One Thousand and One Nights

One Thousand and One Nights is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales featured on ABC's Once Upon a Time.

It is often known in English as the Arabian Nights, from the first English language edition, which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment.

The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West, Central, and South Asia and North Africa.

Narration
The main frame story concerns Shahryar. He is shocked to discover that his brother's wife is unfaithful; discovering his own wife's infidelity has been even more flagrant, he has her executed: but in his bitterness and grief decides that all women are the same. Therefore, he resolved to marry a new virgin each day as well as behead the previous day's wife, so that she would have no chance to be unfaithful to him. He had killed 1,000 such women by the time.

Eventually the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Jasmine, the vizier's daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Jasmine asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved sister, Dunyazade, who had secretly been prepared to ask Jasmine to tell a story during the long night. The king lay awake and listened with awe as Jasmine told her first story. The night passed by, and Jasmine stopped in the middle of the story.

The king asked her to finish, but Jasmine said there was no time, as dawn was breaking. So, the king spared her life for one day to finish the story the next night. The next night, Jasmine finished the story and then began a second, even more exciting tale, which she again stopped halfway through at dawn. Again, the king spared her life for one more day so she could finish the second story.

And so the king kept Jasmine alive day by day, as he eagerly anticipated the finishing of the previous night's story. At the end of 1,001 nights, and 1,000 stories, Jasmine told the king that she had no more tales to tell him. During these 1,001 nights, the king has grown into a wise ruler and rekindles his trust in women. He also had fallen in love with Jasmine. He spared her life, and made her his queen.

Stories
Aladdin=

Aladdin
Aladdin is an impoverished young ne'er-do-well in a Chinese town, who is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin's late father Qaseem, convincing Aladdin and his mother of his goodwill by apparently making arrangements to set up the lad as a wealthy merchant. The sorcerer's real motive is to persuade young Aladdin to retrieve a wonderful oil lamp from a booby-trapped magic cave of wonder. After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. Fortunately, Aladdin retains a magic ring lent to him by the sorcerer as protection. When he rubs his hands in despair, he inadvertently rubs the ring, and a jinn, or "genie", appears, who takes him home to his mother. Aladdin is still carrying the lamp, and when his mother tries to clean it, a second, far more powerful genie appears, who is bound to do the bidding of the person holding the lamp.

With the aid of the genie of the lamp, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries Princess Badroulbadour, the Emperor's daughter (after magically foiling her marriage to the vizier's son). The genie builds Aladdin a wonderful palace – a far more magnificent one than that of the Emperor himself.

The sorcerer returns and is able to get his hands on the lamp by tricking Aladdin's wife, who is unaware of the lamp's importance, by offering to exchange "new lamps for old". He orders the genie of the lamp to take the palace along with all its contents to his home in the Maghreb. Fortunately, Aladdin retains the magic ring and is able to summon the lesser genie. Although the genie of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the genie of the lamp, he is able to transport Aladdin to Maghreb, and help him recover his wife and the lamp and defeat the sorcerer.

The sorcerer's more powerful and evil brother tries to destroy Aladdin for killing his brother by disguising himself as an old woman known for her healing powers. Badroulbadour falls for his disguise, and commands the "woman" to stay in her palace in case of any illnesses. Aladdin is warned of this danger by the genie of the lamp and slays the imposter. Everyone lives happily ever after, Aladdin eventually succeeding to his father-in-law's throne.

Show Adaptation
Aladdin=
 * The sorcerer is the illegitimate son of the Emperor, who comes to him as a child after his mother dies.
 * Instead of a daughter, the Emperor has a son named Mirza.
 * The sorcerer betrays his lover as well as magic teacher to turn her into his serpent staff.
 * The sorcerer looks for three bottles in order to cast a spell to make him all-powerful.
 * The genie was originally human, but was turned into genie by a powerful guardian as punishment for stealing magic water.
 * The sorcerer does not take over the Empire, but Wonderland.

Characters Featured

 * The Sorcerer
 * The Emperor
 * The Genie / The Genie
 * Badroulbadour (upcoming)
 * Aladdin (upcoming)

Locations Featured

 * The Emperor's Palace

Items Featured

 * The Lamp