Mythology and Folklore KT

The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang First of all, Aladdin's father died because he was grieved that his son didn't have a job.  That is very dramatic.   I like the character of Aladdin in this story.  He doesn't take time to make decisions, he immediately acts.  Even though his behavior is somewhat impulsive, everything always seems to work out for him.  Having a character behave like that would be fun.   The princess goes through some stressful situations in this story.  On her wedding night to the son of the kings main adviser, Aladdin has his genie transport herself and her husband to his house, makes her husband sleep in the cold while Aladdin shares a bed with her.  Aladdin does this every night until the princess and her husband are so scared that they decide to break off the marriage.  Then Aladdin marries her and she seems happy, despite him having kidnapped her on her previous marriage's wedding night.  ...

Arabian Nights Part A Scheherazade is a remarkable character.  She risks her life to ensure that no one else has to die.  She is very clever to tell interesting stories that the sultan will want to hear, so he has a reason to keep her alive.  She tells stories within stories to ensure that the stories continue on longer, to stretch on for days. There are many themes running through these stories.  There is magic, genies (or geniuses), jealousy, and revenge.  Many of the stories are used as a form of bartering; that hearing an entertaining story is worth trading for something.  Other stories are used as examples, similar to similes or metaphors.  They are an attempt to describe the situation. I like the idea of having a character tell a story within a story.  Maybe in a rewrite, the story can have someone trading something valuable for an entertaining story. A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, Source : Wi...