Reading Notes: Arabian Nights, Part B-Aladdin

 Aladdin

One of my all time favorite stories as a kid, and even know, was Aladdin. I have watched this movie more times than I can count, seen the play and even been in a musical production of Aladdin. Interestingly enough, I had never even read the actual thing. I have read the Disney account of course, but never this version. 

I enjoyed reading the original version and making note of the differences between the two to see ways in which one could alter a story:

• Aladdin still had a mother
• Aladdin wasn't a homeless thief but an idle boy
• A magacian posing as his uncle came to make him retrieve the lamp
• There was not Abu, the monkey
• Aladdin walked down into a corrider with three doors and not into a sand enclosure shaped as a lion
• Aladdin had a second genie from the ring
• Aladdin saw the princess's face as she was going to bathe instead of saving her on the streets when she was dressed as a commoner
• Aladdin went to the Sultan for permission to marry his daughter and did not act like a foreign prince
• Aladdin built a palace for the princess
• Aladdin became the Sultan's army captain and won many battles
• The magician came back and took the lamp and genie back to Africa with him, along with the princess
• With the help of the princess, Aladdin retrieved the lamp back to China and the two lived in peace

After reading the original counts and seeing these many different variations, I am able to see a multitude of ways to adjust a story that I had never thought of. The are many different ideas presented here that I can use in my own writing/rewrighting of stories that may seem quite subtle but given the opportunity have the ability to make a large impact on the story as a whole.

(The Genie's Lamp from NeedPix)

This story is part of the Arabian Nights unit. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang