The Arabian Nights Entertainments

"The Arabian Nights Entertainments" by Andrew Lang is a collection of fairy tales and folk stories compiled during the late 19th century. This work serves as an English translation of the classic tales of "The Arabian Nights," showcasing a variety of enchanting narratives that often involve themes of adventure, love, and moral lessons. The opening chapters introduce significant characters such as Sultan Schahriar and his clever wife, Scheherazade, who narrates the stories to survive the Sultan's deadly decree against women. The opening of the book sets the stage for the intriguing framework of Scheherazade's storytelling as a means of saving her own life and the lives of other women. As she volunteers to marry Sultan Schahriar, who has been executing his brides each day, she devises a clever plan to postpone her fate. Each night, she captivates the Sultan’s attention with an incomplete tale, leaving him curious for more. The first story she tells involves a merchant and a vengeful genius, unfolding into a sequence of stories that eventually weave into a larger narrative tapestry, each revealing the complexity of human nature and the whimsicality of fate. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Andrew Lang was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.