The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Arabian Nights, by Unknown

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Title: The Arabian Nights
Their Best-known Tales

Author: Unknown

Editor: Kate Douglas Wiggin
Nora A. Smith

Illustrator: Maxfield Parrish

Release Date: March 27, 2007 [EBook #20916]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS

THE
ARABIAN NIGHTS

THEIR BEST-KNOWN TALES

EDITED BY

KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN
AND
NORA A. SMITH

ILLUSTRATED BY MAXFIELD PARRISH

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
MCMIX

Copyright, 1909, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published October, 1909

PREFACE

_Little excuse is needed, perhaps, for any fresh selection from the
famous "Tales of a Thousand and One Nights," provided it be
representative enough, and worthy enough, to enlist a new army of
youthful readers. Of the two hundred and sixty-four bewildering,
unparalleled stories, the true lover can hardly spare one, yet there
must always be favourites, even among these. We have chosen some of the
most delightful, in our opinion; some, too, that chanced to appeal
particularly to the genius of the artist. If, enticed by our choice and
the beauty of the pictures, we manage to attract a few thousand more
true lovers to the fountain-book, we shall have served our humble turn.
The only real danger lies in neglecting it, in rearing a child who does
not know it and has never fallen under its spell._

_You remember Maimoune, in the story of Prince Camaralzaman, and what she
said to Danhasch, the genie who had just arrived from the farthest
limits of China? "Be sure thou tellest me nothing but what is true or I
shall clip thy wings!" This is what the modern child sometimes says to
the genies of literature, and his own wings are too often clipped in
consequence._

_"The Empire of the Fairies is no more.
Reason has banished them from ev'ry shore;
Steam has outstripped their dragons and their cars,
Gas has eclipsed their glow-worms and their stars."_

_Edouard