Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang (Story source: Arabian Nights' Entertainments)
I chose two different stories for my readings this week because I want to have this theme of a story inside another story inside another story and so on. The setting I want for my storytelling assignment is Jumanji, but in my Part A reading, I noticed the layers of stories, so I want to add to that theme.
The style of writing is called the "nested" storytelling technique -- explained: when a character in a story tells a story of their own, and a character in that story in turns tells a story of their own, this creating stories within stories within stories.
This story is not directly translated, but rather a modern retelling of the story. Also, there are many short stories that consist of stories within stories, along with one long story (Aladdin) in this unit.
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Many stories told in the Arabian Nights -- each story must have a storyteller...
Scheherazade--she tells stories to her husband, Sultan Schahriar, and her sister, Dinarzade, because she must entertain her husband with these stories as her life depends on it.
I chose two different stories for my readings this week because I want to have this theme of a story inside another story inside another story and so on. The setting I want for my storytelling assignment is Jumanji, but in my Part A reading, I noticed the layers of stories, so I want to add to that theme.
The style of writing is called the "nested" storytelling technique -- explained: when a character in a story tells a story of their own, and a character in that story in turns tells a story of their own, this creating stories within stories within stories.
This story is not directly translated, but rather a modern retelling of the story. Also, there are many short stories that consist of stories within stories, along with one long story (Aladdin) in this unit.
______________________________________________________________________________
Many stories told in the Arabian Nights -- each story must have a storyteller...
Scheherazade--she tells stories to her husband, Sultan Schahriar, and her sister, Dinarzade, because she must entertain her husband with these stories as her life depends on it.
19th century painting of Scheherazade, by Sophie Anderson. Web source
Sultan Schahriar loved and adored his wife, but found out she was not a great person that had deceived him. So the sultan had the grand-vizir kill her. From then on, the sultan thought that all women were terrible so he decided to marry a new woman each evening and then in the morning, he would have her killed. His actions rang through the town and it was a great horror to everyone.
The grand-vizir, whose job was to bring the sultan a new girl every evening and kill her in the morning) had two daughters, Scheherazade (very intelligent, beautiful, and courageous) and Dinarzade. Scheherazade felt like she could stop the killings, so she asked her father if he would bring her to the sultan as his next wife. The grand-vizir was terrified, but did as his daughter wished.
Scheherazade asked her sister to stay with her in the palace. One hour before dawn, Dinarzade must wake up and ask Scheherazade for one of her "charming stories." The sultan allowed for Dinarzade to stay the night-- thus, beginning The Story of the Merchant and the Genius.
genius = genie
so, each morning, Scheherazade tells another story. She must plan out a very dramatic moment in the story at the time that the sultan must get up to start his day. At that time, she pauses and needs to get permission to live through that day so that she can continue the story later the next night.While the sultan believes that the story will end, it is then that Scheherazade introduces another story.
she goes on to introduce three new characters: a man with a deer, a man with two dogs, and a third man--all waiting with the merchant who is expecting to be killed by the genie (very much like Scheherazade and the sultan). The genie --aka sultan-- strikes a deal with these men
Merchant accidentally kills the genie's son-
genie tries to kill the merchant, but the merchant asks for one year to say goodbye to his family-
after 12 months, the merchant returns to the fountain. the three new characters all walk by and want to see it all unravel so they stay-
the old man with the deer begins to beg the genie to listen to his story, and if it is better than the merchants, the genie would spare the merchant's life--
The First Old Man and of the Hind (female deer)
Story Tip: Scheherazade is telling a story to her husband and sister, and in her story, the old man with the deer is going to tell a story of his own.
The old man's story:
the deer is his wife, no children of their own, but an adopted son of a favorite slave (his heir)
the old man's wife did not like this, so she learned magic and turned the son into a calf and boy's mother (a slave), a fat cow while the old man was gone for a year for traveling.
when the old man returned, his wife said that the slave died and his son ran away.
another slave's daughter also knew magic, and when the old man sacrificed the fat cow, not knowing it was the slave, was happy to see that the old man chose not to sacrifice the calf. the girl then told the old man what happened and decided to turn back the son if she could marry him and if she could turn the old man's wife into a calf. So, the old man had to leave and so he took the calf with him, which is why they are at the fountain. The genie is please with this story and pardon's 1/3 of the merchant's punishment. It then goes on to the man with the two black dogs.
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