One Thousand and One Nights

The Arabian Nights Compilers · 800 CE–900 CE · Abbasid Caliphate

Originally Alf Layla wa-Layla (Arabic)

Why it matters

Scheherazade spins one tale after another to postpone her execution, nesting Sinbad, genies, and princes inside a frame that defers its own ending. The most influential story collection in world literature, five centuries in the making.

At a glance

Episodic tales-within-tales vary widely in register, but each story is self-contained and accessible.