The Arabian Nights: Thousand Nights and a Night - Vol. V

The Arabian Nights: Thousand Nights and a Night is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. The stories are primarily told by Scheherazade a legendary queen and storyteller who saves her own life by telling her husband King Shahryar a new tale every night for one thousand and one nights. Volume V of Richard F. Burtons translation of The Arabian Nights contains several popular tales including Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves The Story of Aladdin; or The Wonderful Lamp and Aboukir and Abousir. In Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves a poor woodcutter named Ali Baba discovers a secret cave where a group of forty thieves have been hiding their treasure. Using the magic words Open Sesame to open the caves door Ali Baba steals some of the treasure for himself but is eventually caught by the thieves. With the help of his quick-thinking slave girl Morgiana Ali Baba is able to defeat the thieves and keep the rest of the treasure. The Story of Aladdin; or The Wonderful Lamp follows a young man named Aladdin who discovers a magical lamp containing a powerful genie. With the genies help Aladdin becomes wealthy and marries a beautiful princess but he must use his wits to outsmart an evil sorcerer who wants the lamp for himself.