The Arabian Nights - ebook

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
“THE ORIENT MAGIC”

The Talking Bird, The Singing Tree, and the Golden Water
The Story of the Fisherman and the Genie
The History of the Young King of the Black Isles
The Story of Gulnare of the Sea
The Story of Aladdin; Or, the Wonderful Lamp
The Story of Prince Agib
The Story of the City of Brass
The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The History of Codadad and His Brothers
The Story of Sinbad the Voyager

The Talking Bird:
It will be sufficient to break off a branch and carry it to plant in your garden
The Fisherman and the Genie
The smoke ascended to the clouds, and extending itself along the sea and upon the shore formed a great mist

The Young King of the Black Isles
When he came to this part of his narrative the young king could not restrain his tears
Gulnare of the Sea
And she proceeded to burn perfume and repeat spells until the sea foamed and was agitated
Aladdin
At the same time the earth, trembling, opened just before the magician, and uncovered a stone, laid horizontally, with a brass ring fixed into the middle
Prince Agib
And when the boat came to me I found in it a man of brass, with a tablet of lead upon his breast, engraven with names and talismans

Prince Agib
At the approach of evening I opened the first closet and, entering it, found a mansion like paradise
The City of Brass
And when they had ascended that mountain they saw a city than which eyes had not beheld any greater
The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Cassim ... was so alarmed at the danger he was in that the more he endeavoured to remember the word Sesame the more his memory was confounded
The History of Codadad and His Brothers
As it drew near we saw ten or twelve armed pirates appear on the deck
Second Voyage of Sinbad
The spot where she left me was encompassed on all sides by mountains that seemed to reach above the clouds, and so steep that there was no possibility of getting out of the valley
Third Voyage of Sinbad
Having finished his repast, he returned to his porch, where he lay and fell asleep, snoring louder than thunder..

Little excuse is needed, perhaps, for any fresh selection from the famous "Tales of a Thousand and One Nights," provided it be representative enough, and worthy enough, to enlist a new army of youthful readers. Of the two hundred and sixty-four bewildering, unparalleled stories, the true lover can hardly spare one, yet there must always be favourites, even among these. We have chosen some of the most delightful, in our opinion; some, too, that chanced to appeal particularly to the genius of the artist. If, enticed by our choice and the beauty of the pictures, we manage to attract a few thousand more true lovers to the fountain-book, we shall have served our humble turn. The only real danger lies in neglecting it, in rearing a child who does not know it and has never fallen under its spell.

You remember Maimoune, in the story of Prince Camaralzaman, and what she said to Danhasch, the genie who had just arrived from the farthest limits of China? "Be sure thou tellest me nothing but what is true or I shall clip thy wings!" This is what the modern child sometimes says to the genies of literature, and his own wings are too often clipped in consequence.
"The Empire of the Fairies is no more.

Reason has banished them from ev'ry shore;
Steam has outstripped their dragons and their cars,
Gas has eclipsed their glow-worms and their stars."
Édouard Laboulaye says in his introduction to Nouveaux Contes Bleus: "Mothers who love your children, do not set them too soon to the study of history; let them dream while they are young.