“Aladdin's Magic Lamp” is one of the most famous fairy tales of the cycle “A Thousand and One Nights.” By the way, in fact, in the collection it is called "Aladdin and the magic lamp." But in 1966, a wonderful fairy tale film based on a magical story appeared in the Soviet Union. The film adaptation immediately became very popular, because in the memory of many people (and even entire generations) it was not the name of the literary masterpiece that was deposited, but the name of the film - “Aladdin's Magic Lamp”. Let's talk today about some facts that you may not know about.
Tales from the collection "1001 Nights" - one of the greatest treasures of the world. They have existed for thousands of years and include magical stories that have been passed from mouth to mouth in Persia, Arabia, India and Asia. Tales, as you know, are united by a common plot frame: every night they are told by the young wife of the Sultan Shakhriyar, Scheherazade, to her husband in order to save his life. The stories are so entertaining that, contrary to tradition, Shahriyar cannot execute his spouse - he wants to know the continuation of the story.
The fairy tale “The Magic Lamp of Aladdin” was told by Scheherazade on the 514th night. Many modern scholars of philology believe that it was not included in the original collection of Arabic fairy tales “1000 Nights,” but was introduced into it a little later. Some even suspected of falsifying the first translator of the collection, which opened it to Western readers, Antoine Gallan. One way or another, however, the fairy tale saw the light of day, and became more popular than those whose authenticity was not disputed by experts.
Interestingly, not only the Frenchman Gallan could impose on us his vision of the Arab-Persian world. Each translator of the book could take part in the creation of the legend. So, in the English version of the tale, the events take place in China, and the villain-uncle is to the main character from Morocco. British researchers believe that these names are rather arbitrary, they should symbolize East and West, respectively, or even be translated with the words “far away” (“far far away”, as they say in Western tales).
As you know, in the Russian version of the translation, events probably occur in Baghdad, and uncle comes from the Maghreb. As in any work, in this magical story you can find many parallels with famous fairy tales. We are faced with the motive of the forbidden room, referring us to the fairy tale “Blue Beard”, the motive of the struggle of the “ordinary guy” against power (compare with the story “Jack and the Bean Pod”), the desire to marry a princess (present in almost any fairy tale) and so on .
The Aladdin's Magic Lamp inspired many artists and writers to create their own images. So, many researchers believe that Andersen’s fairy tale “Flint” was created under the clear influence of the story from “A Thousand and One Nights.” Soviet readers are well acquainted with the image of the funny genie Hottabych, which appears from an earthen vessel found by pioneer Volka Kostylkov at the bottom of the river.
Why is Aladdin's Magic Lamp so popular? An Arabian fairy tale (or, as we already found out, a later layering of Western stories) shows us the growth of personality: from a lazy, rather stupid and trusting teenager to an enterprising young man who is ready to fight for his happiness. Of course, Aladdin is little like the heroes of Slavic tales. He embodies other traits and ideals, but this is what interests us. In addition, on the pages of the fairy tale “Aladdin's Magic Lamp”, an amazing magical world was created that can capture the imagination of both children and adults.