The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights

Every night for three years the vengeful King Shahriyar sleeps with a different virgin, executing her next morning. To end this brutal pattern and to save her own life, the vizier's daughter, Shahrazad, begins to tell the king tales of adventure, love, riches and wonder. The sequence of stories will last 1,001 nights. When the beautiful Shahrazad gives herself to the bloody-handed King Shahriyar, she is not expected to survive beyond dawn. But using all her wit and guile, she begins a sequence of stories that will last 1001 nights: stories of jinns and blind men, warriors and princesses, viziers and magical palaces, and wonderful talking birds. This volume also includes the well-known tales of Sindbad the SailorAlong with this landmark new translation, Robert Irwin''s introduction examines the history and provenance of the Nights, the different uses of the works - from ethnographic source to storytelling celebration - and the varied translations through the years. This edition also contains a glossary and maps.