Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights By E. Dixon BiblioBazaar, 2006, 250 pages ISBN: 978-1426431388 Genre: Classics - Children's Fiction

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - February 7, 2011

This collection was composed in 1893. It includes seven tales about Sinbad the Sailor, three stories about a king of Persia and sequels to it, and a couple of other tales. The tale of the king of Persia who has no children is a good example of the stories. He is sold a slave girl and falls in love with her. He has her dressed in the finest clothes and makes her ready for him. He visits her room after three days. She does not rise to greet him or speak to him when he kisses and embraces her. This incivility surprises the king. Neither he nor anyone hears her say anything or ever smile. But he loves her.

A year passes and she and the king have a son. Then she speaks. She tells the king of Persia that she is a princess, the daughter of a king of the sea. She and her people live in the bottom of the sea. They can breathe in the water and see in the water just as people can see on land. They can also come on land and breathe air. Her father died and her brother and mother assumed rule over their kingdom. A rival king captured their kingdom. She was sold as a slave. She did not speak and was sad because she missed her own people. But now that she has a son and has seen for the past year how well the king of Persia treated her, she is satisfied with her life with the king. The king raises her to be his queen. The Queen invites her family, who have regained their kingdom. They magically appear and the queen's brother, a king of the sea, rewards the king of Persia with enormous wealth for the fine way he treated his sister.

• The Heroes: or Greek Fairy Tales for My Children, by Charles Kingsley.
  Written in 1855, these tales are designed to introduce children to the Greek myths.
  
  
• The Grey Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang.
  This book contains dozens of fairy tales from Africa, Germany, France, Greece, and other countries.