Arabian Nights Stories are amongst the best fantasy stories that you can read to your. These Arabian Nights short stories not only provides you with the best content to enjoy only rather they have hidden lessons and meanings associated with the stories too. So, you can make your child learn some important lessons along with enjoying some great time.
Here is Arabian Nights Stories List:
You can find some of the best Arabian Nights short stories here on this page. Scroll down and see what we have in store for you.
Alibaba And The Forty Thieves
Two sons of late merchant the greedy rich elder brother Cassim and a woodcutter Alibaba.
One day Alibaba cutting his woods overheard the conversation of thieves talking about their treasure hidden in a cave and cave’s door open with magical words “Open Sim Sim” and closes with words “Close Sim Sim”.
Alibaba collected treasure from the cave.
To measure the treasure, he borrowed Cassim’s wife weighing scale.
The cunning wife was curious to know what they’re going to do with her weighing scale so she dropped some glue on it.
When Alibaba measured his weight one of his gold coins got stick with the glue and he has to reveal the source of secret treasure now.
Greedy Cassim also went to the cave but unfortunately, he got so excited while picking the treasure that he forgot the magic words of coming out from the cave.
Thieves came and killed him.
Later, Alibaba visited the cave and found Cassim’s dead body.
At home, Cassim’s slave girl Morgiana gave the idea that they should tell everyone that Cassim died naturally.
So, at night she hired a tailor who stitched his body back together.
In the morning they buried him peacefully.
On thieves returned to the cave they didn’t found Cassim’s dead body and sensed someone knew about their treasure.
They somehow found Alibaba’s home and put a cross mark at his door so they’ll attack at night but Morgana saw this and cleverly she confused thieves by making a cross on all doors.
The next day, the chief thief decided to go there and he pretended himself to be an oil merchant. He put oil in one tank and forty thieves in other tanks.
He requested Alibaba to allow him to spend one night at his home.
Morgana checked their tanks but they showed only one oil tank. Alibaba allowed them to enter his house.
Morgana knew something is wrong so she went to the room of oil tank and tapped on the tank. The thief thought it is his master who tapped and asked if they can come out.
Morgana’s suspect became true and she poured extremely hot oil on all the thieves.
When the chief saw this he also got scared and ran.
In this way, Morgana saved the whole family.
Moral
Greediness causes trouble and the smart work of a faithful slave girl killed 40 thieves and made Alibaba rich as he knew the magic code.
An Eye For An Eye
A one-eyed person who used to be a king was wandering here and there.
He reached the Inn where the daughter of Inn’s owner asked him the reason of his one eye.
He told her his father and he went outside their kingdom and behind their back, one of the wicked ministers killed his father and took the throne to himself and also ordered me to give him my left eye and I had no choice.
In this way, he made me blind and now I’m left with only one eye.
The story touched the girl and she further asked him the reason why the wicked minister made him blind?
The one-eyed person narrated a childhood story where he accidentally shot the minister’s left eye while playing bow and arrow. Till then the minister was waiting for the perfect opportunity to take revenge.
After murdering my father, he got a chance and blinded me and sent me away from the kingdom.
I was wandering here and there for many days then I found your Inn.
The girl listened to the story carefully and said: “Oh, I feel sad for you. The wicked minister should not have done this. You shot his eye unintentionally and also you were a little boy then.”
She further added: “You can stay here as long as you want.”
One-eyed person thanked her.
Banished Son saved his Brothers
The Sultan had three wives and none of them had a child. Sultan was worried about who will take his throne after he died.
A fairy appeared in his dream and told him to give seeds of pomegranate to his wives for having a child.
The next day he did this and the lucky two were gifted with the good news while the third one didn’t.
Sultan got furious and kicked the third wife out of his palace.
Later, the third wife had a child named Ahmed.
When Ahmed asked his mother about the father, she told Sultan is his father.
Ahmad joined the army and fought many battles courageously for Sultan to have a place in his father’s heart.
Sultan’s other children were jealous of him as Sultan loves his bravery.
One day Sultan’s two sons went for hunting and didn’t arrive till night. Sultan sent Ahmed to find his sons.
When Ahmed went, he saw Princess of Cairo who was imprisoned by the wizard and was crying also.
She told Ahmed to escape from here otherwise wizard will put him in a difficult situation.
Suddenly, Ahmed heard a voice from the back and hid behind the tree. It was the wizard’s voice and he came towards Princess of Cairo but Ahmed sprinkled magic water and killed him with his sword.
The Princess’s face brightened with joy and she told him to save other people who are hidden in caves by the wizard.
Ahmed went and luckily found his brothers in a cave.
He brought these two in front of the Sultan and Sultan praised his efforts.
Later, Sultan got to know about Ahmed is his real child from the third wife and was ashamed of banishing his wife.
He hugged Ahmed and brought Ahmed and his third wife in his palace.
Ahmed then narrated Princess Cairo’s story and they both then got married.
Moral
Don’t perform actions hurriedly and always be merciful with your loved ones. Sultan hastily and with no pity banished his third wife and later regretted his decision.
The Clever Woman
Mohammad was a Merchant of Cairo. As a merchant, he used to move from one city to another.
He moved to the wide city one day where he met another merchant who said: “You appear to be new in this country.”
Mohammad replied with yes.
The merchant said: “You don’t know about the customs of this city. You should visit Sultan he will guide you. “
He further added: “Make sure when you visit Sultan you should gift him something precious as it is Sultan’s rule and then he will allow you to play chess with him.”
Mohammad was okay with all the rules and presented lavishing gifts to Sultan.
Sultan accepted the gifts and asked Mohammad a few questions.
Sultan enjoyed Mohammad’s company and got to know he’s a wealthy man.
Also, at night Mohammad had a chess invitation from Sultan where Mohammad got stuck in an unfavorable situation.
Sultan had a black cat and a lamp on the cat’s head. Sultan said: “Look at my cat Mohammad. If the lamp doesn’t then I’ll keep all your valuable assets and you’ll be imprisoned and on the other hand, if the lamp falls down then all my assets will be yours.”
Mohammed was in a miserable state and thought he will lose all his assets.
They played chess for three days and the cat didn’t move.
Mohammed thought the cat will never move his head so he accepted his defeat and Sultan kept all his assets.
Mohammed was now in a prison.
Sultan’s servant went to Mohammed’s wife and told her the whole story.
The wife also got worried but as she was a clever woman. She planned to save his husband’s life.
She went to meet Sultan in disguise and presented him with valuable gifts. Sultan then invited her for chess.
As the wife knew all the rules so she brought rats with her kept in a box.
She handed over rat box to a servant and while playing chess she motioned servant to open the rat box. When the servant removed the lid of rat’s box all rats came into the room and the cat’s eyes shined with greed and the cat jumped to eat the rats.
In this way, the lamp fell on the floor and the Sultan got defeated.
The wife then revealed her true identity and Sultan gave them back all their valuable assets.
Mohammed thanked his wife and they both went home back.
Moral:
Intelligence makes a person’s life comfortable.
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Greediness Can Make A Person Blind
The greedy rich merchant Abdullah along with his forty camels went outside the city to sell his goods.
On his way back he found the humble Holy man who told him about the secret place of enormous wealth.
They both happily went there and Abdullah took his camels as well so they’ll load stuff onto it.
The holy man told Abdullah he will take twenty camels with him and Abdullah agreed.
They reached the secret place and the Holy man sprinkled some white powder. The smoke has been settled and they saw a clear path.
Greedy Abdullah’s eyes shined so brightly as he has never seen the precious diamonds, gold, and other stones before.
They loaded all the stuff in bags and then put the bags on camels.
Greedy Abdullah then said: “Dear Holy man, you don’t have any family so I think twenty camels will be useless for you. Take ten camels.”
The holy man happily agreed.
Abdullah’s greed rose more and he first told him to take five camels and then didn’t even allow him to take any camel but holy man agreed happily again.
Abdullah still wanted more wealth so he said to Holy man: “Can you give me that white magical powder?”
The holy man gave him the powder and said: “Take this but remember if you won’t use it properly it will harm you.”
He further added: “If you rub it on your left eye only everything will turn into gold. Don’t apply it on the right eye.”
Abdullah didn’t pay attention to his words.
When he rubbed the powder on his left eye, he got delighted and he thought if he rubbed the powder on the right eye, he will have a lot more gold.
And then he rubbed on the right eye and became blind because Holy man told him to only apply on the left eye.
He realized he didn’t listen to Holy man’s words carefully and his greediness of wanting more and more took both of his eyes.
Moral:
Too much greediness puts a person in danger.
The Monkey Advisor
A great intelligent poet wanted to find a calm place to write. He wandered here and there and found a peaceful place in a forest and sat there.
Suddenly a devil came with a frightening face. Poet got scared.
Devil asked him what he is doing in his place.
The poet in a stammering voice said: “I came here to write as I’m a poet. If it is your place I can go to some other place.
Furious devil cursed him and converted him into a monkey.
The monkey poet now jumped here and there and weeping.
He ate fruits and nuts and spent a few days in a forest.
One day he jumped into the ship and all the passengers shouted and wanted to throw him in the water but the captain took mercy and allowed him to remain in the ship.
Then a life-changing moment came in monkey poet’s life. The king wanted an advisor for him and everyone has to write a letter of worthy words.
The monkey poet also wrote a letter and his letter impressed the king the most.
King was amazed when courtiers brought the monkey.
They all wondered that the monkey can’t talk but can write a letter.
King tested him and ordered him to write the same letter again and luckily the poet monkey again wrote the same letter.
King was still surprised and summoned her daughter who was familiar with magical powers.
She immediately sensed the cursed-on monkey so she chanted some mantra and made the monkey into a normal man again.
The poet thanked her and king officially announced the poet as his chief advisor.
The poet faithfully worked with king.
Return of Princess and Ruby
Prince Zaman and Princess Baroda went for a camping in a forest. After a meal Princess took off her ruby earing and place it on the ground.
The Princess loved her ruby and she screamed when the bird took it.
Her husband Prince Zaman told her to not worry. He ran and chase the bird but it wasn’t possible to chase the bird for so long but he still tried.
He got tired of running and then realized he has covered a large distance. The thought of the Princess scared him because he thought the princess would be alone in the camp.
So, he ran back to the camp and didn’t found his Princess.
He was now gloomier and became to think about what had happened with his Princess.
While the Princess was scared of forest animals so she went to the palace of Prince Aram. She narrated her story to Prince Aram who took pity on her and allowed her to stay at his palace until she finds her husband.
Prince Zaman was sitting under the tree and saw a few birds fighting with each other over something.
He looked closely at them and something shiny fell from the beak of one bird.
He screamed with joy: “That’s my wife’s ruby”
He was elated that he found the lost ruby and went to find the Princess.
He heard the news of the arrival of a new Princess in king Aram’s palace. He thought maybe the new princess is his wife. So, he went there in disguise as a merchant and put the ruby in a honey jar.
He told the servant of Aram’s palace to present honey only to the new princess.
When the servant poured honey from the jar into a bottle, Princess screamed with joy: “That’s my ruby”.
Princess summoned the merchant and on seeing merchant she recognized her husband even in disguise.
They both felt happy on seeing each other and went back to their own place together.
Test of Demon For Honesty
A poor merchant was tired of working and sat under a palm tree eating dates and throwing seeds behind him.
He heard the frightening sound at his back and when he looked back, he saw a scaring demon. His body was shivering and in a stammering voice, he asked demon who is he and what does he want?
The demon told him he has disturbed his peace by throwing seeds at him.
Merchant said: “Pardon me demon. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Demon angrily said: “I am going to kill you and no one could save you from me.”
Poor merchant was convinced he has no way to save his life so he said: “If you want to take my life, you can surely take but give me a little time of one day so I’ll say goodbye to my friends and family.”
Demon agreed.
Poor merchant went home and told his family about the demon. Everyone told him to not go back there again and save his life but the honest merchant fulfilled his promise to demon and said good-bye to everyone and left.
Merchant reached the demon.
Demon: “I’m glad to see you here. I have good news for you. I’ll interrogate three men about you and if they speak good of you, you are safe then.”
Demon began interrogating three men.
One man replied: “He helped me when I was robbed by the thieves”
The second man replied:” I’m a judge. This merchant was once cheated by a man in the trade. When I gave punishment to the cheater, kind-hearted merchant requested me to forgive him.”
The third man replied: “I’m one of the richest men and a million thanks to the merchant for helping me to start my business.”
The demon was so much impressed by the honesty and kindness of merchant and said:” Dear kind merchant, you are free now. I don’t want to take a life of an honest and kind man.”
The merchant felt happy.
Moral
Honesty in the promise of merchant and kind nature with other people were the qualities of the merchant which impressed demon a lot that he changed his plan of killing him.
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Ass and the bull:
The lucky farmer had ability to hear animals. He had an innocent bull and a clever ass. Bull helped him by ploughing the fields while ass used to carry a little load only in the evening.
One day bull and ass were having a lunch inside a hut and farmer was standing outside the hut.
Ass mocked the bull by saying: “I feel sad for you. You, poor bull work whole day and get little amount of food only. Look at me I work a little only at evening and eat the same amount of food you eat.”
Bull: “You’re right. I should consume food according to the work load. But I’m speechless in front of the master.”
Ass: “I have an idea. Tomorrow morning pretend like you’re sick so the farmer will have a pity on you and you won’t have to do any work.”
Farmer heard the whole conversation.
Next morning when farmer came, the bull said: “Master, I can’t do work today. My legs are hurting.”
Farmer: “Okay, no issues. I’ll take the ass with me.”
So, the ass did all his work and bull’s work and got extremely tired of working all day long.
When the ass came back to the hut, the bull in a cheering voice said: “Thanks for the idea ass. I have enjoyed today’s day a lot. I’ll do this tomorrow also.”
Ass got annoyed of working a lot and said: “No, don’t pretend this tomorrow. You’ve to do your work because master wasn’t satisfied with my work.”
“Also, he is planning to send you to the butcher. So, stop this acting.” the ass further said.
Farmer heard this conversation also, laughed and said now they both have learnt their lesson.
Moral
Always be faithful to your master. Don’t pretend to be sick like the bull did.
Never make fun of others for doing hard work like the ass did. There’s no shame in working hard for your master.
Prince Hussein and Princess Margiana
Prince Nazar was in a miserable situation because of his son Prince Hussein, who refused to get married.
Prince Hussein was a handsome man with a great personality and all the girls wanted to marry him but he rejected everyone.
On the other hand, there was a kingdom of Prince Dawood who was also in a miserable situation because of his daughter who was also refusing to get married.
Prince Dawood thought something is wrong with her daughter and he announced his daughter is mad and whoever cures her will be rewarded.
That night Prince Hussein had a dream and saw an extremely beautiful, charming diva. The fairies came and told him: “That girl is Princess Margiana. Go, get her.”
On the same night, Princess Margiana also had a dream and she saw Prince Hussein and fell in love with him.
The next morning Prince went to Prince Dawood’s kingdom and said: “I can cure your daughter but on one condition you will allow me to marry her if I cured her.”
Prince Dawood was impressed by the handsome Prince Hussein and so he got agreed.
When Prince Hussein met Princess Margiana, the Princess’s eyes shined brightly and she screamed: “Oh my God! I saw you in my dream and I fell in love with you.”
Prince Hussein also told her about his dream.
Prince Dawood was delighted to see his daughter’s happiness.
Prince Hussein and Princess Margiana got married and lived happily ever after.
Dwarf with the beard
The wicked courtier of the Sultan of Arabia abhorred his son Arfan. So, she poisoned Sultan’s mind by saying: “Beware of your son one day he will take the throne to himself and will not care about you a bit.”
Sultan at first didn’t pay attention to her words but later he got worried what if the courtier was right?
The Sultan summoned courtier and asked for advice so he will test the honesty of his son.
Courtier got happy as her wicked plan is about to happen. She said: “Your son won’t perform the tough tasks. If you want to test him then order him to get a small tent that could fit in your palm and at the same time it provides shelter to the whole army.”
Sultan acted upon her advice and gave an order to his son.
His son was an honest man and didn’t have any bad intentions.
On hearing his father’s orders, he was intensely worried so he sought help from his wife Fatima, who was an intelligent woman.
Fatima said: “Don’t worry. I’ll help you.”
Fatima somehow managed to fulfil his father’s order and gave him a tent.
When Arfan showed a tent to his father, he got happy and praised his son but the wicked courtier was burning with anger.
Sultan then again gave his son a task to find a dwarf man with a long beard and iron rod on his shoulders.
Luckily Arfan’s wife’s brother had this appearance and Arfan showed him to the Sultan and completed his second task also but unfavourable situation happened for Sultan and his wicked courtier.
Fatima used her intelligence and ordered his dwarf brother to put an end to these two evils by the iron rod and the dwarf did the same.
The Dog and the Ass
A merchant of Arabia used to move from one city to another for his business.
His wife didn’t like his husband’s work because she has to stay at home alone when his husband is in some other city.
She used to read some magical books and later became a magician.
One day his husband went to another city and in his absence, she married another rich man.
When his husband came back, he was shocked to see his wife’s other husband.
His wife got annoyed at him and said some magical words and converted him into a dog.
The merchant now as a dog was moving here and there and reached butcher’s shop where butcher gave him a bone but butcher was amazed that the dog has eaten only flesh, not bone.
Butcher sensed something wrong and he told his daughter about the situation. His daughter was familiar with magical powers and she immediately figured out the dog is in actual a man.
On butcher’s request, she converted the dog into a man again.
The merchant thanked her and said: “I’m grateful for you. Help me one more time. I want my wife to learn the lesson. Please tell me some magical words so I’ll also make her an animal.”
Butcher’s daughter agreed and she gave him magical water.
Merchant went to his wife’s home and sprinkled the magical water on her and converted her into an ass and said: “That’s my revenge.”
Merchant thanked butcher’s daughter once again and they both got married.
Moral
Don’t use your evil powers on your loved ones out of anger.
Dead Father and his Wish
Sultan Mustafa ruled the kingdom of Nasra but he had no children and was worried who will look after his throne when he will pass away.
He prayed to God for a child and later he was blessed with a son Zakir.
Years later the Sultan Mustafa died and Zakir came to his father’s throne and ruled justly.
One day Zakir saw his late father in a dream. His father told him to dig grave for him.
Zakir told his mother about the dream and she forbade him to dig the grave but Zakir wanted to fulfil his father’s dream so he dug.
When he dug the grave, he heard a loud noise and saw stairs which led inside the grave.
Zakir stepped down into the grave and saw glittery, beautiful statues. He counted them and they were eight in number. The eighth one told him to find the ninth statue that is outside the grave.
When he came outside the grave, he saw an old man who gave him a magical mirror and said: “Hurry up! Find the ninth statue and fulfil your father’s dream.”
“This magic mirror will only reflect the ninth statue.” the old man further said.
Zakir visited so many places but his efforts were in vain as he didn’t find the girl’s reflection in a mirror.
One day he was walking and heard a sweet melodious voice of a girl. He followed the voice and went inside her house by taking permission from her father.
When he saw the girl, he was amazed to see her beauty and got more amazed and excited when the girl is reflected in a magical mirror.
He screamed with joy: “I found the ninth statue!”
He fell in love with that girl and told his mother the whole story and they both got married.
The Enchanted Horse
King Shiraz was enjoying the feast with his children, courtiers, and friends. Suddenly, an Indian came on a wooden horse decorated with silk and jewels. Everyone was amazed by looking at the horse.
Indian told them that it’s a magical horse that flies by rotating the screw on his neck and it does work in seconds.
King wanted to check the horse so he ordered the Indian to go to another country. Indian did the same and within a few times, he reached Shiraz’s place back.
Shiraz was quite impressed with the horse so he said to Indian to give him a horse.
Indian refused to give him the horse and then said:” I’ll give if you allow me to marry your daughter.”
On hearing this King’s son Prince Firoz got angry but King thought there’s nothing bad in it and he ordered Firoz to take a ride on the horse.
Prince Firoz happily mounted on the horse and didn’t listen to instructions properly and flew.
He didn’t come back even after a lot of time and everyone else was worried.
Indian: “King, there’s no mistake of mine. I was telling him but your son didn’t listen to how to stop the horse.”
King got annoyed with Indian and threw him in prison for ninety days.
While Firoz was flying on the horse and reached a palace of Princess of Bengal, they both liked each other and planned to marry. So, they went back to King Shiraz palace.
King got happy on seeing his son and took Indian out of prison.
The next day, Indian took revenge by forcefully took the Princess with him on his wooden horse.
They reached Kashmir and Princess was screaming for help. Prince of Kashmir came to rescue them and when he got to know the whole story he killed Indians and planned to marry Princess.
Princess got worried and planned to escape but escaping wasn’t easy for her so she acted mad and threw vases and other stuff.
Prince of Kashmir thought she has gone mad and announced someone comes and cures the princess.
Prince Firoz heard the news and went in doctor’s getup to meet Princess.
When Firoz reached Kashmir and saw Princess, the Princess also recognized him and Firoz made a plan to escape by making the Prince of Kashmir and other people fool.
Princess got freed and she got married to Firoz finally.
A Good Neighbour
Two neighbours, the poor and envious Fahim and wealthy Kasim who was also very kind. They were friends and used to spend some time together. Kasim was faithful to his friend and always helped him at the time of need but Fahim wasn’t sincere to his friend and always plot evil plans against Kasim.
Kasim knew his friend’s intentions so he decided to find a new place for himself.
He went to a far place where he became a teacher of goodwill. He used to advise others and everyone loved and respected him a lot. His name and good deeds spread far and wide.
Fahim came to know about Kasim’s new place and he went to visit him and made a devilish plan to ruin him. They both dined together and then went for a walk in a garden.
Kasim had a well in his garden and Fahim pushed him into the well and felt happy.
But a new chapter of Kasim’s life occurred when he was drowned in the well.
There was another kingdom inside the well and one of the ministers there knew Kasim and he told everyone about his good deeds. King was extremely impressed with his qualities and he offered Kasim if he cured his daughter then he will be rewarded.
Kasim cured King’s daughter and in return king awarded Kasim with precious things.
One day, Kasim went to his old place and found a beggar. When he looked closely at him, he realized it was his friend Fahim.
Fahim looked at him and was amazed to see him alive as he pushed him into the well then Kasim told him:” Your jealousy opened new doors in my life.”
Fahim had regret in his eyes and said: “I realized my mistake. My jealousy made me a beggar and you’re richer than before.”
Moral:
Jealousy is a disease which ruins person’s own life.
Real Love Sever Fails
Jaffer and Hasina loved each other a lot and Jaffer used to fulfil her all wishes. Hasina also used to care him a lot. They have always respected and taken care of each other.
One day Hasina said to Jaffer: “I want to have something right now.Can you fulfill my wish?”
Jaffer replied: “I can bring heaven for you. Don’t hesitate. Tell me what do you want?”
Hasina said: “I want you to bring three red apples for me.”
Jaffer agreed but he said: “But this is not the season of apples.”
Hasina: “I know but I want to eat them.”
Jaffer: “Don’t worry. I’ll find them.”
Jaffer left the house and wandered here and there but didn’t find apples so he went to another town and luckily found apples there. He happily bought the apples and came home.
Hasina was also delighted and said she will eat apples a little later.
The apples were in a fruit basket and the basket was on the table.
Hasina and Jaffer’s son saw the apples. Son took the apples and went outside the home and fell on road and all the apples were scattered here and there.
An old greedy man came and saw apples, he took apples with him and ran.
The old man started selling apples in a high price as it was a scare season of apples.
Jaffer saw the old man selling apples. He knew these apples are the ones he bought and he became red with anger as he thought his efforts were of no value in Hasina’s eyes and thought his wife has sold the apples.
Jaffer reached home and without any second he put a knife on Hasina’s neck and said: “I’m going to kill you. You sold the apples which I bought after so much efforts.”
Their son screamed and told the whole story.
Jaffer realized he has made a mistake and he hurriedly took his decision without listening to his wife. He regretted his quick decision.
Moral:
It’s important to have trust in your loved ones and decisions should be taken wisely not quickly.
Sindbad the Sailor
A poor porter named Sindbad saw the magnificent house of Sindbad and ranted his poor life.
Sindbad heard his rants and summoned him inside his house.
Sindbad told him he has not become wealthy in just one day and he had freely spent all his late father’s savings.
Then time after time he had his seven voyages where he faced hardships.
His struggles and ingenious work on each voyage overcome his troubles.
Sindbad was quite impressed with his hard work and complimented he deserves all the riches as he has suffered a lot.
Moral:
Success comes with constant struggles and hard work.
Scheherazade and Shahryar
The honest late king died. He had two sons Shahryar and Shah Zaman. After the king’s death Shah Zaman took charge of his late father’s throne.
Later Shahryar got married and he was deeply in love with his wife. He used to give her precious gifts which she accepted happily but she wasn’t faithful to his husband. When Shahryar found his wife’s disloyalty he executed her and mourned over her death for months but as he was in anger, he thought every girl is disloyal.
He began to marry a new girl every day and order his wazir to kill her.
The intelligent and sharp daughter of wazir took the decision to marry Shahryar. Wazir didn’t allow her at first place but got agreed later.
When Wazir’s daughter Scheherazade married Shahryar, she had a plan to save her life.
Shahryar on entering the room saw Scheherazade’s eyes were full of tears and she requested him to allow her sister to sleep with her as it is the last day of her life. Shahryar agreed.
Scheherazade told her sister to wake her up early in the morning and her sister wished to listen a story last time from Scheherazade in the morning.
Shahryar was also listening to story and waiting for the story to end so he will execute her but the clever Scheherazade told interesting stories which went for one thousand and one night.
As these stories were so fascinating that Shahryar didn’t want to miss the end so he listened all the thousand stories with full attention.
After narrating one thousand and one stories Scheherazade said: “Now, I’m out of stories. You can execute me.”
But Shahryar was extremely impressed and fell in love with her and didn’t execute her.
They lived happily together.
Moral:
The intelligent mind can save a person’s life.
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A Little Hunchbacked
A tailor was working in his shop and a little hunchbacked sat at the door of his shop. He played his tambour and had a melodious voice.
The tailor invited him to his house so that he will sing a song for his wife.
At tailor’s home, they dined but unfortunately, the bone of a fish got stuck in the hunchbacked’s throat and he started choking. Tailor and his wife got worried and they patted his back but hunchbacked fell on a floor and died on the spot.
Tailor and his wife thought everyone will blame them for his death and they were scared of going into the prison.
So, they planned to leave him at a doctor’s place.
When they went to the doctor’s residence, they put the dead body on the couch and ran.
Doctor while coming downstairs toppled down the stairs and collided with the couch and the dead body fell.
The doctor stood up and found the person is dead, he thought a person died because of him.
The doctor saved his own life by pushing the dead body inside the chimney of his neighbour.
The chimney leads to the storeroom. Neighbour opened her storeroom and had a lantern with her. She thought it’s a thief so she beat him with a rod and later found the person is dead.
She thought she had killed him by beating him so hard and got rid of the dead body by throwing him on the street.
The Christian drunk merchant saw him on the street and thought he will kill him so he punched him very hard and the hunchbacked fell on the ground. The drunk merchant thought he had killed him by punching hard. He was about to get rid of the dead body but the ministers of the king saw him and declared: “You Christain killed the Muslim. You disrespect our religion and you should be punished.”
The next day, King ordered to hang Christain publicly. All the citizens came to see him hanging.
The ministers were about to execute him but the neighbour shouted: “Don’t execute him. I am the one who killed hunchbacked.”
The ministers freed the Christain and now it was the neighbour’s turn to hang but the doctor shouted: “No, I killed the hunchbacked.”
Then the tailor shouted: “Hang me. He is dead because of me.”
Everyone got confused and the ministers took all four of them at the king’s palace. Tailor, doctor, neighbour, and Christain told the king about their stories.
King after listening to them took a wise decision and said: “you all are free to spend your life. It was no one’s fault. Hunchbacked died because the fish’s bone got stuck in his throat.”
FAQS for Arabian Nights Short Stories:
Q1. What is the meaning of Arabian nights?
It is a collection of middle eastern folk tales narrated by a newlywed Princess to her husband compiled in Arabic during the Islamic golden age.
Q2. What is the story of Arabian Nights?
The Prince used to marry new girl every day and smash her the next day. One day he wed to a clever girl who engaged him by narrating thousands of stories so that he won’t smash her.
Q3. What is the main theme of Arabian Nights?
The stories based on theme of romance, humor, greed, jealousy, adventure, mysteries, fate and destiny.
Q4. Which stories fit on the definition of Arabian Nights Stories?
- Shahryar and Scheherazade.
- Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp.
- The Three Apples.
- The Little Hunchback.
- Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
- The Fisherman and the Jinni.
- Sindbad the sailor.
Q5. Why are there 1001 Arabian Nights Stories?
The clever newlywed girl narrated stories till 1001 days to her husband and then she said she don’t have any tale left to narrate but till then Prince had fallen in love with her and didn’t execute her.
Q6. Which of 1001 Arabian nights stories is the most prominent?
- Alibaba and The Forty Thieves
- Eye for An Eye
- Banished Son Saves His Brothers
- The Clever Woman
- Greediness can make A Man Blind
- The Monkey Advisor
- Return of Princess and Her Ruby
- Test of Demon for Honesty
- The Bull and The Ass
- Prince Hussein and Princess Margiana
- Sindbad The Sailor
- The Dead Father and His Wish
- The Dog and The Ass
- The Dwarf with a Long Beard
- The Enchanted Horse
- The Good Neighbour
- Real love sever fails and so much more.
Q7. What are some of the Arabian Night Stories that you should not miss?
Alibaba and the forty thieves, Sindbad, Aladdin and all the stories involving genie are the tales one should not miss.
Q8. What are some of the main characters of the Arabian Nights stories?
- Shahryar
- Scheherazade
- Hussain
- Margariana
- Ali baba
- Morgana (Alibaba’s clever maid)
- Cassim (Alibaba’s greedy brother)
- Sindbad
- Zubair and Barber
Q9. How many nights are there in Arabian Nights?
There are one thousand and one nights because the clever girl narrated tales only for one thousand and one nights then she said she had no more tales left to narrate.
Q10. Which of the Arabian nights is the best?
All stories are meaningful and great but the best ones are
Sindbad the sailor as it narrates the importance of hard work.
Alibaba is also the best as it depicts how greediness made his brother life tough and how the smart act of maid saved the whole family life from the thieves.