The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Volume 01


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.4 stars; 64 reviews)

The main frame story concerns a king and his new bride. The king, Shahryar, upon discovering his ex-wife's infidelity executes her and then declares all women to be unfaithful. He begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning. Scheherazade agrees to marry him and each night, beginning on the night of their marriage, she tells the king a tale but does not end it so that the king keeps her alive in order to hear the next tale. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred tales, while others include 1001 or more stories and "nights."

Well known stories from the Nights include Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor. (Summary from Wikipedia) (13 hr 29 min)

Chapters

The Publishers' Preface 2:54 Read by Tim Gregory
The Arabian Nights Entertainments 36:22 Read by Lizzie Driver
The Ass, the Ox, and the Labourer 16:34 Read by Paul Siegel
The Merchant and the Genie 14:32 Read by Tim Gregory
The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind 12:47 Read by Tim Gregory
The Story of the Second old Man and the Two Black Dogs 12:24 Read by Ted Nugent
The Story of the Fisherman 22:06 Read by Ted Nugent
The Story of the Grecian King and the Physician Douban 8:12 Read by Tim Gregory
The Story of the Husband and the Parrot 5:07 Read by Gesine
The Story of the Vizier that was Punished 30:48 Read by chris tierney
The History of the Young King of the Black Isles 30:25 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
Story of the Three Calenders, Sons of Sultans; and of the Five Ladies of Bagdad 40:17 Read by John Pruden
The History of the First Calender 18:59 Read by John Pruden
The Story of the Second Calender 28:38 Read by Reynard T. Fox
The Story of the Envious Man, and of him that he Envied 34:31 Read by marevalo
The History of the Third Calender, part a 30:20 Read by Sandra Zera
The History of the Third Calender, part b 34:17 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Story of Zobeide 25:27 Read by hugh mac
The Story of Amene 21:38 Read by Anne Cheng
The Story of Sinbad the Voyager 7:33 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The First Voyage 15:34 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Second Voyage 15:11 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Third Voyage 20:11 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Fourth Voyage 23:13 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Fifth Voyage 13:36 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Sixth Voyage 20:49 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Seventh and Last Voyage 17:01 Read by Lucy Lo Faro
The Three Apples 10:29 Read by tipaew
The Story of the Lady who was Murdered, and of the Young Man her Husband 13:41 Read by John Rose
The Story of Noor ad Deen Ali and Buddir ad Deen Hossun, part a 44:31 Read by Zapo
The Story of Noor ad Deen Ali and Buddir ad Deen Hossun, part b 35:15 Read by Jonathan Feldman
The Story of Noor ad Deen Ali and Buddir ad Deen Hossun, part c 38:07 Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016)
The History of Ganem, Son of Abou Ayoub, and Known by the Surname of Love's Sla… 36:55 Read by Jon Scott Jones
The History of Ganem, Son of Abou Ayoub, and Known by the Surname of Love's Sla… 35:42 Read by Jon Scott Jones
The History of Ganem, Son of Abou Ayoub, and Known by the Surname of Love's Sla… 35:24 Read by Jon Scott Jones

Reviews

Wonderfully Addictive! BUT!


(0 stars)

The shockingly awful ending of The Story of Amene is enough to make me retract every good thing I had to say about these stories up till that point. The entire Story of Amene crosses the line for sickening even for tales of this sort created in this time-period. The only possible redemption for a story of such hatefulness and horror would have been worthy revenge upon the unmanly (said the Caliph wisely!), monstrous perp, the worst sentient creature ever written about who (presumably) wasn't a serial torture-killer. We're led in these stories to COUNT on comeuppance, so why, I wonder, did "Anonymous" toss in this careless, cruel ending to this one story (thus far), and triple the abomination by setting it down in glowing terms that declare it Wise and Just and Good? Any reader, listen to the stories leading up to Amene's, read her story, and see if you don't agree. (I often forget we are LISTENING, not reading; that's how wonderful LibriVox audiobooks are. To READ these stories, or check for clarification of words that were muffled or strange, archive.org provides the WRITTEN material too, oftentimes thanks to The Gutenberg Project.) The Story of the Second Calender, preceding The Story of Amene, was cruel and short on Justice too, its self-forgiving hero not much of a prince, but the ending at least wasn't an out-and-out sh*t sandwich like The Story of Amene. Yep, I hated that story that much.

Very Entertaining


(4 stars)

The only way to describe a lady is call her beautiful, however intelligent and powerful she may be and the best way to reward her is to get her married. But I suppose those were the times and I am sure much worse was lost in translation. That aside, the stories are very interesting and entertaining. Having different readers, does throw my concentration off a bit, especially if not read properly or with poor recording, but not bad overall.

Some sessions need to redo recording


(5 stars)

Can't understand session 5 and 6. Appreciate the effort of the reader but the accent is too thick. Session 15 has a lot of noise and needs to re-record too.

Well Done


(5 stars)

Great selection and order of stories are correct!

i cant understand section 6 , rats sorry'


(0.5 stars)

Intresting tales - but better narration needed. Quite a few were


(3 stars)