Stories from the Arabian Nights

by Laurence Housman (Adapted By), Edmund Dulac (Illustrator)

The tales told by Shahrazad over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahriyar have become among the most popular in both Eastern and Western literature. From the epic adventures of "Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp" to the farcical "Young Woman and her Five Lovers" and the social criticism of "The Tale of the Hunchback", the stories depict a fabulous world of all-powerful sorcerers, jinns imprisoned in bottles and enchanting princesses. But despite their imaginative extravagance, the Tales are anchored to everyday life by their realism, providing a full and intimate record of medieval Islam.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Childrens, Middle East, Literature, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 1986

About the author

English playwright, writer, and illustrator Laurence Housman, younger brother of the classical scholar and poet A.E. Housman and the writer Clemence Housman

In 1871, their mother died, and their father remarried a cousin. After education at Bromsgrove School, Laurence went with Clemence to study art at the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal College of Arts in London.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurenc...

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems that different editions of this book have different stories, and some in a different order.
My edition, Hodder & Stoughton from 1911 contains the following stories as retold by Laurence Housman: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves; The Story of the Wicked Half-Brothers; The Story of the Princess of Deryabar; The Story of the Magic Horse; The Fisherman and the Genie; The Story of the King of the Ebony Isles.

Contained within are twenty four color illustrations by Edmund Dulac. The illustrations are very well executed, of a style I guess is art nouveau, but show the Persian characters with big noses and mean expressions; the women thin, with all similar faces - perhaps recognised as beautiful at the time.

I enjoyed the stories, having read the Thousand Nights and the One Night. As others observe, not all stories reward the honest, and so are not moral guides, but then that would be disinteresting wouldn't it?

5 stars

[Simona · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was not exactly a bad read, but the subtle message of each story got me thinking. The good, positive characters were in fact quite vile in my opinion. Depicted as full of merits and exceptional qualities, they are in reality cold-blooded murderers who justify their acts by the fact that they are the good, the chosen ones. Princes and princesses are vain. Love is a concept that touches, mostly or entirely, only the physical aspect, and only those few chosen ones are to be blessed with it (they are always the most beautiful ones). Bottom line: I hope this version is read by people who already have a healthy value system and don't take the messages and the subtleties as good to follow or to believe in. The book has in my eyes no meaningful advice or any powerful message for spiritual growth, maybe I had ridiculous expectations.

[JessIca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was fantastic. Written as if in old English but way easier. The pictures inside are all pencil sketch and amazing. This was a brilliant read of a few short stories that are so famous now! Highly recommend the read I'll be keeping this and hope my kids will randomly borrow it one day.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was written in 1907 so it was interesting to see the perspective of the translators regarding the Arabs and their black slaves. What I found particularly disturbing was the illustrative portrayal of most of the Arabs and all the black slaves. The Arabs were either mean looking with huge noses, or fat and the slaves all had a dumb look on them like they didn’t know what was going on. This book was only 40 years after the Civil War so racism was pretty rampant versus our woke status of 2024. Based on the illustrations alone, it is easy to see how people would be become racist without much effort since things like this were so common place. :(

[Christopher Rush · Rating 2 out of 5]

This fine but odd collection of stories from a long-forgotten book club edition was a nice introductory trip to Arabian Nights land for my five-year-old daughter, though I had to edit some of the language and content for her as I read it to her at bedtimes. It tells you effectively nothing about the frame story uniting all the stories, and the choice of which stories are in here may baffle some of you who are more knowledgeable about the unabridged work (i.e., no Aladdin or Sinbad, but Ali Baba and a whole lot of killing stories), so that was a bit of a disappointment to me. Some of the linguistic editing I had to do spoke more to the insensitive time in which the translation/edition came out more so than the work itself. I highly doubt you'll ever find the edition to which I'm referring, but that's probably all for the better. On the whole, it did a fine job telling interesting stories to a young girl beginning a lifetime of engaging in meaningful and wonderful ideas, so it wasn't really a disaster or anything. It was all right, on the whole.

[So Hakim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A safe for work, PG-13 friendly retelling of The Arabian Nights. This book is in public domain, so you can grab copies from internet.

I have to note that, despite being abridged, the editor still managed to keep the "stories within stories within stories" framing -- which is THE big part of the charm.

Illustrations are lavish, colorful, and very decidedly "Oriental" in flavor. Anyone not familiar with The Arabian Nights -- as compilation, not individual stories -- should find this enjoyable.

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book from the Junior Deluxe Book Club, I was first introduced to Aladdin, Ali Baba, Sinbad and Scheherazade. Housman's prose was excellent but now that I know it was originally part of a book with Edmond Dulac's illustrations, I am coveting that one.I hope that children are still reading some version of these stories and not just watching the Disney Aladdin (though it is a good film of its kind). The other movie version of this I've seen is Pier Paolo Pasolini's -- NOT for children but excellent. I definitely recommend this book for anyone who hasn't read it.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all the version I read was 200 pages not 144 so it was slightly longer than the information on the site would let you believe. These are interesting stories. I especially enjoyed the stories about Sinbad the Sailor. I expected the stories to be shorter and there to be more of them but I was wrong. The stories were very detailed, sometimes overly detailed. Overall all of the stories were enjoyable.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this strange translation with its convoluted sentence structure and odd phrasings. Added to the dreamlike quality of these tales, which turned out to be much more grim (like those original Brother Grimm stories) than I had learned as a wee thing. But would like more of a traditional translation to augment this one.

[Minda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used the Fisherman and the Genie story in my writing class. The kids were very inspired to finish the story in their own way. These handpicked and edited tales made more friendly for kids are great!

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Grimms......you will love this....I did.

[Sonata Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay. After a while, the short stories got repetitive and way too predictable.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very enjoyable book. Some parts are hard to read but not many. My favorite chapter is Sindbad the Sailor, this chapter is about all his seven voyages.

[Kalvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great stories but poor edition. All the sex jokes and potty humor removed. Sad!