Editor: Lina Gallo

We’ve all heard of Aladdin, the Disney adaptation making us sing “A Whole New World!” at the top of our lungs whenever the scene comes on, but besides that, what other tales from the Arabian Nights have you heard of?

Probably nothing right?

However, Aladdin, along with a thousand other beautifully crafted poems, tales, and legends from the Middle East, South Asia, and even Northern Africa, comprise the book One Thousand and One Nights or as it’s more commonly known, The Arabian Nights. These stories, written in Arabic, were collected in the Islamic Golden Age, which spanned from the eighth to the thirteenth century, and were highly influenced by the advancements in science, economy, literature, and arts during those times. Although the origins are not clear cut, many speculate that the earliest of these tales originated from India and Persia. In the eighth century, these works were compiled and translated into Arabic, generating the framework for the book, Alf Layla. Later on, in Iraq, Arab stories were then added, followed by some additional independent sagas, and more tales from Syria and Egypt, bringing the tally up to one thousand and one, fulfilling its namesake.

The first English translation of the book, though, came out much later in 1840 by Edward Lane, but the full unabridged version was published in 1882 by John Payne, finally bringing the tales into the eyes of the rest of the world. 

Although the tales vary greatly throughout the collection, comprised of historical legends, love stories, to comedies, poems, tragedies, and many more, the lessons remain constant throughout all of the stories, immersing the readers in a world rich with Asian culture, from mythical beings, cities, to beliefs, and language. The book and the thousands of stories within it are definitely worth a read, but if you don’t know where to start, don’t worry! We’ve compiled a reading guide to some of the most famous and interesting tales just below, to aid you on your quest. 

The Arabian Nights

Centuries ago in the kingdom of Persia, which once stretched as far as India and China, lived a powerful ruler, Sultan Shahryar. He was a capable man, and an even greater ruler, gracing their lands with peace and prosperity. And more recently, he was proven a loyal husband, as he married a beautiful woman, and loved her with all of his heart. 

But it turned out, his sultana did not. She was unfaithful and was secretly having an affair with someone else. When Sultan Shahryar found out, he was furious, and in absolute rage and sorrow, he sentenced her to be put to death. And when her execution was carried out by his trusted wazir, he mourned in despair for her demise. 

From then on, he could trust no other woman and began to believe all women were not loyal. To avenge himself, he concocted up a plan. Every day, he would marry a new woman and then kill her the next morning before she could cheat on him again. The citizens as well as the guards and trusted advisors to the sultan were distressed and outraged, but a sultan’s order was an order, and this tradition was carried out for many months.

That was until he met Scheherazade. As the daughter of the wazir who was in charge of these death sentences, she had devised a plan to put this horrid game to an end.

“Father,” She began one day, “I want to get married to the Sultan.”

Her father was absolutely stunned. He did not expect such a request from his level headed daughter and was very sure he was not going to let her. “No.”

“Father, I have a plan” and so she shared it with him. After much debate, her father gave in, and the next day, her father persuaded the Sultan to marry his daughter. Although this was much of a surprise to him, he was delighted as she was known to be very beautiful.

The next day, the country gloomily celebrated their wedding and her coronation, but what they did not know was that Scheherazade had a few tricks up her sleeves. That night, she requested the Sultan that she allow her sister, Dunyazad to sleep with her so she can bid her farewell before the next day. He willingly agreed.

“Can you tell me one last bedtime story?” Her sister requested, seeing as it was her sister’s last day. 

“Sure.” 

And so the two stayed up all night, listening to Scheherazade’s story, and so did the Sultan. He laid awake, absorbed in her tales until dawn rose, and she suddenly stopped.

“Please finish the story” He requested, but Scheherazade refused, arguing that it was already dawn. Eager to know the end, the Sultan spared her life for one more day, and at night she continued her tale and began a new one……

The tale of the Hunchback

In the town of Basrah, a tailor and his wife invite a friendly hunchback, whom they had taken a liking to, over to their place for dinner. Their meal laid out, the three happily chat and laugh over dinner. Suddenly, a bone catches in the hunchback’s throat, causing him to begin coughing violently. A few minutes of this pass, and all fall silent. The hunchback laid on the table, quiet and still. In a panic, the tailor and his wife wrapped him up in a bundle and rushed over to the doctor’s house, leaving him for fear of being responsible for his death. The doctor, who was in a rush to check on the patient, falls down the stairs and is shocked to find him unconscious. He blames himself, and in fear of being accused of murder, disposes of the body off to his neighbor. This game of hot potato is played until it lands in the hands of the king’s broker, when the truth finally slips, tracing the murder back and back down the line, and revealing the biggest truth that maybe the hunchback himself wasn’t even dead.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

As a poor boy, Ali Baba was always quick-witted, hardworking, and resourceful. He lived his life day by day as a woodcutter, waiting for the day his life turned around. One day, he stumbles upon the den owned by thieves, and using his smarts, learns the password to gain access. Inside, he discovered a room filled with treasures and riches. But the thieves aren’t so happy when they find out someone had broken into their safe. In a game of cat and mouse, the thieves chase Ali Baba in a game of wits that he keeps escaping from. 

The three princes and the Princess Nouronnihar

In a kingdom, far far away, there lived three princes, who all wanted to get married to their cousin, princess Nouronnihar. The Sultan promises the three of them, that whoever produces the item with the highest value will win her hand in marriage. This brings much fiasco within the palace, with gifts ranging from magic carpet rides to healing apples, and so many more. However, the competition all stops when news arrives that Princess Nouronnihar has fallen ill. In a story of family and love, the three brothers band together to save her life.

The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor

Written as a frame story, within the frame story of Shahryar and Scheherazade, the tale follows a sailor, Sinbad, who details his own stories of shipwrecks, beasts, and the dangers of the sea that he had experienced in the seven voyages he had taken.

And so this cycle of stories continued for a thousand and one nights. When she finished her last story, the sultan had fallen in love with her, and this time, he spared her life permanently, crowning her as sultana to rule by his side, and the two lived happily ever after.

Works Cited

BBC. “Richard E Grant unravels origins of The Arabian Nights.” BBC News, 20 April 2011,

CSUN. “Scheherazade and the Arabian Nights.” California State University Northridge, 27 January 2015, https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/arabian-nights

Candlelight Stories. “The Arabian Nights.” Candlelightstories, https://www.candlelightstories.com/storybooks/the-arabian-nights/

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “The Thousand and One Nights.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 22 November 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Thousand-and-One-Nights

English for Students. “Sheherazade and Shahriar.” English for Students, http://www.english-for-students.com/Sheherazade-and-Shahriar.html

Pook Press. “Arabian Nights – One Thousand and One Nights.” Pook Press, https://www.pookpress.co.uk/project/arabian-nights-one-thousand-and-one-nights/

Stanley, Courtney. “The 10 Greatest Stories From 1,001 Nights.” The Culture Trip, 29 October 2017, https://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/articles/the-top-10-stories-from-1001-nights/

Editor: Lina Gallo

A faint orange hue illuminated the once pitch-black forest, cutting a path for the lone traveler. Instinctively, he walked towards the light source, taking careful steps in an attempt not to injure himself on stray pebbles or twigs. Pak Munsu had been warned about the creatures that roamed the forest at night, but with no other options, the lost man conceded to its enamor. Captivated, he moved deeper and deeper into the forest following the soft glow as it grew brighter and brighter. Until finally, he was met with the yellow shimmer of a burning candle, its flame housed in a lantern. Munsu’s gaze shifted upwards, his eyes landing on the obscure figure of the lantern’s owner. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he sucked in a breath, completely stunned. Before him stood a beautiful woman, her long black hair rustling slightly in the breeze, brushing across her face. A face of which was blessed with alluring brown eyes, its orbs glistening in the light of the fire, plump lips whose corners tugged itself up into a smirk. A silk hanbok was wrapped around her figure, and although they were in the forest, it was oddly clean.

“Hello there. Are you lost?” Her voice was low and bewitching, and yet it sent shivers down Munsu’s spine. He gulped.

As they conversed, he felt an odd feeling bubbling in his chest. The longer he stared at her, the worst it got. Her orbs were enchanting, but when he looked past her eyes, he noticed oddities. Her nose was sharp, almost like a snout, her hair flashed shades of orange and brown, and he could’ve sworn he saw something pointy peeking out from the top of her head. Shaking his head, the images went away immediately, gaining reason to believe he was hallucinating. Was he that tired? 

“Ok, follow along.” She said.

Silence fell in the shrouded forest as the two walked as if it was holding its breath. Dazed, Pak Munsu followed the mysterious girl, cautiously trailing her every step. As they headed deeper and deeper, a tingling sensation grew along his back. Munsu’s eyes gazed at her figure, the cloth of her dress swaying as she walked. His eyes caught sight of fur protruding from herself. He looked away, but it was still there. And that’s when he remembered.

As if sensing he had stopped, the girl turned her head to see his frozen figure, a small smirk lighting up her face. 

“You’re a…..” He trailed off, unsure of what to say, his fear only bringing her amusement. Her grin widened further until a malicious smirk graced her face.

“Run.”

This short excerpt is inspired by the Korean myth of Pak Munsu and the Kumiho, featuring a creature in Korean literature and folklore, the Gumiho (구미호). If you have never heard of this relatively popular character, the Gumiho, whose translation means “nine-tailed fox”, is “a fox that can freely transform into, among other things, a bewitching girl that seduces men.” (Shure). Its appearance across various Korean oral tales depicts the creature as a demoness, whose goals are power and death. It is believed that a fox turns into a gumiho after living for 1000 years, and gumihos are the only foxes to kill humans with their bare hands.  Unlike its related counterparts, the kitsune in Japan, and the huli jing in China, gumihos are usually always depicted as purely evil, especially in more modern myths. They hunt down their prey and eat their heart or their liver (depending on the myth) as it is believed to be the life force or energy of the human. To achieve this goal, many foxes transform into humans, in particular, a woman to lure unsuspecting humans (although there is one tale, The Maiden who Discovered a Kumiho through a Chinese Poem, where the kumiho transforms into a man to trick a maiden). However, these transformations are never entirely perfect, with something persistently fox-like about the person. 

Uniquely, the most distinct feature of a gumiho is the existence of a yeowu guseul (여우구슬), which is a “fox marble” that is believed to hold the knowledge and power of the gumiho, and they use this to absorb human energy. However, if someone else manages to get hold of the yeowu guseul, they gain knowledge and power over the gumiho it came from. 

While many of these myths were passed on orally, some of them were written down. These legends can be found in the Compendium of Korean Oral Literature, which actually contains some pretty interesting stories. One of which was mentioned before, Pak Munsu and the Kumiho. This tale follows a man, Pak Munsu, who encounters a fox-like girl living in the woods. Some other well-known myths include Transformation of the Kumiho, where a gumiho “crashes” a wedding by transforming into a bride, The King, and the Kumiho, which follows a king as he meets a girl in the woods and agrees to save her indebted father, as well as The Maiden who Discovered a Kumiho through a Chinese Poem, a story of a gumiho who changes into a man as an attempt to lure a maiden but was revealed when a dog caught its scent and attacked.

But where did this mythical creature come from? And how was it passed down through hundreds of generations of oral myths?

Although we aren’t completely sure, the gumiho seems to have originated in Chinese myths, appearing in the old Chinese text, Classic of Mountains and Seas. This is why gumihos are so similar to other Asian foxes like the kitsune and the huli jing, they all were derived from the same ancient myths. These Chinese gumihos however, were often depicted as friendly and helpful creatures. In the Goryeo dynasty, more gumihos were written with negative images, however, people in the Silla kingdom believed that foxes were sacred beings. It is suspected by many that the unified view of evil gumihos arose during the Japanese occupation of Korea, and with that, brings us to the modern tales of gumihos that are so popular in video games, comics, and tv dramas that we know and love today. 

Works Cited

Bojalad, Alec. “Lovecraft Country: What is a Kumiho?” Den of Geek, 21 September 2020, https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/lovecraft-country-what-is-a-kumiho/

Doctor Fox Sister. “Monster of the week: Kumiho.” The Supernatural Fox Sisters, 3 June 2015, https://thesupernaturalfoxsisters.com/2015/06/03/monster-of-the-week-kumiho/

Foxes Wiki. “Kumiho.” Fandom, https://foxes.fandom.com/wiki/Kumiho

Kwon, Youngmin and Fulton, Bruce. “What is Korean Literature?” Korean Research Monograph 37, March 2020, pp. 85 https://ieas.directfrompublisher.com/sites/ieas.directfrompublisher.com/files/previews/KwonFulton%20KRM%2037%20sample%20pages.pdf

Marshall & Gibson Lawyers. “Korean Folklore Fox.” Marshall & Gibson Lawyers, 6 November, https://marshallgibson.com.au/docs/mjkky.php?773252=korean-folklore-fox

Mrs. Strider. “Korean Mythology.” Unsolved Mysteries, 21 August 2002, http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm290032.html

Shure, Charles La. “kumiho.” Encyclopedia Mythica, 21 April 2001, https://pantheon.org/articles/k/kumiho.html#c2

Tales of Korea. “The Fox Sister.” Tales of Korea, https://koreanmythtales.weebly.com/nine-tails.html

Wikipedia. “Kumiho.” WikiZer, 2007, https://www.wikizero.com/en/Kumiho