Nights 264-281 The story of Ala al’Din may be the most archetypal Arabian Nights story so far. This week, it added some more color: a thief, whose craftsmanship is described in detail (Night 264, p. 866); Yasmin and another woman shouting at each other “whore” and “bitch” (Night
Chapters 36-37 Kongming gets the best introduction in the book. It starts with a whole chapter of fake-outs: Liu Bei keeps seeing people he thinks is Kongming, but they turn out to be one of Kongming’s friends or family instead. Of all the things to remind me
Nights 247-263 Lots to say about this week! First, we end the story of Qamar and begin the story of ‘Ala’ al-Din. As I expected, the story of Qamar, which started out so well, ended badly. There were happy endings for everyone except Qamar’s two wives, who
Chapters 34-35 In these chapters, Liu Bei meets a recluse called Still Water. This recluse, who functions as somewhat of a mirror (of “still water”) tells Liu Bei that he will meet two important men who will help achieve his goals. Still Water calls them Young Phoenix and Sleeping
Chapters 31-33 The plot takes us farther north than we’ve been before, into the desert. We meet a “khan.” And we finally get the “Desert Sandstorm” Magic card (p. 607). The desert is dangerous; Cao Cao only survives his visit through luck. When he returns from it, he
Nights 228-246 (Although I had originally scheduled only through night 245 this week, night 246 was only 2 pages and resolved the story from nights 237-245). The two stories this week aren’t the best stories of lovers, but they are fast-paced. The first story is better.
Chapters 29-30 Sun Ce has a memorable death. A poison arrow ultimately killed him. He could have recovered, but he insisted on burning a holy man to death. The holy man haunted him, greatly distressing Sun Ce and exacerbating the poison until he finally died. His legacy passes to
Nights 210-227 Wow, this story really fell apart. It had been one of my favorites, but it took a very bad turn in this week’s reading. We left Princess Budur, dressed as a man, betrothed to Princess Hayat. Through some twists and turns (and some homophobia), the problem
Chapters 27-28 Lord Guan returns to his brothers. As a bonus, Zhao Zilong joins them as well. These chapters demonstrate the advantages of the episodic structure of Romance. Lord Guan leaves Cao Cao to return to Liu Bei. But along the way, Lord Guan is stopped at waypoints by
Nights 192-209 Another short section, it is tied for the shortest for this project overall, except for the previous week’s. We get some good drama before the lovers are united: Prince Qamar is depressed, but at least the kingdom believes his story. Princess Budur is considered insane. When
Chapters 24-26 In this section, the three Peach Garden Oath brothers are separated and we mostly follow Lord Guan. We see him conditionally decide to work with Cao Cao while looking for Liu Bei and Zhang Fei. Cao Cao tries to win over Lord Guan with all sorts of
Nights 175-191 At 25 pages, this is the shortest week I’ll have for Arabian Nights. But there’s still a lot to say! It introduced me to a favorite character so far: Qashqash the ifrit. He is one-eyed, hunchbacked, scabby, with eyes set lengthways in his face