MovieChat Forums > Arabian Nights (2000) Discussion > Where does story of The Sultan and the B...

Where does story of The Sultan and the Beggar come from

posted 13 years ago by timellwood
1 reply | jump to latest

Hope somebody can help me. This story (4th in the film) which I've only just discovered, as up until last week I only had the video in which this story was cut out completely, is excellent but I cannot find the original anywhere. I have two books of translations of Arabian nights and I have also searched through 10 or so web based text versions of the tales and cannot find this story anywhere.

Does it go by a different name that makes it hard to find as I have searched based on likely titles and only looked at ones I felt were likely and not every text.

Does anyone know if it really is one of the original stories or was it made up for the film. I spotted that it had similarities to the Prince and the Pauper by Twain and I'm wondering if they based it on that or whether Twain based his tale on an older story from the Arabian Nights.

If it is an original Arabian Nights tale I am led to believe that not all of them have been translated into English and this could be one but in that case where did the writer Peter Barnes get it from?

Can anybody help as I run a group of medieval players (www.miragemummers.co.uk) and would to love to adapt this story for performance.

[–] duglis-1 12 years ago

It comes from the story called THE SLEEPER AND THE WAKER or THE SLEEPER AWAKENED.
It is BASED on that story. It is not a faithful retelling, but that's the story alright. You can find that story in Richard Burton's first supplement to his arabian nights tales. You can also find it Antoine's Galland's version. I'm not sure which other version have it and which do not.