Reading Notes: Arabian Nights, Part B
For this week's reading, I read the Arabian Nights tales in The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898.)
In this part of the Arabian Nights, the story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp is told:
Aladdin is the son of a poor tailor (living in what appears to be China, oddly enough) and is incredibly idle, so idle that his father dies from anxiety and frustration. The boy's mother laments his idleness and tries to get him to change, but to no avail. An African magician tricks Aladdin and his mother into believing he is the dead father's long lost brother. The fake uncle then takes Aladdin and uses him in an attempt to get a magic lamp. The plan fails and the magician flees, leaving Aladdin in the cave with the magic lamp and a magic ring. Aladdin eventually uses the genie trapped in the ring to escape and return home. He and his mother clean up the lamp to sell, at which point a genie pops out, one more powerful than the genie in the ring. Aladdin uses the lamp's genie to enrich himself and his mother. One day, he spies the beautiful daughter of the sultan and decides to marry her. He send his mom to the sultan with an offer of gems. The sultan is tempted, but his vizir who wants his own son to marry the princess convinces the sultan to give him three months to offer something better for the girl's hand. The sultan agrees and ends up giving his daughter to the vizir's son after only two months. An angered Aladdin has the genie bring the newlyweds to his house where he sets the groom outside in the cold and lies with the girl. The couple are returned home and are very frightened by the experience. Eventually the sultan learns about what happened (after threatening to cut off his daughter's head) and, not knowing it was Aladdin, accepts Aladdin's mother's offer.
The princess and Aladdin marry after Aladdin shows off his wealth with slaves, gold, and a new palace. The magician, however, finds out about Aladdin's fortune and knows that he escaped the cave with the lamp. The magician disguises himself as a beggar while Aladdin is out hunting and offers new lamps for old ones. The princess' servants tell her and they agree to give the beggar the old lamp, not knowing its powers. The magician then comes to own the lamp and uses it to spirit away the palace and princess. The sultan is angered once he finds out the palace and his daughter are gone and tries to have Aladdin killed, but the crowds save him. Aladdin then uses his magic ring to find the palace where he gets the princess to poison the magician. Aladdin returns with his palace and the girl back home. However, the evil brother of the magician finds them and, pretending to be a holy woman (who he killed for her clothes), advises the princess to hand a roc egg from the ceiling. The girl asks Aladdin to make this happen and he tries but is scolded by the genie (apparently the roc was the boss of the genie) and informed of the magician's brother's deception. Aladdin then tricks the fake holy woman and stabs her, killing the magician's brother, at which point he and the princess live happily ever after.
For rewriting this story, I would love to tell is from the princess' view. She experiences numerous odd things throughout the story, from being taken with her new husband to a stranger's house, a stranger who then proceeds to sleep with her, after which she and her husband are returned home, to being spirited away in a palace to Africa, across the world. I think her point of view would be really interesting and worth exploring. What makes her fall in love with Aladdin? Is money really important to her? What does she think about her father threatening to kill her? What does she think about Aladdin's sudden wealth, about his background (does she even know it?), and about the whole affair with the magician and his brother? These are all things I think would be fun to explore.
In this part of the Arabian Nights, the story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp is told:
Aladdin is the son of a poor tailor (living in what appears to be China, oddly enough) and is incredibly idle, so idle that his father dies from anxiety and frustration. The boy's mother laments his idleness and tries to get him to change, but to no avail. An African magician tricks Aladdin and his mother into believing he is the dead father's long lost brother. The fake uncle then takes Aladdin and uses him in an attempt to get a magic lamp. The plan fails and the magician flees, leaving Aladdin in the cave with the magic lamp and a magic ring. Aladdin eventually uses the genie trapped in the ring to escape and return home. He and his mother clean up the lamp to sell, at which point a genie pops out, one more powerful than the genie in the ring. Aladdin uses the lamp's genie to enrich himself and his mother. One day, he spies the beautiful daughter of the sultan and decides to marry her. He send his mom to the sultan with an offer of gems. The sultan is tempted, but his vizir who wants his own son to marry the princess convinces the sultan to give him three months to offer something better for the girl's hand. The sultan agrees and ends up giving his daughter to the vizir's son after only two months. An angered Aladdin has the genie bring the newlyweds to his house where he sets the groom outside in the cold and lies with the girl. The couple are returned home and are very frightened by the experience. Eventually the sultan learns about what happened (after threatening to cut off his daughter's head) and, not knowing it was Aladdin, accepts Aladdin's mother's offer.
The princess and Aladdin marry after Aladdin shows off his wealth with slaves, gold, and a new palace. The magician, however, finds out about Aladdin's fortune and knows that he escaped the cave with the lamp. The magician disguises himself as a beggar while Aladdin is out hunting and offers new lamps for old ones. The princess' servants tell her and they agree to give the beggar the old lamp, not knowing its powers. The magician then comes to own the lamp and uses it to spirit away the palace and princess. The sultan is angered once he finds out the palace and his daughter are gone and tries to have Aladdin killed, but the crowds save him. Aladdin then uses his magic ring to find the palace where he gets the princess to poison the magician. Aladdin returns with his palace and the girl back home. However, the evil brother of the magician finds them and, pretending to be a holy woman (who he killed for her clothes), advises the princess to hand a roc egg from the ceiling. The girl asks Aladdin to make this happen and he tries but is scolded by the genie (apparently the roc was the boss of the genie) and informed of the magician's brother's deception. Aladdin then tricks the fake holy woman and stabs her, killing the magician's brother, at which point he and the princess live happily ever after.
For rewriting this story, I would love to tell is from the princess' view. She experiences numerous odd things throughout the story, from being taken with her new husband to a stranger's house, a stranger who then proceeds to sleep with her, after which she and her husband are returned home, to being spirited away in a palace to Africa, across the world. I think her point of view would be really interesting and worth exploring. What makes her fall in love with Aladdin? Is money really important to her? What does she think about her father threatening to kill her? What does she think about Aladdin's sudden wealth, about his background (does she even know it?), and about the whole affair with the magician and his brother? These are all things I think would be fun to explore.
Picture of Aladdin finding the magic lamp, created by Rene Bull. Source: Wiki Commons
Comments
Post a Comment