bv one to the beach, merchandise. One day, however, whilst we were and, promptly pushing off again, dimbed on sailing in midocean, we heard the captain of our board and saikd away. ship, who was on deck scanning the lrnri,.on, L>isconsolaldy we set out to search for food suddenly burst out in a loud lamenl. He beat and water, and by good fortune came upon some himself about the focc, ton: his beard, and rrnt fruit trees and a running stream. Here we re­ his dothcs. freshed ourselves, and then wandered about the ''We arc lost!" he cried, as we crowded round isl.ind until at length Wt' saw far off among the him. "The treacherous wind h,1s driven us off trees a massive building, whl'rc we hoped lo pass our course toward that island which you sel' the night in safety. Drawing neart'r, \Vt' found that before you. It is the isle of the Zughb, where it was a towering palace surrounded by a lofty dwell a race of dwarfs more akin to apes than wall, with a great chonr door whid1 stood wide men, from whom no voyager has ever escaped open. \Ve entered the spacious courtyard, and to alive!" our surprise found it deserted. In one corner lay Scarcely had he uttered these words when a a grcal heap of bones, and on the far side we sJw multitude of apelike savages appeared on the a bro,1d bench, an open uven, pob and pans of beach and began to swim out toward the ship. cnnrmous size, and many iron spits for roasting. In a few moments they were upon us, thick as a 3. spans 11. pl.: A span was a nll'asurcnwnl equal lo 11inl' inches, h:hL'd on the disl,lll(L' bL'lWL'L'll the ,·x­ kndl'd thumb and liltiL· lingt:r. I. Tigris ( ll'gris): river in soutl11wst Asia, flowing from Turkl'y through Iraq. Vocabulary

2. Basrah (hus'r,)): port .it the h..:ad of the Sh,ttt-.il-Arah disconsolately (dis• kan'sa O lit• le) adv.: dejectedly; Channel, whnL' the Tigris and Euphrates river., join. unhappily.

180 @lf¥Ufj The Middle Ages -.... ;~ Colossus by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. © Scala/Art Resource, New York.

Exhausted and sick at heart, we lay down in The sight of this monster struck terror to the courtyard and were soon overcome by our hearts. We cowered motionless on the sleep. At sunset we were awakened by a noise ground as we watched him stride across the like thunder. The earth shook beneath our feet yard and sit down on the bench. For a few mo­ and we saw a colossal black giant approaching ments he eyed us one by one in silence; then he from the doorway. He was a fearsome sight­ rose and, reaching out toward me, lifted me up tall as a palm tree, with red eyes burning in his by the neck and began feeling my body as a head like coals of fire; his mouth was a dark butcher would a lamb. Finding me little more well, with lips that drooped like a earners than skin and bone, however, he flung me to loosely over his chest, whilst his ears, like a pair the ground and, picking up each of my com­ of large round discs, hung back over his shoul­ panions in turn, pinched and prodded them ders: his fangs were as long as the tusks of a and set them down until at last he came to the boar and his nails were like the claws of a lion. captain.

The Thousand and One Nights 181 Now the captain was a rnrpulcnl fellow, tall "Listen, my friends," said another. "We must and bro;.1d-shouldered. The giant seemed to like kill this monster. For only by destroying him him well. He gripped him as a butcher grips a can we end his wickedness and save good Mus­ fatted rarn and broke his neck under his foot. lims from his barbarous cruelty." Then he thrust an iron spit through his body This proposal was received with general from mouth to backside and, lighting a great approbation; so l rose in my turn and addrt'sscd fire in the oven, carefully turned his victim the company. "If we are all agreed to kill this round and round lwfore it. When the flesh was monster," I said, "let us first build a raft on finely roasted, the ogre tore the body to pieces which WC can escape from this island a's soon as with his fingernails as though it were a pullct,'1 we have sent his soul to damnation. Perchance and devoured it limb by limb, gnawing the our raft will take us to soml' other island, where bones and flinging them against the wall. The we can board a ship bound for our country. If monster then stretched himscl f out on the we are drowned, we shall at least escape roasting bench and soon fell fast asleep. His snores were and die a martyr's death." as loud as the grunts and gurgles that issue "By Allah," cried the others, "that is a wise from lht· throat of a slaughtered beast. plan." Thm he slept all night, and when morning Setting to work at once, wt: hauled several c.1111e he rose and went out of the palace, leaving logs from the great pile of wood stacked beside us half-crazed with tt'rror. the oven and carried them out of the palace. As soon as we were certain that the monster Then we fastened them together into a raft, had gone, we began lamt:nting our evil fortune. which we left ready on the seashore. "Would that we had been drowned in the sea or In the evening the earth shook beneath our killed by the apes!" we cried. "That would surely feet as the black giant burst in upon us, barking have been better than the foul death which now and snarling like a mad dog. Once more he awaits us! But that which Allah has ordained seized upon the stoutest of my companions and mmt surely come to pass." prepared his meal. When he had eaten his fill, \Ve left the palace to search for some hiding he strl'lched himself upon the bench as was his place, but could find no shelter in any part of custom and soon fell fost asleep. the island, and had no choice but to return to Noiselessly we now rose, took two of the the palace in the evening. Night came, and with great iron spits from the oven, and thrust them it the black giant, announcing his approach by a into tht' fire. As soon as they were red-hot wt: noise like thunder. No sooner had he rntered carried them over lo the snoring monster and than he snatched up one of the merchants and plunged their sharpened ends deep into his prepared his supper in the same way as the eyes, exerting our united weight from above to night bcfrm:. Then, stretching himself out to push them home. The giant gave a deafening sleep, he snored the night away. shriek which filled our hearts with terror and Next morning, when the giant had gone, we cast us back on the grnund many yards away. discussed our desperate plight. Totally blinded, he leapt up from the bench "By Allah," (Tied one of the merchants, "let us groping for us with outstrl'lchcd hands, while r,1thcr throw ourselves into the sl'a than rt:main we nimbly dodged his frantic clutches. In de­ alive to be masted and eaten!" spaol1e felt his way to the ebony door and

Vocabulary corpulent (k6r'pyoo • lane) adj.: fat. approbation (ap'ra. ba'5han) n.: approval. 4. pullet 11.: chick~n. nimbly (nim'ble) adv.: in a quick, light way.

182 Ciltfu§j The Middle Ages Illustration by Edmund Dulac from Sindbad the Sailor and Other Stories. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, The University of Texas at Austin. Reproduced by permission of Hodder and Stoughton Limited. staggered out of the yard, groaning in agonies of us for a while, and then caught up massive pam. boulders and hurled them at our raft with stu­ Without losing a moment we made off pendous force. Missile followed missile until all toward the beach. As soon as we reached the my companions, save two, were drowned; but water we launched our raft and jumped ·aboard; we three who escaped soon contrived to paddle but scarcely had we rowed a few yards when we beyond the range of their fury. • saw the blind savage running toward us, guided by a foul hag of his own kind. On reaching the Vocabulary shore they stood howling threats and curses at contrived (kan, trivd') v.: managed.

The Thous·and and One Nights 183 Literary Response and Analysis

Re~ding Check and One Nights has remained popular I. Like all folk tales, this one is built on a for hundreds of years? simple plot structure. Show the story's structure by filling out a chart like the Comparing Literature following. (The number of main events 6. How does this monster compare with may vary.) the monsters that challenge Beowulf (see page 21) and Gilgamesh (see Basic situation page 48)? and conflict Writing Main events Fantastic Foe Write your own episode about an adventure­ Climax seeking hero and his encounter with a mon­ Resolution ster. You may wish to follow the pattern of the Sindbad story you have just read, but Interpretations change the details enough so that your story 2. Archetypes are very old patterns is unique. Before you begin, try mapping out found in stories across the ages, from the story details you will include. If you wish, many diverse cultures. Archetypes can illustrate your story. be characters (the superhuman hero), plots (monster-slaying stories), or places (paradises and hells). How is the Vocabulary Development giant in this story an example of the Semantic Mapping archetypal monster who threatens a disconsolately nimbly hero and his people? corpulent contrived 3. Storytellers often make the hero's approbation enemy only partly human. How does the storyteller in Sindbad's story make Make a semantic map like the fol­ Reading the giant particularly disgusting? Why lowing for the Vocabulary words listed Standard 3.6 do you think cannibalism makes an above. Be sure to locate the word in Analyze the w ay enemy seem especially evil? the story to determine its meaning in in which autho rs through 4. How do sto rytellers today (including context. t he centuries moviemakers) use the old monster have used ( approbation ) archetypes archetype found in Sindbad's story? drawn from myth and tradition in Literary Criticism Definition literature. S. Some Arab scholars have dismissed The "approval"' Reading Thousand and One Nights as mere Standard 3.7a popular entertainment that is far from Synonyms+ Contrast the major literary being great literature. These scholars acceptance;consent forms, have argued that the stories have crude t echniques, and Example characteristics and simplistic plots and no depth of of t he major characterization or theme. If chis is The applause 'of an audience lit erary periods. true, why do you think The Thousand is an approbation.

184 i!@jMfj The Middle Ages