Dimensions
129 x 198 x 22mm
'I am Shaddad the Great. I conquered a thousand cities; a thousand white elephants were collected for me; I lived for a thousand years and my kingdom covered both east and west, but when death came to me nothing of all that I had gathered was of any avail. You who see me take heed: for Time is not to be trusted'
Discovered in a single, ragged manuscript in a library in Istanbul, this is the earliest collection of Arabic stories, most of which have never been read in English before. Containing terrifying monsters, lost princes, jewels beyond price, sword-wielding statues, magical transformations and shocking reversals of fortune, these evocative medieval tales combine courtly romance, bawdy comedy and fantastical adventure.
