151 Stories of Arabian Nights

A fisherman used to make a good living out of his daily business. One day, he saw a huge fish which he thought would give him a relief from his daily job for a long period if caught. So, he decided to go along with the fish in the waters to catch him. He plunged […]

A crow and his wife made a comfortable nest on the branch of a tree. They planned to hatch a young crow in the nest built by them. As they approached the nest, they were frightened to see a snake crawl the tree that stayed there during all summer. The crow was deprived of a

Once upon a time, there was a small pond where a number of fishes lived. They lived happily in water. Drought was setting in at that time. The water level was receding and it became a cause for their concern that in a few days’ time the remaining water would also dry up and they

Once a certain man gave a dirham to his wife to buy rice and she went to the rice-seller. Seeing her beauty and loveliness, the seller told her that he would give her not only rice but also good sugar, if she agreed to stay with him for an hour. The lady agreed. He then

Abu Amir, the Wazir of Al-Nasir, sent some expensive gifts to him along with a very handsome boy about whom he had told Al-Nasir that he was from the Allah. Later, Al-Nasir became the favourite Wazir of the King. One day Abu Amir received a beautiful slave-girl. Al-Nasir thought that he would be punished by

Hind was the beautiful daughter of Al-Nouman. Al-Hajjaj came to know of her beauty and sought her hand in marriage. An amount of two hundred thousand dirhams was fixed as the amount he would have to return in case of divorce. After the marriage, he flooded her with expensive gifts and treasures. But one day,

Once there lived a fox that was as cunning as a fox should be. One day, he went out of the forest and entered the shop of a currier. In the shop, the man had lots of skins kept for trading. The fox went inside and started playing with the skins till they all got

Four merchants went out to buy merchandise by pooling all their money of one thousand dinars in one bag. As they reached a garden, they gave the bag containing the money for safekeeping to its woman caretaker and told her she should part with the money only if all the four came together for the

When a rich merchant was informed about sandalwood as a money-minting business, he immediately put all his money into buying sandalwood. As he entered a new town, an old lady forewarned him to be careful of many cheats in the town. The merchant asked the price of sandalwood from a fellow merchant who said that

There was a pious bath-woman who used to visit the King’s palace, where everyone respected her. One day, the Queen gave her a necklace worth one thousand dinars for safekeeping before going to take a bath. When the Queen was bathing and this lady was praying, the necklace which was placed on a prayer-mat was

Once a Prince expressed his desire to the King to go hunting. As he was the King’s favourite son, the hunting expedition was arranged for him with a Wazir and several servants to attend on him. They pitched tent in a beautiful place, had a satisfying hunting expedition and were planning to return. A beautiful

There once was a stingy merchant always looking for cheap things to eat and cheap clothes to wear. One day as he was walking in the market, he saw an old lady selling two cakes of bread. He bargained with her and managed to buy it cheap. Happy with himself for having struck a good

In Egypt, there lived a confectioner with a beautiful wife and a parrot which acted as a guard of their house. One evening before leaving, the confectioner ordered the parrot to guard the house until he returned the next morning. Soon after he had left, his wife went for her old lover and they passed