Story by Artie Knapp Illustration by Maya Ramaswamy Light On a Snowy Day IT WAS TWO DAYS before Christmas and young Maggie Dotson was already being told that her Christmas wish would not be coming true. Paxton she was told, would not be coming back. A year before that December day an injured baby deer [...]

The Arabian Nights have inspired writers, poets, composers and painters in the West. In 1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of ‘Treasure Island,’ wrote: ‘There is one book, for example, more generally loved than Shakespeare, that captivates in childhood, and still delights in age – I mean the ARABIAN NIGHTS – where you shall look [...]

The Arabian Nights have a history that is largely mysterious. However, it is widely considered that they may include tales told by ancient travelers and merchants along the Chinese Silk Route. As they made their way from Northern China to the Middle East and Egypt, the travelers stopped in various towns and trading posts where [...]

Translated by John Payne (1901) There lived once in Baghdad a very wealthy man, who lost all his substance and became so poor, that he could only earn his living by excessive labour. One night, he lay down to sleep, dejected and sick at heart, and saw in a dream one who said to him, [...]

Translation by Edward Lane (1841) Illustration by Edmund Dulac (1907) IN former days there lived in a town of Persia two brothers, one named Kasim, and the other ‘Ali Baba. Their father divided a small inheritance equally between them. Kasim married a rich wife, and became a wealthy merchant. ‘Ali Baba married a woman as [...]

Translation by Edward Lane (1841) IT has been related to me, O happy King, said Shahrazad, that there was a certain merchant who had great wealth, and traded extensively with surrounding countries; and one day he mounted his horse, and journeyed to a neighbouring country to collect what was due to him, and, the heat [...]

Translation by Edward Lane (1841) In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. PRAISE be to God, the Beneficent King, the Creator of the universe, who hath raised the heavens without pillars, and spread out the earth as a bed; and blessing and peace be on the lord of apostles, our lord and our [...]

Translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1885) Illustration by Edmund Dulac (1907) If you want to listen to our 1-hour audio version of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, click here. IN days of yore and in times and tides long gone before, there dwelt in a certain town of Persia two brothers, one named [...]

Translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1885) KNOW then, O my lord, that whilom my sire was King of this city, and his name was Mahmud, entitled Lord of the Black Islands, and owner of what are now these four mountains. He ruled threescore and ten years, after which he went to the mercy of [...]

Translated by Sir Richard Francis Burton (1885) IT hath reached me, O auspicious King, that there was a fisherman well stricken in years who had a wife and three children, and withal was of poor condition. Now it was his custom to cast his net every day four times, and no more. On a day [...]