Translated by N.J. Dawood
The Thousand and One Nights
Princess Scheherazade’s story
 King Shahriyar’s wife’s betrayal filled him with hatred
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for all women.
Every night, motivated by vengeance and fear, he
marries a different woman only to put her to death by
morning.
Finally, a young woman, Scheherazade, devises a
scheme to stop the bloodshed.
She weds the King, and on the first night of their
marriage, she tells him a spellbinding story.
At daybreak, she still has not finished.
Princess Scheherazade’s Story
Cont’d.
 As the executioners await their orders, Scheherazade
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promises King Shahriyar that she will finish the story that
evening.
Captivated by the story, the King stays (stops) the order of
execution.
That night Scheherazade finishes the first story but
immediately starts another that is just as exciting as the
first.
In this way, she enthralls the King and prolongs her life for
one thousand and one nights.
By the time she has finished her final story, almost three
years have passed, and the King is in love with her and
decides not to kill her.
The Fisherman and the Jinnee
 “The Fisherman and the Jinnee” discusses the
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importance of appreciating people for their kindness.
This message is shown in three interlocking stories.
In the main story, a fisherman frees a jinnee who is
trapped in a bottle.
In return, the Jinnee plans to kill him.
The Jinnee is angry that he has been trapped in the
bottle for two hundred years.
The Jinnee’s Story
 The Jinnee was one of several who rebelled against
King Solomon, but was defeated by Solomon’s Vizier.
 When the Jinnee refused to pledge Solomon’s
obedience, Solomon had him imprisoned in a bottle
that was tossed into the sea.
 At first, the Jinnee vowed to bestow riches on whoever
released him, but he was imprisoned so long that he
grew angry and vowed to kill whoever released him.
The Fisherman and the Jinnee
King Yunan and Duban the Doctor
King Sinbad and the Falcon
 King Yunan tells his advisers the story of King Sinbad.
 King Sinbad kills his pet falcon.
 He regrets the act because the falcon prevented him
form drinking poison.
 After the fisherman tells these stories, he throws the
bottle back into the sea.
The Fisherman and the Jinnee
King Duban and the Doctor
 The fisherman cleverly tricks the Jinnee and returns
him to the bottle.
 He tells two stories to the Jinnee.
 In the first story, a king kills a doctor who cured him of
leprosy.
 The King’s advisers convince him that the doctor will
destroy him.
 However, the King is punished for killing the doctor.
 This King tells his advisers the story of Sinbad.
The Tale of Sinbad and the Falcon
 King Yunan tells this story to his Vizier who is jealous
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of Doctor Duban and attempts to have him killed.
So he tells the Vizier the story of Sinbad who repented
after he had killed his falcon.
One day, Sinbad went hunting with his men and took
along his pet falcon.
A gazelle came along and the King threatens to kill the
man who allows her to escape.
Ironically, it is King Sinbad himself who allows the
gazelle to escape.
Sinbad and the Falcon
 The King pursues the falcon, strikes her down and kills
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her.
Because it was a hot day, the King filled the tiny bowl
that the falcon wore around it neck with water.
The falcon kept knocking the bowl over; the King then
set the bowl in front of his horse, but the falcon
knocked it over again with its wings.
In anger, Sinbad struck the falcon with his sword,
cutting off both its wings, and cursed the falcon.
The now wingless bird gestured to the King to look
into the tree.
Sinbad and the Falcon
 The King looked up and saw an enormous serpent in
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the tree spitting its venom down the trunk.
By alerting the King to the snake, the falcon saved his
life.
The King then was sorry for what he had done to his
falcon.
When he took the bird back to the palace, the bird
died.
The King was stricken with sorrow for having rashly
killed the bird which had saved his life.
Back to King Yunan and the Vizier
 The still jealous Vizier suggests that the King execute
the doctor who has saved his life, hinting that the
doctor plans on poisoning the king.
 The good doctor who cured the King of Leprosy points
out that such an execution would be an evil act and
that goodness should be repaid with goodness.
 The King, however listens to his Vizier and is
convinced that the doctor is a spy.
 The doctor begs for one more day so he can take care
of his affairs and say goodbye to his family.
King Yunan and the Vizier
 The doctor offers the King one of his special medicine
books (which holds secrets )as a parting gift.
 He tells the King that once he has cut off the doctor’s
head, he is to turn over three leaves (pages) of the
book and read the fist three lines upon the left-hand
page.
 Then the severed head of the doctor will speak and
answer any questions that the King asks.
 The doctor gives instructions to the King, and then the
King cuts off his head.
The End of the Story
 After cutting off the doctor’s head, the King opens the
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book.
Finding the pages stuck together, he puts his finger to his
mouth and turns over the first page.
He repeats this with the second and third pages.
He can find no writing in the book.
The severed head directs him to continue turning pages.
The King continues unaware that the leaves (pages) of the
book had been treated with venom (poison).
He drops to the ground, poisoned by the book and by the
doctor.
Back to the Fisherman and the
Jinnee. The Moral of the Story:
 The fisherman tells the treacherous jinnee that had the
King spared the physician, he in turn would have been
spared by Allah (God).
 But he refused, and Allah brought about the King’s
destruction.
 The fisherman tells the Jinnee that had he been willing to
spare the life of the fisherman, then Allah would have been
merciful to him, and the fisherman would have spared his
life.
 Since the Jinnee sought to kill the fisherman, the fisherman
throws him back into the sea where he is waiting for some
Pope John Paul Sophomore to find him and let him out…