該作講述相傳古代印度與中國之間有一薩桑國，國王山魯亞爾生性殘暴嫉妒，因王后行為不端，將其殺死，此后每日娶一少女，翌日晨即殺掉，以示報復(fù)。宰相的女兒山魯佐德為拯救無辜的女子，自愿嫁給國王，用講述故事方法吸引國王，每夜講到zui精彩處，天剛好亮了，使國王愛不忍殺，允她下一夜繼續(xù)講。她的故事一直講了一千零一夜，國王終于被感動，與她白首偕老。 Sindbad, Aladdin, Ali Baba: all make their spectacular entrance onto the stage of English literary history in the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments (1704—1717). The tales with which Scheherazade nightly postpones the murderous intent of the sultan initiate a pattern of literary reference and influence which today remains as powerful and intense as it was throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This edition reproduces in its entirety the earliest English translation of the French orientalist Antoine Galland’s Mille et une Nuit. This remained for over an incalculable number of writers, and no other edition offers this complete text supplemented by full textual apparatus.