The Book of One Thousand and One Nights (frame tale)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The idea of stories being told in serial form dates back to the One Thousand and One Nights (Arabian Nights), which consisted of a series of serialized stories, or "serialized novels" or novellas. Its frame story is about Sheherazade telling stories to King Shahriyar, and she needs to keep him interested in each of the stories, in order to prevent him from executing her the next morning. She often tells the stories in a series, beginning each story with a narrative hook, leaving off with a cliffhanger, and continuing the story the next night. This leaves the King in suspense, waiting until the next night to hear what will happen next. Many of her tales often stretch over many nights or episodes. For example, "The Three Apples" is narrated in 5 nights, "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman" is narrated in 6 nights, "The Hunchback's Tale" is narrated in 10 nights, "The Adventures of Mercury Ali" is narrated in 11 nights, "The City of Brass" is narrated in 12 nights, "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" is narrated in 13 nights, "The Ebony Horse" is narrated in 14 nights, "Sinbad the Sailor" is narrated in 30 nights, "The Adventures of Bulukiya" is narrated in 47 nights, and "Aladdin" is narrated in 78 nights.
