18th century traveler Alexander Russell noted that this book was surprisingly unpopular in Aleppo, even though he watched a storyteller leave a cafe at a cliffhanger so as to build anticipation for the next day. For 10 points each,
[10e] Name this collection whose protagonist often breaks off tales mid-sentence in order to avoid execution.
ANSWER: Arabian Nights [or One Thousand and One Nights; or Alf Laylah wa-Laylah; accept The Arabian Nights’ Entertainment; accept One Thousand and One Arabian Nights]
[10m] Arabian Nights was apparently never all that popular in the Arab world, but became a touchstone in Europe after this translator’s edition. This French translator heard the tales from, but did not credit, the Maronite storyteller Hanna Diyab.
ANSWER: Antoine Galland
[10h] Stories with this status appear in no Arabic manuscripts prior to Galland’s translation and may be mostly the invention of Hanna Diyab. Aladdin and Ali Baba both have this status coined by Dutch scholar Mia Gerhardt.
ANSWER: “orphan tales”
<Milan Fernandez, World Literature>