Entertainment Tonight-Or Else
1704 AD
1704 1704
67.0E39.46N
LIT

SAMARKAND, CENTRAL ASIA
	Many years ago, in the far-away land of Samarkand, there lived a king who happened to catch his wife in the arms of a slave. In a fury he cut both their heads off, then ordered that each night a new bride be brought for him. And so that he would never again be betrayed, each morning he had her killed.
	Soon the king's wazir couldn't find any more young women. They had all fled or lost their heads, so the wazir's own daughter, Shahrazad, volunteered to marry the king.
	That night Shahrazad told the king a wonderful story, but instead of finishing it, she cleverly left the king wondering what would happen next.
	So the king decided not to kill his wife that morning. Then, each night, for a thousand and one nights, Shahrazad told stories. She told of Sindbad the Sailor, of Aladdin's Lamp, of Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and many other wonderful tales. And each morning the king delayed killing her.
	At the end of the 1001 nights, the grateful king decided never to kill Shahrazad. And thus did Shahrazad save the women of the kingdom.
	This is the story of the "Thousand and One Nights" (also called "Arabian Nights") and it may be just as fictional as the other fantastic stories of caves filled with thieves' gold, flying wooden horses, genies in bottles and other marvels.
	The stories first began appearing in Europe in 1704 through a translation from Arabic by the French scholar Antoine Galland. Galland was a natural storyteller himself, and modified the tales somewhat to make them more appealing to European readers. The first story to appear was Sindbad the Sailor, which was a tremendous success. It was only later that Gallard discovered that Sindbad was just one of a large collection of stories, many of which he later translated.
	Interestingly, while "Arabian Nights" was a great success in Europe, the stories were considered uncultivated, and even a bit depraved, by orthodox Islamic society, where Galland obtained them. Therefore, there was no "official" Arabic edition of "Arabian Nights." The stories varied from storyteller to storyteller and from collection to collection.
	In his encyclopedia "The Golden Meadows," Arabian historian Mas`udi says the stories -- which he thought worthless -- originally came from the Persians, Indians and Greeks.
	Whatever their origin, the "Arabian Nights" have delighted children and adults for hundreds of years, and are likely to continue doing so for many years to come.