Tales from The Thousand and One Nights

98 Pages·2010·15.96 MB·English

READING & TRAINING

Tales from
AW ivcme Wiveyetcranave|
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Editor: Victoria Bradshaw

Design and art direction: Nadia Maestri
Computer graphics: Simona Corniola
Picture research: Laura Lagomarsino

©2006 Black Cat Publishing,
an imprint of Cideb Editrice,
Genoa, Canterbury

First edition : May 2006

Picture credits:
© North Wind Picture Archives / Alamy: 39 ; Private Collection / Bridgeman Art
Library: 79.

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ISBN 978-88-530-0518-2 Book
ISBN 978-88-530-0517-5 Book + audio CD/CD-ROM

Printed in Italy by Litoprint, Genoa ;

The CD contains an audio section (the cuca of the text) anda CD-ROM: section (addi tional fun

games and activities that practice the four skills).

- To listen to the recording, insert the CD into your CD playér and it will play as normal. You can
also listen to the recording on your computer, by opening your usual CD player program.

- If you put the CD directly into the CD-ROM drive, the software will open automatically.

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PC: Macintosh:
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the application) application) |
- SVGA monitor 800x600 screen 16 bit - 800x600 screen resolution with thousands of
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(24X recommended) * - CD-ROM Drive 12X (4x recommended)
- Audio card with speakers or headphones - Speakers or headphones

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4

ontents

Introduction 4

THE STORY OF SHAHRAYAR AND
SHAHRAZAD, HIS VIZIER'S DAUGHTER

PART ONE 9
PART TWO 16
THE ENCHANTED HORSE 23
PART ONE 25
PART TWO - 31
ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES 41
PART ONE 43
PART TWO 50
PART THREE 57
THE SECOND VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR 65
PART ONE 67
PART TWO 72
THE STORY OF THE YOUNG KING OF THE BLACK ISLANDS 81
PART ONE 83
PART TWO 88

Dossiers Versions of The Thousand and One Nights 38
Baghdad, the city of The Thousand and

One Nights 78

INTERNET PROJECTS 6, 37, 71, 93
ACTIVITIES 6, 8, 14, 20, 24, 29, 36, 40, 42, 48, 54, 62, 66,
70, 76, 80, 82, 86, 92

EXIT TEST 94

KET KET-style exercises

T: GRADE 4 Trinity-style exercises (Grade 4)

This text is recorded in full.

Lo} These symbols indicate the beginning and end of the passages
(SP linked to the listening activities.
Introduction

The origins of The Thousand and One Nights

The Thousand and One Nights (in Arabic: Alf Layla wa-Layla), is a
collection of stories from Persia, Arabia, India and Egypt. Nobody
knows the exact age of these stories but a few of them are probably
from the 9th century or before.

The name The Thousand and One Nights came from an Arabic
translation of a Persian book of stories. The Persian book, now lost,
was called Hazar Afsana (A Thousand Legends). It was translated from
Persian into Arabic in about AD! 850 and the name A Thousand
Legends changed to A Thousand Nights (in Arabic: Alf Layla). For
Arabs, the number a thousand meant ‘a lot’, not literally 1,000. The
Turks probably changed the number to 1,001 because this number
meant ‘a lot’ for them.

The frame story ‘Shahrayar and Shahrazad,

his vizier’s? daughter’

A frame story is the most important story in a collection. It continues
through the book and brings all the other stories together.

The use of frame stories is very old. Collections of fairy stories from
the Sanskrit period in India (about 200 Bc — AD 1100) often had them:
a well-known example is Kathasarit Sagara (Ocean of Stories), written
in about AD 1070 by the Kashmiri poet Somadeva Bhatta. Other

1. AD: abbreviation for Anno Domini. A way of counting the years after
Christ was born. BC : abbreviation for Before Christ. A way of counting
the years before Christ was born. Note: non-Christians sometimes use
CE (Common Era) instead of AD, and BCE (Before the Common Era)
instead of BC. This system counts the years in the same way.

2. vizier : aman who advises the king in Muslim countries.
famous books with a frame story are The Decameron by the Italian
writer Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75) and The Canterbury Tales by the
English writer Geoffrey Chaucer (about 1343-1400).

The frame story in The Thousand and One Nights is ‘Shahrayar and
Shahrazad, his vizier’s daughter’. Shahrayar is a king who marries a
new girl every night and then kills her in the morning. Shahrazad is
his last wife. She tells him stories at night but always stops in the
middle of one just before morning. The king doesn’t kill her because

he wants to hear the end of the story. This continues for many years.
They have three children and in the end Shahrayar falls in love with
Shahrazad. The stories in The Thousand and One Nights are the ones
Shahrazad tells Shahrayar.

The origin of ‘Shahrayar and Shahrazad, his vizier’s daughter’ is
probably Indian but the names of the characters are Persian.
Shahrayar means king in Persian and Shahrazad, or Scheherazade
(another spelling of her name), means city-born. Most of the other

names in the stories are Arabic.

(1) Answer the questions.

1 What does the Arabic Alf Layla wa-Layla mean in English?

2 When did the title A Thousand Legends become A Thousand
Nights?

3 Kathasarit Sagara is a collection of Indian fairy stories with a

frame story. True or false?

Who lived longer, Giovanni Boccaccio or Geoffrey Chaucer?

Who tells the stories in The Thousand and One Nights?

6 The frame story in The Thousand and One Nights is from Persia.
True or false?

>>> INTERNET PROJECT r 44¢

Follow these instructions to be directed to the
Connect to the Internet and go to ww
title or part of the title of the book into o
page for Tales from The Thousand a
project link . Go down the page u
and click on the links next to the @)) .

a

> Read an Indian fairy story.
> Find out how many tales there a
> Find out some information about G

Tell the class what you have found out an
THE STORY OF
SHAHRAYAR AND SHAHRAZAD,
HIS VIZIER'S DAUGHTER
Before you read

} Match these sentences with the pictures.

=

1 The king, the vizier and all their servants left Samarkand and
travelled for many days and nights.

2 [_] Shahrayar and Shahzaman played chess.

3 Shahzaman told the vizier to put his tents in a big field outside
the city walls. “

4 | | Shahzaman opened the door and saw his wife in bed with one

of the kitchen boys.

aA Now listen to Part One of the story and put the pictures (A-D) in
order.
PART ONE

here were once two kings called Shahrayar and ie}
Shahzaman. They were brothers. Shahrayar was an
important king. He ruled! all of Persia, India and
China. Shahzaman, his younger brother, was the
king of Samarkand.

One day Shahrayar said to his vizier, ‘I'd like
to see my brother. Go to his palace in Samarkand

and invite him to India.’

The vizier (who had two daughters, Shahrazad and Dinarzad)
made preparations for his long journey. He and his servants
travelled day and night. When they arrived in Samarkand, the
king greeted 2 the vizier warmly. ‘Welcome to Samarkand!’ he
said. ‘Tell me, how is my brother?’

‘He is well, Your Majesty. But he’d like to see you again. He
told me to invite you to India.’

‘T'll prepare for the journey immediately,’ said the king. ‘You
and your servants can put your tents in the big field outside the
city walls. Wait for me there.’

1. ruled: controlled a country.
2. greeted: said ‘Hello!’, ‘Good morning!’ etc.
TALES FROM T he Thousand and One Nights

One evening ten days later Shahzaman arrived at the vizier’s
camp. ‘We'll start our journey early tomorrow morning,’ he told
the vizier, and then he went to bed. At midnight the vizier
received a visit from the king. ‘I'd like to say goodbye to my wife
one more time,’ he said. ‘I’m going to return to the city.’

Shahzaman rode back to the palace and went straight ! to his
wife’s bedroom and opened the door. She was there in bed, but
she wasn’t alone. She was with one of the kitchen boys.
Shahzaman was very angry. He took out his sword and killed
both of them. Then he returned to the camp. The next day the
king, the vizier and all their servants left Samarkand.

They travelled for many days and nights. Finally they arrived
at the royal palace in India. Shahrayar came out to greet his
brother. He was very happy to see him again. He gave him clean
clothes, food and drink. He gave him a palace to stay in. ‘That
palace will be your home here,’ he said. ‘But you must come and
see me every day.’

The two brothers spent the days pleasantly. They talked,
played chess and walked in the gardens. But Shahzaman thought
about his wife all the time. He was very sad. He stopped eating.
He became thin and pale. 2 His brother was worried. ‘Perhaps he
wants to go home,’ he thought. ‘I'll send him back soon.’

One morning Shahrayar said, ‘I’m going hunting 3 in the
forest, brother. I'll be away for ten days. Would you like to come
with me before you go back to Samarkand?’

‘Thank you, brother, but I’m tired. You go. I'll stay here,’
replied Shahzaman.

1, straight : immediately.

2. pale: without much colour.
3. hunting : chasing and killing wild animals as a sport.

10