Tim Rimer notes, "The original Arabian Nights stories can be traced back to Indian, Persian, and Arab oral traditions which were passed down from generation to generation before they were eventually written down sometime between the ninth and fourteenth centuries."
Oral traditions of many peoples and languages often break the codes of proper conduct -- codes that in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions are associated with "the book." Oral traditions and village story telling are often surprisingly direct about matters of sexuality and daily life -- they have an immediate human vitality, are full of surprising events, tricksters, and direct humor.
Certainly one example is the story Heather told us about in class last week, "Three Unfortunate Lovers," where a woman dies for her love for another women. Homoerotic affection might have been unacceptable in the world of the book (the Torah, the Bible, the Koran) but is natural in these tales that arise from daily life.
The story "How Abu Hasan Brake Wind" is, believe it or not, a story about a man who becomes famous because of a huge fart he passed on his wedding day! Just the kind of course humor of oral traditions -- there are many Native American stories about the trickster Coyote that have a similar theme. "The King's Daughter and the Ape," about a Sultan's daughter who is so addicted to sex she has a relationship with a baboon has a "locker room" oral tradition sense to it.
Another feature of oral stories is the inclusion of verse and poetic passages, perhaps mixed in places where they might not be expected. A story, "Al-Amin and His Uncle," about a man who won't sleep with his uncle's slave girl because he thinks his uncle already had -- and so the uncle has the following verses sown onto her skirt,
- “No! I declare by Him to whom all bow,
- Of nothing ‘neath her petticoat I trow:
- Nor meddle with her mouth; nor aught did I
- But see and hear her, and it was enow!”
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