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I'm trying to recall the title of a certain story from the Arabian Nights.
The story is about a poor young man who is invited to live with a rich and mysterious old man in his large palace (inhabited by equally mysterious men who wear black and weep all day), on the one condition he never opens a certain door. The young man, of course, opens the door, walks though a cave, and is carried by a large bird into another world, a heavenly paradise, where he meets and weds a beautiful woman who tells him they will live happily forever so long as he doesn't open a certain door in her palace. He opens the door, of course, and is taken by the bird to a still more heavenly world where he weds a still more beautiful woman who tells him not to open a certain door in the palace. The temptation of finding himself in a world more paradisiacal, with a wife still more divinely beautiful, proves irresistible. He opens the third door, but this time is carried by the bird back to the first palace. After living in paradise, the world to him is grey, ugly, lonely, and hopeless. The men in black are no longer a mystery to him. He puts on black robes, and joins them in weeping all day.
Last edited by Hydra; 07/29/07 06:20 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Frustration! The closest thing I found was this, which won't let individuals look at all of it: The Forbidden Doors of the Thousand and One Nights . I called our library, but the guy said he couldn't read 1,001 titles to me over the phone.
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in accessing the complete JSTOR document, which I can't copy here, there seem to be two possible titles: The Man who never Laughed again, and The Third Kalendar..
In the former tale a young spendthrift, who is reduced to beggary, is hired to wait on eleven old men, who live together in a grand house, dress in mourning, and weep and lament. One by one they die, and the last cautions the youth not to open a particular door... The youth opens it, and it leads him through a long passage to the shore of a sea, where a great eagle pounces upon him and carries him to an island. He is taken up and conveyed to a country inhabited only by women, where he is married to a beautiful queen, and acknowledged as king. The queen again forbids him to open a particular door, but, after seven years, he ventures to do so, thinking to behold greater treasures... but he finds only the bird within, which carries him back to the seashore. He returns to the house where he had lived with the old men, pines away with vain regrets, and dies.
-joe (variations on a theme) friday
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Carpal Tunnel
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Mm--I sometimes wonder, watching a game show, whether the contestant goes away rejoicing, "I've got $500 more than I came here with" or wailing, "If only I'd won the $1,000,000". Big difference, both in attitude and money.
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Yes, my cup is half full too Jackie.
I would be quite happy to have lived in paradise for several years and was alive to tell the tale.
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Thanks for your help everyone.
Jackie, you even called the library? The generosity and kindness of this board never ceases to amaze me... or perhaps your librarian is tall, dark and handsome? I hope so.
Anyway, tswum, I think you've nailed it.
The Man Who Never Laughed Again.
I read the story in a heavily abridged and simplified text prepared for elementary school students. The chapters weren't titled, and (shamefully!) there was no mention of an island of women.
Thanks again.
Last edited by Hydra; 08/03/07 05:22 AM.
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