from The Thousand and One Nights “The Fisherman and the Jinnee” Image courtesy of: www.gosanangelo.com

Aladdin video clip Image courtesy of: www.en.wikipedia.org

The Thousand and One Nights Collection of unrelated tales pieced together into one long narrative Connecting framework is the tale of King Shahriyar whose wife’s betrayal has filled him with hatred for all women Every night, motivated by vengeance and fear, he marries a different woman only to put her to death the following morning. Image courtesy of: www.en.wikipedia.org

The Thousand and One Nights Finally a young woman named Scheherazade devises a scheme to stop the bloodshed. She weds the king, and on the first night of their marriage, she tells him a spellbinding story. At daybreak, she has not yet finished, but promises the king to finish the story that evening. Captivated by the tale, Shahiryar agrees. That night, she finishes the story but immediately begins another exciting tale. Image courtesy of: www.bookdrum.com

The Thousand and One Nights She enthralls or mesmerizes the king and prolongs her life for 1,001 nights By the time she has finished telling her final story, almost 3 years have passed and the king, now in love with Scheherazade, decides not to kill her. Image courtesy of: www.booktryst.com

The Fisherman and the Jinnee Poor fisherman casts a net and finds a jinnee (genie) in a bottle the 4th time Jinnee refused to pledge obedience to Solomon and was cast into the sea Jinnee wants to kill the fisherman because he is bitter for having been cast at sea for so many years without being rescued What will happen? We shall find out! Image courtesy of: www.uexpress.com

Folk Tales Part of the oral tradition, the body of stories, poems, and songs that are passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation Most folk tales include A lesson about life Magical or supernatural elements Characters who possess one or two main traits A clear separation between good and evil

Narrative Structure The way in which a work of fiction is organized

Frame Stories Stories within-a-story In A Thousand and One Nights, there are several stories within the larger story of King Shahriyar and Scheherazade Within “The Fisherman and the Jinnee,” there are the stories of: 1) The Tale of King Yunan and Duban the Doctor 2) The Tale of King Sindbad and the Falcon Can you think of any movies with frame stories?? 

While reading… Pay attention to the elements of folk tales Think about the narrative structure Think about the frame stories Think about how you can summarize the story