Aladdin Hotel & Casino

Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part of the original text; it was added by the Frenchman Antoine Galland, based on a folk tale that he heard from the Syrian Maronite storyteller Hanna Diyab.Razzaque (2017)

Sources

Known along with Ali Baba as one of the "orphan tales", the story was not part of the original ''Nights'' collection and has no authentic Arabic textual source, but was incorporated into the book ''Les mille et une nuits'' by its French translator, Antoine Galland.

John Payne quotes passages from Galland's unpublished diary: recording Galland's encounter with a Maronite storyteller from Aleppo, Hanna Diyab. According to Galland's diary, he met with Hanna, who had travelled from Aleppo to Paris with celebrated French traveller Paul Lucas, on March 25, 1709. Galland's diary further reports that his transcription of "Aladdin" for publication occurred in the winter of 1709–10. It was included in his volumes ix and x of the ''Nights'', published in 1710, without any mention or published acknowledgment of Hanna's contribution.

Payne also records the discovery in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris of two Arabic manuscripts containing ''Aladdin'' (with two more of the "interpolated" tales). One was written by a Syrian Christian priest living in Paris, named Dionysios Shawish, alias Dom Denis Chavis. The other is supposed to be a copy Mikhail Sabbagh made of a manuscript written in Baghdad in 1703. It was purchased by the Bibliothèque Nationale at the end of the nineteenth century.Payne (1901) pp. 13-15 As part of his work on the first critical edition of the ''Nights'', Iraq's Muhsin Mahdi has shown that both these manuscripts are "back-translations" of Galland's text into Arabic.Mahdi (1994) pp. 51-71

Ruth B. Bottigheimer and Paulo Lemos Horta have argued that Hanna Diyab should be understood as the original author of some of the stories he supplied, and even that several of Diyab's stories (including ''Aladdin'') were partly inspired by Diyab's own life, as there are parallels with his autobiography.

Plot summary

The story is often retold with variations. The following is a précis of the Burton translation of 1885.Burton (2009) pp. 1 ff

Aladdin is an impoverished young ne'er-do-well, dwelling in "one of the cities of China". He is recruited by a sorcerer from the Maghreb, who passes himself off as the brother of Aladdin's late father, ''Mustapha the tailor'', convincing Aladdin and his mother of his good will by pretending 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 (chirag) from a booby-trapped magic cave. After the sorcerer attempts to double-cross him, Aladdin finds himself trapped in the cave. Aladdin is still wearing a magic ring the sorcerer has lent him. When he rubs his hands in despair, he inadvertently rubs the ring and a genie appears and releases him from the cave, allowing him to return to his mother while in possession of the lamp. When his mother tries to clean the lamp, so they can sell it to buy food for their supper, 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 sultan's daughter (after magically foiling her marriage to the vizier's son). The genie builds Aladdin and his bride a wonderful palace, far more magnificent than the sultan's.

The sorcerer hears of Aladdin's good fortune, and returns; he gets 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. Aladdin still has the magic ring and is able to summon the lesser genie. The genie of the ring cannot directly undo any of the magic of the genie of the lamp, but he is able to transport Aladdin to the Maghreb where, with the help of the "woman's wiles" of the princess, he recovers the lamp and slays the sorcerer, returning the palace to its proper place.

The sorcerer's more powerful and evil brother plots 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 impostor.

Aladdin eventually succeeds to his father-in-law's throne.

Setting

The opening sentences of the story, in both the Galland and the Burton versions, set it in "one of the cities of China".Plotz (2001) p. 148–149 On the other hand, there is practically nothing in the rest of the story that is inconsistent with a Middle Eastern setting. For instance, the ruler is referred to as " Sultan" rather than "Emperor", as in some retellings, and the people in the story are Muslims and their conversation is filled with Muslim platitudes. A Jewish merchant buys Aladdin's wares, but there is no mention of Buddhists, Daoists or Confucians.

Notably, ethnic groups in Chinese history have long included Muslim groups, including large populations of Uighurs, and the Hui people as well as the Tajiks whose origins go back to Silk Road travelers. Islamic communities have been known to exist in the region since the Tang dynasty (which rose to power simultaneously with the prophet Muhammad's career.) Some have suggested that the intended setting may be Turkestan (encompassing Central Asia and the modern-day Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang in Western China).Moon (2005) p. 23

For all this, speculation about a "real" Chinese setting depends on a knowledge of China that the teller of a folk tale (as opposed to a geographic expert) might well not possess.Honour (1973) - Section I "The Imaginary Continent" In early Arabic usage, China is known to have been used in an abstract sense to designate an exotic, faraway land.

Motifs and variants

Tale type

The story of Aladdin is classified in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as tale type ATU 561, "Aladdin", after the character. In the Index, the Aladdin story is situated next to two similar tale types: ATU 560, ''The Magic Ring'', and ATU 562, ''The Spirit in the Blue Light''. All stories deal with a down-on-his-luck and impoverished boy or soldier, who finds a magical item (ring, lamp, tinderbox) that grants his wishes. In this tale type, the magical item is stolen, but eventually recovered thanks to the use of another magical object.

Distribution

Since its appearance in ''The One Thousand and One Nights'', the tale has integrated into oral tradition. Scholars Ton Deker and Theo Meder located variants across Europe and the Middle East.

An Indian variant has been attested, titled ''The Magic Lamp'' and collected among the Santal people.

Adaptations

Adaptations vary in their faithfulness to the original story. In particular, difficulties with the Chinese setting are sometimes resolved by giving the story a more typical ''Arabian Nights'' background.

Books

* One of the many literary retellings of the tale appears in ''A Book of Wizards'' (1966) and ''A Choice of Magic'' (1971), by Ruth Manning-Sanders. Another is the early Penguin version for children, ''Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'', illustrated by John Harwood with many Chinese details: the translator or re-teller is not acknowledged: this was a "Porpoise" imprint printed in 1947 and released in 1948.
* ''Aladdin: Master of the Lamp'' (1992), edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg, is an anthology containing 43 original short stories inspired by the tale.
* "The Nobility of Faith" by Jonathan Clements in the anthology '' Doctor Who Short Trips: The Ghosts of Christmas'' (2007) is a retelling of the Aladdin story in the style of the Arabian Nights, but featuring the Doctor in the role of the genie.

Comics

Western comics

* In 1962 the Italian branch of Walt Disney Productions published the story ''Paperino e la grotta di Aladino'' (''Donald and Aladdin's Cave''), written by Osvaldo Pavese and drawn by Pier Lorenzo De Vita. As in many pantomimes, the plot is combined with elements of the Ali Baba story: Uncle Scrooge leads Donald Duck and their nephews on an expedition to find the treasure of Aladdin and they encounter the Middle Eastern counterparts of the Beagle Boys. Scrooge describes Aladdin as a brigand who used the legend of the lamp to cover the origins of his ill-gotten gains. They find the cave holding the treasure—blocked by a huge rock requiring a magic password ("open sesame") to open.
* The original version of the comic book character Green Lantern was partly inspired by the Aladdin myth; the protagonist discovers a "lantern-shaped power source and a 'power ring which gives him power to create and control matter.
** In the '' Elseworlds'' series, there was even a story that combined the Green Lantern mythos with that of Aladdin called '' Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald Nights''.

Manga

* The Japanese manga series '' Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic'' is not a direct adaptation, but features Aladdin as the main character of the story and includes many characters from other ''One Thousand and One Nights'' stories. An adaptation of this comic to an anime television series was made in October 2012 in which Aladdin is voiced by Kaori Ishihara in Japanese and Erica Mendez in English.

Pantomimes

* In the United Kingdom, the story of Aladdin was dramatised in 1788 by John O'Keefe for the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.Witchard (2017) It has been a popular subject for pantomime for over 200 years.
* The traditional Aladdin pantomime is the source of the well-known pantomime character Widow Twankey (Aladdin's mother). In pantomime versions, changes in the setting and story are often made to fit it better into "China" (albeit a China situated in the East End of London rather than medieval Baghdad), and elements of other Arabian Nights tales (in particular Ali Baba) are often introduced into the plot. One version of the "pantomime Aladdin" is Sandy Wilson's musical '' Aladdin'', from 1979.
* Since the early 1990s, Aladdin pantomimes have tended to be influenced by the Disney animation. For instance, the 2007/8 production at the Birmingham Hippodrome starring John Barrowman featured songs from the Disney movies ''Aladdin'' and ''Mulan''.

Other musical theatre

* ''The New Aladdin'' was a successful Edwardian musical comedy in 1906.
* Adam Oehlenschläger wrote his verse drama ''Aladdin'' in 1805. Carl Nielsen wrote incidental music for this play in 1918–19. Ferruccio Busoni set some verses from the last scene of Oehlenschläger's ''Aladdin'' in the last movement of his Piano Concerto, Op. 39.
* In 1958, a musical comedy version of Aladdin was written especially for US television with a book by S. J. Perelman and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. A London stage production followed in 1959 in which a 30-year-old Bob Monkhouse played the part of Aladdin at the Coliseum Theatre.
* ''Aladdin''; Prince Street Players version; book by Jim Eiler; Music by Jim Eiler and Jeanne Bargy; Lyrics by Jim Eiler.
* Broadway Junior has released ''Aladdin Jr.'', a children's musical based on the music and screenplay of the Disney animation.
* The Disney's Aladdin: A Musical Spectacular musical stage show ran in Disney California Adventure from January 2003 to January 10, 2016.
* StarKid Productions released the musical " Twisted" on YouTube in 2013, a parody of the 1992 Disney film that is told from the royal vizier's point of view.
* A Disney Theatrical Production of '' Aladdin'' opened in 2011 in Seattle, in Toronto in 2013, and on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on March 20, 2014.

Theatrical films

Animation: Europe and Asia

* The 1926 animated film ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' (the earliest surviving animated feature film) combined the story of Aladdin with that of the prince. In this version the princess Aladdin pursues is Achmed's sister and the sorcerer is his rival for her hand. The sorcerer steals the castle and the princess through his own magic and then sets a monster to attack Aladdin, from which Achmed rescues him. Achmed then informs Aladdin he requires the lamp to rescue his own intended wife, Princess Pari Banou, from the demons of the Island of Wak Wak. They convince the Witch of the Fiery Mountain to defeat the sorcerer, and then all three heroes join forces to battle the demons.
* The animated feature '' Aladdin et la lampe merveilleuse'' by Film Jean Image was released in 1970 in France. The story contains many of the original elements of the story as compared to the Disney version.
*'' A Thousand and One Nights'' is a 1969 Japanese adult anime feature film directed by Eiichi Yamamoto, conceived by Osamu Tezuka. The film is a first part of Mushi Production's ''Animerama'', a series of films aimed at an adult audience.
*An elderly version of Aladdin appears as a protagonist in the 1975 anime series '' Arabian Nights: Sinbad's Adventures''.
* '' Aladdin and the Magic Lamp'' was a rendition in Japanese directed by Yoshikatsu Kasai, produced in Japan by Toei Animation and released in the United States by The Samuel Goldwyn Company in 1982.
* ''Son of Aladdin'' is a 2003 Indian 3D-animated fantasy-adventure film by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, produced by Pentamedia Graphics. It follows the adventures of the son of Aladdin and his fight with an evil sorcerer.

Animation: USA

* In the 1934 short film, '' Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp'', Aladdin is a child laborer who finds a magic lamp and uses it to become a princ
IMDb
* In the 1938 animated film '' Have You Got Any Castles?'', Aladdin makes a brief appearance asking for help but gets punched by one of the Three Musketeers.
* '' Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'' is a 1939 ''Popeye the Sailor

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases