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hood, and a dwarf colonnade above. Another The structural history of the Aqsa Mosque, London change that can be dated to soon after the and Jerusalem 1949 ; Hillenbrand, R., Umayyad woodwork in the Aqā mosque, in J. Johns (ed.), Muslim reconquest was the installation of the Bayt al-maqdis. Jerusalem and early Islam (Oxford elaborate wooden minbar (destroyed in 1969), 1999), 271–310 ; Johns, J., The “House of the commissioned by Nūr al-Dīn Mamūd b. Zankī Prophet” and the concept of the mosque, in Bayt in 564/1168–69. The north portico was the al-maqdis. Jerusalem and early Islam (Oxford 1999), 59–112 ; Küchler, M., Moschee und Kalifenpaläste work of the Ayyūbid sultan al-Muaam Īsā in Jerusalems nach den Aphrodito-Papyri, Zeitschrift 614/1217–18 (van Berchem, 393–429). des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins 107 (1991), 120–43 ; Mamlūk sultans from al-Nāir Muammad Lazzarini, L., and P. Schwartzbaum, The technical examination and restoration of the paintings of the b. Qalāwūn to al-Ashraf al-Ghawrī made im- dome of the Al Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem, Studies provements to the dome, the doors, and the in Conservation 30 (1985) 3:129–35 ; Meinecke, M., roof. Tankiz, the governor of Syria, reno- Die mamlukische Architektur in Ägypten und Syrien , 2 vated the transept in 731/1330–31, and may vols., Glückstadt 1992; Stern, H., Recherches sur la mosquée al-Aqā et sur ses mosaïques, Ars have added the decorative rosette within the Orientalis 5 (1963), 27–47 ; Wilkinson, J., Column mosaic of the mi rāb hood (see Meinecke for capitals in the aram al-Sharīf, in J. Raby and references). Both the Dome of the Rock and J. Johns (eds.), Bayt al-maqdis. Abd al-Malik’s Jerusalem al-Aqā Mosque received coloured glass and (Oxford 1992), 125–39. stucco window grilles during the reign of the M. Milwright Ottoman sultan Süleymān I, though the sur- viving examples within the Aqā are probably nineteenth-century copies. Additions, including painted decoration and changes to the windows, Arabian Nights are associated with sultans Muafā II, Mamūd II, and Abd al-Azīz (van Berchem, 439–44; Arabian Nights, the work known in Arabic Flood, 449–51). In the twentieth century further as Alf layla wa-layla , “A thousand nights and restorations were undertaken, most importantly one night,” is an oriental collection of stories in 1923–7 and 1938–42. that is constituted by a frame-tale focused on On 21 August 1969 the dome and the south- the narrator, Shahrazād, telling stories for a eastern section of the mosque were severely thousand nights. Derived from a pre-Islamic damaged in a fi re started by an Australian reli- Iranian prototype that relied partly on Indian gious extremist. The restoration of the struc- elements, the collection gained fame in the ture and ornamentation of the mosque were Western world by way of the French transla- undertaken by the Al-Aqā Mosque and Dome tion adapted from various Arabic sources and of the Rock Restoration Committee and the published by Antoine Galland between 1704 International Centre for the Conservation and and 1717. Commonly known in English as Restoration of Momuments, Rome (Lazzarini The Arabian Nights’ Entertainments or, in short, and Schwartzbaum). A replica of the destroyed the (Arabian) Nights , the collection in its many sixth/twelfth-century minbar , commissioned versions constitutes the Islamic world’s major by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, was contribution to world literature and an icon installed within the mosque in 2007. that has permeated literary imagery around the world. Rather than denoting a specifi c book, the name the Arabian Nights implies a phenom- Bibliography Van Berchem, M., Matériaux pour un Corpus inscriptio- enon, since the work is both anonymous and num Arabicarum. Deuxième partie. Syrie du Sud , vol. 2, authored by many different contributors over Jérusalem “Haram” , Cairo 1927 (repr. Geneva an extended period of time. Different versions 2001) ; Creswell, K., A short account of early Muslim in Arabic manuscripts and printed texts exist, as architecture , rev. J. Allan, Aldershot 1989 ; Flood, F., The Ottoman windows in the Dome of the Rock well as numerous translations and adaptations and the Aqsa Mosque, in S. Auld and R. Hil- into European and other languages. lenbrand, eds., Ottoman Jerusalem. The living city, 1517–1917 (London 2000), 1:431–63; Folda, J., The 1. Sources of information art of the Crusaders in the Holy Land, 1098–1187 , Cam- bridge 1995 ; Grabar, O., The shape of the holy. Early The only critical edition of an Alf layla Islamic Jerusalem , Princeton 1996 ; Hamilton, R., wa-layla manuscript is the edition prepared by

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Muhsin Mahdi (1984), based on the Galland will never manage to control women’s wiles. manuscript, which was one of the sources On the journey home, Shāhzamān decides to Galland used for his famous translation. The live in celibacy, while Shāhriyār determines to text of this edition has served as the basis for marry a new woman every night only to kill her several translations into European languages, the next morning. Once back in his kingdom, including English, Dutch, and German. The he continues this practice until the number of older English translations, such as those of marriageable women grows scarce. At this point, Lane and Burton, which are based on various the waz īr ’s daughter Shahrazād (Scheherazade) manuscripts, combinations of manuscripts, takes it upon herself to save her sex by vol- and other sources, are available as Internet unteering to marry the cruel ruler. After the resources. The volumes of Victor Chauvin’s nocturnal consummation of their marriage, she Bibliographie pertaining to the Nights , originally has her younger sister (or, in some versions, her published 1900–03 and recently reprinted, nurse) Dunyāzād (Dīnāzād, Dīnārzād) request contain detailed summaries and commentar- that she divert them by telling tales. With the ies on the tales of the Nights (and many other king’s permission, Shahrazād does so. As dawn tales). Mia Gerhardt’s monograph, The art of breaks, Shahrazād interrupts her story at a point story-telling , and David Pinault’s “sequel” study, that leaves the king’s curiosity aroused, and he Story-telling techniques in the Arabian Nights , remain decides to let her live so that he can hear the rest highly readable and inspiring studies. Compre- of the tale the following night. This continues hensive information about the Nights in English for a total of a thousand nights. On the thou- is available in Robert Irwin’s The Arabian Nights: sand-and-fi rst night, Shahrazād discloses her A companion and in The Arabian Nights encyclopedia , stratagem to the ruler, and he pardons her. prepared by Ulrich Marzolph and Richard van Leeuwen. A number of important essays tracing 3. Textual history our gradually growing understanding of the complex nature of the Arabian Nights have been 3.1. Early history republished by Marzolph in The Arabian Nights The collection developed into its present reader . The tercentenary of the publication of shape in several steps that can be reconstructed Galland’s translation in 2004 occasioned the with a fair degree of certainty. The most im- publication of a number of volumes document- portant attestations for the early history of the ing the state of the art in Arabian Nights research Nights are two references, one preserved in the (see Chraïbi; Joly and Kilito; Ouyang and van work of the Arab historian al-Masūdī (d. 345 Gelder; Yamanaka and Nishio; and Marzolph, or 346/956–7) and the other in the catalogue Transnational ). (al-Fihrist) of the Baghdad bookseller Ibn al- Nadīm, written in 377/987 (see Abbott). Both 2. Content authors agree that the collection derives from The frame-tale of the Nights begins with an an earlier Persian book named Haz ār afsān(a) anonymous narrator telling the story of the (“A thousand stories”), a title rendered in Arabic Sassanian kings Shāhriyār and his brother as Alf khurāfa (“A thousand fantastic stories”), Shāhzamān, the ruler of Samarqand. Deeply the term khur āfa relating to the eponymous traumatised by the unexpected discovery of protagonist of fantastic stories who allegedly their wives’ sexual debauchery, they start to lived during the prophet Muammad’s lifetime roam the world in order to fi nd out whether (Drory). Both authors note that the Arabic there are any faithful women to be found translation is commonly known as Alf layla (“A anywhere. In their travels, they meet a woman thousand nights”). Ibn al-Nadīm also mentions who tells them of her abduction by a demon the general design of the work’s frame-tale who keeps her locked away in a box at the and explicitly states that he had seen the book bottom of the sea, allowing her out only when on various occasions “in its entirety” (wa-qad he wishes. But while the demon sleeps, she raaytuhu bi-tamāmihi dafaāt) . While he describes blackmails the two men into having sex with her, the book as containing some 200 tales, he does thereby ultimately convincing them that men not, however, mention the actual content of any

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of the tales included. Ibn al-Nadīm’s evaluation sor to the Nights . As Ibn al-Nadīm states, al- of the collection as “a poor book with silly Jahshiyārī intended to compile a book of a tales” (kit āb ghathth bārid al-adīth) characterises thousand tales from the stories of the Arabs, the attitude of the learned, both contemporary the Persians, the Greeks, and others, with each and modern, and disregards the fact that the tale covering one night. He succeeded in col- collection’s tales were obviously enjoyed by the lecting some 480 tales before death overtook indigenous popular audience. him. The Istanbul manuscript of al-ikāyāt Several elements in the collection’s frame- al-ajība (“Wonderful stories”), probably dat- tale have been shown to derive from ancient In- ing from the eighth/fourteenth century and dian models (Cosquin). These elements include containing several stories that also occur in the the stratagem of narrating stories in order to Nights, has, albeit erroneously, been interpreted prevent death as well as two specifi c tales, viz., as a fragment of al-Jahshiyārī’s compilation (see the tale of the “Woman in the box” (Aarne/ Marzolph, Das Buch , 632f.). Thompson tale-type no. 1426), experienced by None of the available early testimonies King Shāhriyār and his brother as a personal contains an indication of the content of the adventure, and the story of the man who knew Iranian prototype or its early Arabic adaptation, the animal languages (Aarne/Thompson tale- and any attempt at reconstructing this content type no. 670), told to Shahrazād by her father is purely speculative. The content is, however, in the hope of dissuading her from marrying summarily intimated by a paper fragment the king. published by Nabia Abbott in 1949. Dating An Iranian origin is strongly suggested by from the third/ninth century, this fragment the fact that the earliest known references to preserves the fi rst pages of a book called The the Arabian Nights explicitly mention a Persian- tale of the thousand nights (adīth alf layla) . Here, language predecessor. This notion is further a certain Dīnāzād asks an unspecifi ed narrator, supported by the Persian background of the if she be not asleep, to tell her a story promised main characters in the frame-tale. Notably, earlier and to “quote striking examples of the the narrator’s name is of Persian origin, the excellencies and shortcomings, the cunning Arabicised form Shahrazād being the equiva- and stupidity, the generosity and avarice, and lent of the Persian Chehr-āzād, meaning “of the courage and cowardice that are in man, noble descent and/or appearance.” Moreover, instinctive or acquired, or pertain to his dis- Ibn al-Nadīm reports the opinion that the book tinctive characteristics or to courtly manners, was composed for Homāni, the daughter of Syrian or Bedouin.” None of the actual tales King Bahman. Al-Masūdī identifi es a certain are quoted in the fragment. It is noteworthy Humāya, daughter of Bahman, himself the that the request only to some extent matches son of the legendary hero Isfandiyār, and a the content of the Nights as documented in later woman named Shahrazād, who was the sister of Arabic manuscripts, since there is no mention the Achaemenid emperor Darius who reigned of the fairy tales, fables, romantic epics, jokes, before him; this information is corroborated by and anecdotes that make up the Nights as they various other Arabic historians. Modern nation- are later known (Chraïbi, Les mille et une nuits , alistic Iranians who claim that the Nights are a 95–104). monument of Persian literature are certainly Additional evidence for the physical existence not completely wrong. Their claim, however, of the Nights is contained in the notebook of has also to be considered against the tendency a Jewish physician who sold, bought, and lent of traditional Arabic fi ction to localise tales of out books in mid-sixth/twelfth-century Cairo magic in an Iranian atmosphere (see Marzolph, (see Goitein). The notice pertains to a book Persian Nights , 278–80). called The thousand and one nights and thus bears Various scholars have suggested a distinct testimony to the fact that the elaborate title by Arabic origin for the collection. In particular, which the collection is known today had by the monumental collection prepared by Abū then come into use. Abdallāh Muammad b. Abdūs al-Jahshiyārī Since the earliest preserved manuscript of the (d. 331/942) has been proposed as a precur- Nights is dated to about fi ve centuries later than

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the early testimonies to the book’s existence, in its second half probably constituting a direct the content of the original collection and its copy of the Galland MS; (3) the MS Kayseri, further development can only by hypothesised. Raid Efendi Kütüphane, Edebiyat 38 (tenth/ Obviously the nucleus of the Nights was a sec- sixteenth century or later), (4) the Maillet MS, ond/eighth-century Arabic translation of the now preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Persian collection Haz ār afsān(a). This transla- Paris, arabe 3612 (second half of the eleventh/ tion, whether Islamised or not, was known as seventeenth century). In addition to the Arabic Alf layla. The third/ninth-century paper frag- manuscripts, several Turkish translations of ment testifi es to the fact that the collection did the work pre-dating Galland’s translation exist, not necessarily exist in complete manuscripts. some of which even in his day were held in Rather, various different selections appear to the Bibliothèque du Roi (now the Bibliothèque have existed since very early times. This argu- Nationale) in Paris. ment makes the existence of a canonical text of the Nights highly improbable. Instead, what is 3.3. Galland’s translation more likely is a constant rebuilding of the col- Galland in his Mille et une nuits not only trans- lection around a constitutive nucleus, probably lated, but to a certain extent created the Arabian not comprising much more than the frame-tale Nights . Having spent a considerable part of his and the early tales that relate to Shahrazād’s adult life in the Middle East (Bauden), Galland, own situation, in that they also deal with the after his return to Paris, was employed as the stratagem of saving one’s life through the telling King’s antiquary, mainly being responsible for of tales. The collection then, originating with the royal collection of antiquities, coins, and tales from the Indian and Iranian traditions, manuscripts. He also co-edited Barthélemy grew with the addition of narratives relating to d’Herbelot’s highly infl uential Bibliothèque orien- the Abbāsid period in pre-sixth/twelfth-century tale, the very fi rst encyclopaedia of the Islamic Baghdad and tales of urban Cairo during the world in a European language, which drew Mamlūk period. much of its information, albeit often with a strong Christian bias, from compilations in 3.2. Manuscripts of the Nights pre-dating the indigenous languages. Galland’s interest in Galland’s translation Middle Eastern literatures being aroused, he The oldest preserved text of the Nights is had at some time before the year 1700 acquired contained in a three-volume Arabic manu- a manuscript of the tales of Sindbād, which he script, known as the Galland MS (Bibliothèque translated and intended to publish. Learning Nationale, arabe 3609–11). According to numis- about a similar, yet much larger compilation, matic evidence – mention of the coin ashraf ī , he postponed the publication of this work and fi rst issued by al-Malik al-Ashraf Barsbāy in managed to acquire a manuscript of the Nights 829/1426 – the manuscript has been dated from Syria. Galland’s adapted translation was to the middle of the ninth/fi fteenth century published in twelve volumes. Vols. 1–6, pub- (see Grotzfeld, Age). It was acquired and used lished in 1704, and vol. 7, published in 1706, by Galland for the fi rst part of his translation. present the tales from the Arabic manuscript The manuscript is incomplete and contains in accordance with contemporary criteria of only the beginning of the Nights up to Night translation (Larzul, Traductions ), with the Sindbād 282, breaking off in the middle of the tale of tales integrated at the beginning of vol. 3. For Qamar al-Zamān and Budūr. the tale of Qamar al-Zamān and Budūr, of Besides this manuscript, no more than half which the old manuscript contained only a a dozen Arabic manuscripts that pre-date Gal- fragmentary version, Galland used an additional land’s translation are known, none of them con- Egyptian manuscript. When his original texts taining a complete text of the Nights (Marzolph, had been exhausted, his enthusiastic readers Re-locating). These MSS include (1) the John demanded that he continue and complete the Rylands Library (Manchester), MS Arabic 706 work up to the prospective 1001 nights. Vol. (fi rst half of the tenth/sixteenth century); (2) the 8, published in 1709, begins with the tale of Vatican MS (arabo 782), dated 1001/1592–93, Ghānim ibn Ayyūb as translated by Galland

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from an Egyptian manuscript. To this, the into various European languages and published publisher, without Galland’s knowledge or in complete or partial editions. Virtually all West- consent, had added the tale of Zayn al-Anām ern writers and creative artists of the eighteenth and the tale of Khudādād and his Brothers, and nineteenth centuries were to some extent as translated by Galland’s orientalist colleague inspired by the Nights (Irwin, 237–92). Moreover, François Pétis de la Croix. For the remaining the work gave rise to a vogue of literature in vols. 9–10, published in 1712, and vols. 11–12, the oriental style, in particular a whole genre of published posthumously in 1717, Galland had orientalist fairy tales (Dammann, 138–9), and recourse to various other sources. The story of thus constitutes an exotic ingredient added into the Sleeper and the Waker (a version of Aarne/ the Age of Enlightenment. Some of Galland’s Thompson tale type no. 1531) is adapted from scholarly colleagues even aimed to imitate his an as yet unidentifi ed source. For the remainder success, such as Pétis de la Croix, who published of the tales, and in particular for the tales that a collection titled Les mille et un jours (“The are most popular in later European traditions, thousand and one days”), allegedly translating Galland is indebted to the performance of the a collection copied from a manuscript in the gifted storyteller annā Diyāb. In his diaries, possession of a Persian dervish (see ed. P. Sebag, Galland states that he met annā, a Syrian Paris 2003 2 ). While Pétis de la Croix in his Maronite Christian from Aleppo, in the house younger days had in fact stayed in the Iranian of their common friend Paul Lucas, who him- city of Isfahan for an extended period, his self had travelled widely in the Middle East. compilation was later exposed as an adapted From 6 May to 2 June 1709, Galland wrote translation of a Turkish collection of tales of down extended summaries of the tales annā the Faraj bad al-shidda genre preserved in the told him (Abdel-Halim, 271–87). For the tale of Bibliothèque du Roi in Paris. In the fi eld of Aladdin, annā is even credited with supplying orientalist studies, Galland’s translation inspired a written version, the manuscript of which is, scholars to occupy themselves with the origin of however, not available. Galland later reworked the collection, its various tales, and the culture some of his summaries of annā’s tales into presented therein. Moreover, it initiated a search fully fl edged tales and published them in his for complete manuscripts of the work, as all of Mille et une nuits. This applies in particular to the manuscripts available in the early eighteenth the tales of Ali Baba and Aladdin, which, for century were fragmentary. various reasons, were most appreciated by Western audiences. The Arabic manuscripts of 3.5. Post-Galland manuscripts both tales later identifi ed by orientalist scholars In response to growing demand, Arab com- were for a long time taken to be of “genuine” pilers, above all in Egypt, produced complete Arabic origin. While initial doubts about the manuscripts, including a full set of 1001 nights. manuscripts’ authenticity had been voiced at The French scholar Hermann Zotenberg later various occasions, it was only Muhsin Mahdi’s surveyed these manuscripts, dividing them into detailed argument that fi nally unmasked them two branches. While the “Syrian branch” in- as forged adapted translations of Galland’s texts cluded the old manuscript used by Galland, later (Mahdi, 3:51–86). The only one of annā’s research has agreed to term the more widely tales for which independent Arabic manuscripts documented “Egyptian branch” as “Zoten - have been found that pre-date Galland’s transla- berg’s Egyptian Recension” (ZER). The alleged tion is the tale of the Ebony Horse. “Tunisian” manuscript, tales of which in addi- tion to texts from Galland and other sources 3.4. The consequences of Galland’s were used as the basis of the Arabic edition (and translation subsequent German translation) by German Galland’s creative and enlarged adaptation scholar Maximilian Habicht, turned out to be of the Arabic manuscripts and oral sources a wilful mystifi cation prepared by the Tunisian available to him was a tremendous success in Jew Mordecai b. al-Najjār. Similar criteria apply Europe. While the publication of the Mille et une to the manuscripts prepared in Paris by Dom nuits was still underway, the tales were translated Chavis (second half of the eighteenth century)

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and Michel Sabbāgh (fi rst decade of the nine- embellished any sexual scenes he could fi nd; in teenth century). Egyptian manuscripts with particular, his “Terminal Essay” is notorious for partly differing contents include the Wortley- its preoccupation with sexual matters. The main Montague manuscript preserved in the Bodleian body of Burton’s translation is based on the Library at Oxford (dated 1764–5; see Tauer) Calcutta II edition. In addition, he later pub- and the Reinhardt manuscript in Strassburg lished a six-volume installment of Supplemental (dated 1831–2; see Chraïbi, Contes ). All of the Nights (1886–8) containing additional tales from post-Galland compilers of Arabic manuscripts other versions of the Arabian Nights , including the were faced with the situation of having to Breslau edition, the so-called “orphan stories,” prepare “complete” texts of the Nights . As no and tales from the Wortley-Montague, Chavis, notion of a specifi c or canonical set of tales to and Cazotte manuscripts. be included existed, completeness referred solely The English-language translation published to the fact that a total of one thousand nights by Powys Mathers (1937) is based on the French of storytelling had to be fi lled. version prepared by Joseph Charles Victor Mardrus (16 vols., Paris 1899–1904). This trans- 3.6. Printed editions and translations lation is the least faithful to the Arabic original With the exception of the Breslau edition, but due to its public appeal has been reprinted which is partly based on the alleged Tunisian numerous times. It contains numerous additions manuscript, ZER-manuscripts formed the basis from a large variety of sources, including tradi- of most of the printed editions of the Arabian tional Arabic literature and nineteenth-century Nights prepared in the nineteenth century. The collections of folktales from the Arab world. most important editions are (1) Calcutta I = ed. The Mardrus version was widely acclaimed in Amad al-Shirwānī, 2 vols., Calcutta 1814–8; France by infl uential writers such as André Gide (2) Bulaq I = 2 vols., Būlāq (Cairo) 1835; and Marcel Proust and also contributed to the (3) Calcutta II = ed. W. H. Macnaghten, 4 vols., collection’s fame in its English version. More Calcutta 1839–42; (4) Breslau = ed. M. Habicht recent contributions to the literature include an and H. L. Fleischer, 12 vols., Breslau 1825–43; English translation of the Galland manuscript (5) Bulaq II = 4 vols., Būlāq (Cairo) 1862. Prior by Husain Haddawy, who has also translated to the Arabic editions of the Nights , Galland’s some of the more popular stories, following French version had served almost exclusively Bulaq I; and a faithful English translation of as the source of reference for translations into the “complete” text, based on Calcutta II, other European languages. with the addition of four stories from Galland’s The most widely known English-language French text, prepared by Malcolm C. Lyons and translations published in the nineteenth cen- Ursula Lyons. A German translation that has tury are those prepared by Edward William been widely praised for its sensitive adherence Lane and Sir Richard Francis Burton. Lane’s to the original Arabic was presented by Enno translation (3 vols., London 1839–41) largely Littmann (1921–8, often reprinted since 1953; follows the Bulaq I edition. Lane was an excel- based on Calcutta II, with the addition of the lent scholar of Arabic, but his translation bows “orphan tales”). to puritanical Victorian morals in eliminating various scenes and even complete tales that ac- 4. Characteristics cording to contemporary criteria were deemed While all versions of the Nights contain both objectionable. Since Lane intended the book to the specifi c frame-tale and a largely identical be read as a mirror of Arabic customs and, in initial set of stories, they often differ in content, fact, a contemporary ethnographic guide, his particularly in their later parts. Shahrazād’s translation is supplied with profuse and often stratagem of breaking off her tales at a critical distracting annotation. point arousing the cruel king’s curiosity not Burton in his translation (10 vols., “Benares,” only had the practical consequence of saving i.e., London, 1885) profi ted to a considerable her life and, in consequence, saving her sex. It extent from the previous limited English edition also turned the frame-tale into a powerful device by John Payne (1882–4). He employed archaic able to integrate a potentially endless number language and stressed sexual undertones and of tales. The more the narration proceeds, the

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looser the original device of “cliffhanger,” i.e., of anonymous collections of tales. Some manu- interrupting the tales at specifi cally fascinating scripts even incorporated large and originally points, is practised. And while most of the early independent narratives or narrative cycles such tales are quite long, stretching over a number of as the lengthy romance of Umar b. al-Numān nights, many of the later nights contain several or the Persian Sindb ād-nāme, a collection of mor- short anecdotes told in a single night. alistic stories better known in the West as the Some of the earlier tales appear to be con- Seven Sages. The tales of Sindbād’s travels that sciously linked to the frame-tale in that they by way of Galland’s version became an integral also apply the stratagem of telling stories to part of the Nights had previously been included save one’s life. In recent research, the tales with in a seventeenth-century Turkish manuscript. that purpose have consequently been labelled Even some of the European translators, notably “ransom tales.” This criterion applies to the tale Mardrus, could not resist the temptation to of the Merchant and the Jinnī, the tales told enlarge the repertoire of the Arabian Nights by by the Qalandars in The Porter and the Three adding tales from extraneous sources. Ladies of Baghdad, the tale of The Three Research has classifi ed the tales of the Ara- Apples, and The Hunchback’s Tale, including b ian Nights and their hypothetical origin or the tales of the Broker, the Reeve, the Jewish integration into several strata. While compara- Doctor, the Tailor, and the Barber. These tales, tive folk-narrative research has in many cases moreover, exhibit a particular framing device succeeded in identifying the ultimate origin of story-within-a-story that at times goes down of the tales, it is hard, if not impossible to several layers. From the perspective of the lis- tell at which point they were integrated into tener and/or reader, the Nights are narrated by a the Nights . The Indian stratum probably en- storyteller who has Shahrazād narrate a story in compasses the “wiles of women” stories about which the protagonist tells his or her story, and extramarital sexual relations and some of the so on. In his essay “Narrative-Men,” Tzvetan fables, notably those having parallels in the Todorov has identifi ed this device as one of collection Kal īla wa-Dimna , which is essentially the major characteristics of the Arabian Nights . an adaptation of the Indian Pañcatantra . The In order to tell others who they are, the narra- Iranian stratum is said to contribute those tales tive characters relate their previous experience closest to the European understanding of fairy by telling their story. In this manner, telling a tale, in which wonder and magic occur on an story signifi es life, and consequently, the absence unquestioned and natural level. Greek infl uence of narrative signifi es death. As the characters is particularly discernible in the romances (von are “merely narrative” and must narrate in Grunebaum). The Jewish stratum, often relating order to live, their storytelling generates the to stories from the Talmud or the Midrashim, overwhelming abundance of embedding and the so-called Isr āīliyyāt, encompasses tales of a embedded tales in the Nights . The device of moralistic nature, often focusing on death and having characters within a tale tell their own eternal merit in the hereafter. The Baghdad tales embedded within the narrative creates a stratum prominently deals with tales of the so- labyrinthine structure that greatly contributed to called Hārūn-cycle, in which Hārūn al-Rashīd the fascination of the Arabian Nights, particularly is portrayed as a model ruler, as well as jokes with Western audiences. and anecdotes from the times of the Abbāsid As a consequence of the frame-tale’s nar- dynasty, mostly culled from Arabic adab litera- rative potential, and to some extent resulting ture. The Cairo stratum is the latest addition to from the fact that “complete” manuscripts of the narrative repertoire. Its tales are localised in the Arabian Nights were not always available, the the atmosphere of urban Cairo and encompass compilers of later manuscript versions incor- Mamlūk tales of deceit and roguery. These porated tales of the most divergent categories. strata cannot, as earlier research suggested, be These tales included folktales and fairy tales, separated from each other clearly. Rather than romances of love and chivalry, religious and constituting a palace whose various chambers didactic tales, fables, and jokes and anecdotes, were added to the original building at specifi c many of which are culled either from classical periods, the Nights resemble a building that fell Arabic literature or from the numerous existing into ruin repeatedly, while new buildings were

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erected on the remnants in consecutive periods formance or public reading from printed tales, (Grotzfeld and Grotzfeld, 68–9). many of which were published as separate In terms of ethical values, the narrative uni- chapbooks, tales from the Nights also reached verse presented in the Nights is dominated by the the illiterate strata of society, and many of its world-view of the merchant class propagating tales have since become stock tales of European the ethics of success (see Molan and Cousson- folk literature (Marzolph, Comparative folk net). This is all the more understandable, as narrative), in particular the tales of Aladdin, merchants and people trading or buying in the Ali Baba, Sindbād, and the Ebony Horse. bazaar probably constituted the major audi- The media of drama and, later, fi lm, also took ence for oral performances of tales from the inspiration from the Nights and shared in propa- Nights in their indigenous context. Accordingly, gating popular appreciation of the tales. Some alluding to the traditional literary genre of the of the earliest fi lms ever produced by Georges “mirror for princes,” the Nights may be termed Meliès are inspired by the Nights . Both Doug- a “mirror for merchants,” that is, “a manual of las Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad (1924) and basic rule in manners and customs for young Lotte Reiniger’s Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed merchants” (Chraïbi, Situation, 6). Though the (1926), the fi rst feature-length animated fi lm Nights are by no means a unifi ed collection, the ever produced, are partly based on the tale of tales convey to some extent an image of social Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Pari Banu from life in the Muslim world, particularly Egypt in the Nights . Numerous works in the modern the Mamlūk period. They should not, however, literatures of the collection’s countries of ori- be taken as an ethnographic manual, as, follow- gin, particularly Arabic and Persian literature, ing Lane’s translation, was popular in Victorian also take inspiration from the Nights (Walther, England. In particular, the playful atmosphere Modern Arabic Literature). Already late in the of the Nights relating to licentious behavior or nineteenth century, the Nights had become a the consuming of intoxicating beverages and worldwide phenomenon, the impact of which drugs should not be interpreted as advocating transcended the boundaries of both the Middle a tolerant or permissive atmosphere. It can East and the West. Recently, the impact of the rather be seen as a sort of compensation for Nights has been studied in regions as far fl ung as the shortcomings of mundane existence and the Hawaii (see Bacchilega and Arista), Indonesia product of wishful thinking, imagining a better, (see Cohen), and Japan (see Sugita). “fairy-tale” life. The enthusiastic reception of From the twentieth century on, images and the Nights in Europe, particularly in Victorian tales from the Nights have formed an integral England, is most probably due to the rigorous constituent of world culture. The collection as a moral standards reigning at the time. whole is regarded as the quintessential fairy-tale world of ultimate fascination, well-being, and 5. The impact of the N IGHTS happiness – a matrix resembling the European The impact of the Nights on creative imagi- notion of Cockaigne, with the added spice of nation can hardly be overestimated. Elements (imagined) uninhibited sexuality. International from the frame-tale of the Nights can already popular imagery includes the number 1001, be traced in Italian Renaissance literature long denoting an endless amount, the image of the before Galland. Both Giovanni Sercambi’s jinnī who, when released from the bottle, cannot (d. 1424) Novella d’Astolfo , and canto 28 of Ludo- be controlled any more (from the tale of the vico Ariosto’s (d. 1533) Orlando furioso contain the Fisherman and the Jinnī), or the words “Open, story of the two men being sexually betrayed by Sesame” (from the tale of Ali Baba). The best- their wives. This coincidence suggests transfer known tales from the Nights have moreover by way of oral tradition, probably through Ital- gained fame as modern trade names, chosen ian trade with the Levantine countries. After with the purpose of spontaneously forming a the tremendous success of Galland’s translation, link in the popular imagination between the hardly a major European writer of the eigh- product and the content of the stories: “Alad- teenth or nineteenth century could avoid being din” serves as a trade name for bail bonds and in some way or other infl uenced by tales of Internet search engines, “Ali Baba” is probably the Nights . By way of re-creations in oral per- the most famous name for Western restaurants

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in the oriental style, and “Sindbad” is a popular texte au mythe, Rabat 2005 ; Larzul, S., Les traductions name for travel companies, particularly those françaises des Mille et une nuits. Etude des versions Galland, Trébutien et Mardrus, Paris 1996 ; van Leeuwen, R., catering to single males. De wereld van Sjahrazaad , Amsterdam 1999 ; Lyons, Malcolm C., and Ursula Lyons (trans.), The Arabian nights , Penguin, forthcoming ; Mahdi, M., The thou- Bibliography sand and one nights (Alf layla wa-layla) from the earliest In addition to sources cited in the article: Aarne, A., known sources, 3 vols., Leiden 1984–94; Marzolph, U., and S. Thompson, The types of the folktales , Helsinki ed., Re-locating the Arabian nights, Orientalia Lova- 1961 ; Abbott, N., A ninth-century fragment of the nensia Analecta 87 (1998), 155–63 ; Idem, Das Buch ‘Thousand nights.’ New light on the early history der wundersamen Geschichten , Munich 1999 ; Idem, The of the Arabian nights, JNES 8 (1949), 129–64; Abdel- Persian Nights . Links between the Arabian nights and Halim, M., Antoine Galland. Sa vie et son œuvre , Paris Persian culture, Fabula 45 (2004), 275–293 ; Idem, 1964 ; Ali, M. J., Scheherazade in England. A study of The Arabian nights in comparative folk narrative nineteenth-century English criticism of the Arabian nights , research, in Y. Yamanaka and T. Nishio, The Arabian Boulder CO 1981; Bacchilega, C., and N. Arista, nights and orientalism. Perspectives from East and West The Arabian nights in a nineteenth-century Hawaiian (London 2006), 3–24 ; Idem, ed., The Arabian nights newspaper. 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Étude du manuscrit Reinhardt, Paris 1996; Gelder, eds., New perspectives on Arabian nights , Lon- Idem, ed., Les mille et une nuits en partage , Paris 2004 ; don 2005; Perles, J., Rabbinische Agadas in 1001 Idem, Situation, motivation, and action in the Nacht. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Wanderung Arabian nights, in U. Marzolph and R. van Leeu- orientalischer Märchen, Monatsschrift für Geschichte wen, The Arabian nights encyclopedia (Santa Barbara und Wissenschaft des Judenthums 22 (1873), 14–34, CA 2004), 1:5–9 ; Cohen, M. I., Thousand and one 61–85, 116–25 ; Pinault, D., Story-telling techniques nights at the Komedie Stamboel. Popular theatre in the Arabian nights , Leiden 1992 ; Sugita, H., The and travelling stories in colonial Southeast Asia, Arabian nights in modern Japan, in Y. Yamanaka in Ouyang, W.-C., and G. J. van Gelder, eds., New and T. Nishio, The Arabian nights and orientalism. 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Grotzfeld, Die Erzählungen Arabic Literature encompasses sixteen aus “Tausendundeiner Nacht ,” Darmstadt 1984 ; von centuries of literary creativity across a range Grunebaum, G. E., Greek form elements in the Ara- of genres, in language spanning the spectrum bian nights, JAOS 62 (1942), 277–92 ; Haddawy, H. (trans.), The Arabian nights , New York 1990 ; Idem, from the classical to the vernacular. The Arabian nights II. Sindbad and other popular stories , New York 1995 ; Heath, P., Romance as genre in 1. Fifth and sixth centuries c.e.: The thousand and one nights, JAL 18 (1987), 1–21, and Pre-Islamic Arabian literature 19 (1988), 3–26 ; Irwin, R., The Arabian nights. A companion , London 1994 (reprint London 2004) ; Joly, The pre-Islamic literary prose that has sur- J.-L., and A. Kilito, eds., Les mille et une nuits. Du vived consists mainly of some adages, sometimes

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