Arabian Nights
The Arabian Nights, or One Thousand and One Nights, gathers stories within the frame of Scheherazade telling tales to save her life. Its princes, merchants, servants and supernatural beings move through imagined worlds associated with Persia, Iraq, Egypt and beyond.
Versions here include Andrew Lang’s selection, whose preface identifies Antoine Galland’s French as its source. Consult each page for the edition followed. These tales include adult themes as well as adventure, so read the individual audience guidance before choosing.
16 stories are in this collection right now.
Browse by region: Middle East, Turkey.
Arabian Nights
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Ali Baba overhears Open, Sesame, loads his donkeys with gold—and Morgiana outwits chalk marks, oil-jar assassins, and a guest who will eat no salt.
Arabian Nights
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
A false uncle sends Aladdin into a treasure cave for a lamp; genies raise a palace—until "New lamps for old!" carries it to Africa.
Arabian Nights
The Barber’s Story of His Fifth Brother
Idle Alnaschar invests his inheritance in glass, kicks the basket in a daydream of marrying the vizir's daughter—then walks into a deadlier trap.
Arabian Nights
The Barber’s Tale of Himself
A Baghdad barber who boasts that he is a man of few words explains how his silence nearly got him executed alongside ten robbers.