The Arabian Nights aren’t just from Arabia.ĭating back as far as the 10th century A.D., these tales have origins in North African, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Indian, and East Asian cultures. Some of the most famous tales are not only of Aladdin but also Sinbad the Sailor and Ali Baba. Night after night, cliffhangers compel the curious king to delay Scherherazade’s death to find out what happens next. To save her life, she spins a story every night (“Aladdin” is one of many) for her husband, leaves out the ending, but promises to finish it later. The heroine, Scherherazade, is married to a murderous king, who kills his new wives one day after wedding them.

Aladdin is only one of 1,001 tales.Īladdin is part of a centuries-old stories-within-a-story called The Thousand and One Nights (also called The Arabian Nights). But how much does the big screen Aladdin resemble its source material? (The Walt Disney Company is majority owner of National Geographic Partners.) 1. The movie became a classic, spawning a Broadway musical and a live-action remake that hits theaters this weekend. In 1992, Disney’s animated Aladdin hit the big screen, and audiences fell in love with the adventures of an orphan-the “Diamond in the Rough”-who crossed paths with a flying carpet, a powerful genie, and an independent princess.

Aladdin did you rub my lamp