Welcome to The Arabian Nights Entertainments! This is the first of 16 parts that make up Andrew Lang’s The Arabian Nights Entertainments. In this series, you’ll hear some familiar stories, some new stories, and even stories within stories. Our stories today are The Arabian Nights, The Story of the Merchant and the Genie, The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind, and The Story of the Second Old Man, and of the Two Dogs. Here we begin with Scheherazade and stories within a story. You’ll soon discover that genies are not always kind and helpful!

A young prince is left in charge of his step-father’s prize prisoner and decides to release him. Deciding not to wait for his inevitably painful death, the prince runs away. As he travels, he spares the lives of a wood-pigeon, a duck, and a stork, then meets up and travels with two former soldiers. Their ultimate betrayal leaves the prince fearing for his life; will his earlier kindness save his own life?

Three brothers have acquired amazing skills; who will most impress their father, and earn the inheritance?

Three sisters, each lost in the woods, find themselves in the same humble home for the night. Who will know the importance of kindness, and who will receive an unpleasant surprise?

You’re probably familiar with this story, but there’s a lot more to it than you may know!