Michael Jan de Goeje

“ That the Nights which we have are not the original translation of the Hezār Afsāne is certain, for the greater part of the stories are of Arabian origin, and the whole is so thoroughly Mahommedan that even the princes of remote ages who are introduced speak and act as Moslems. ”

“ THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS. The Thousand and One Nights, commonly known in English as The Arabian-Nights’ Entertainments, is a collection of tales written in Arabic, which first became generally known in Europe in the early part of the 18th century through the French translation by Antoine Galland, and rapidly attained universal popularity. ”

“ There are other cases in the Nights of two tales which are only variations of a single theme, or even in certain parts agree almost word for word. Some tales are mere compounds of different stories put together without any art, but these perhaps are, as Lane conjectures, later additions to the book ”

“ But both stories agree that thereafter a new wife was brought to him every night, and on the morrow passed into the second house of the women (Esther) , or was slain (Nights) . At length Esther or Shahrazād wins his heart and becomes queen. The issue in the Jewish story is that Esther saves her people; in the Nights the gainers are “the daughters of the Moslems,” hut the old story had, of course, some other word than “Moslems.” Esther’s foster-father becomes vizier, and Shahrazād’s father is also vizier. ”