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Arabian Nights (1706)

Author: Unknown

Country: Arabic tradition

Introduction:This book is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales. They were compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. The main story concerns Shahryar, a “Sasanian king”. He executes his own wife having found her unfaithful. Then he begins to marry a succession of young women only to execute each one the morning after the wedding. Eventually the vizier is not able to find any more maidens. Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, offers to be the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a fascinating tale, but does not end it. The king, curious to know how the story ends, is forced to postpone her execution. The next night, she does the same thing, so the king postpones her execution once again. So it goes on for 1,001 nights.