"Aladdin's Magic Lamp": we remember the famous fairy tale

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"Aladdin's Magic Lamp" is one of the most famous fairy tales in the Thousand and One Nights cycle. 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 in the world. They have been around for thousands of years and include magical stories that have been passed down from mouth to mouth in Persia, Arabia, India and Asia. Fairy tales, as you know, are united by a common plot frame: every night they are told by a young wifeSultan Shahriyar, Scheherazade, to her husband in order to save her own life. The stories are so entertaining that, contrary to tradition, Shahriyar cannot execute his wife - he so wants to know the continuation of the story.

The fairy tale "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" was told by Scheherazade on the 514th night. Many modern philologists believe that it was not included in the original collection of Arabic tales "1000 Nights", but was included in it a little later. Some even suspected the falsification of the first translator of the collection, who opened it to Western readers, Antoine Galland. One way or another, however, the fairy tale saw the light of the day, and became more popular than those whose authenticity was not disputed by experts.

Interestingly, not only the Frenchman Galland could impose his vision of the Arab-Persian world on us. 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 comes to the main character from Morocco. British researchers believe that these names are rather arbitrary, they should symbolize the East and West, respectively, or even be translated as "far far away", as they say in Western fairy tales.

As you know, in the Russian version of the translation, the events take place, most likely, in Baghdad, and the 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 motif of the forbidden room, referring us to the Bluebeard fairy tale, the motifthe struggle of the “ordinary guy” against power (compare with the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk”), the desire to marry the princess (present in almost any fairy tale), and so on.

"Aladdin's Magic Lamp" inspired many artists and writers to create their own images. So, many researchers believe that Andersen's fairy tale "The Flint" was created under the clear influence of the story from "A Thousand and One Nights". Soviet readers are perfectly familiar with the image of the funny genie Hottabych, which appears from an earthen vessel found by the pioneer Volka Kostylkov at the bottom of the river.

Why is Aladdin's Magic Lamp so popular? The Arabian tale (or, as we have already found out, the later layering of Western stories) shows us the growth of personality: from a lazy, rather stupid and trusting teenager to an enterprising young man, ready to fight for his happiness. Of course, Aladdin bears little resemblance to the heroes of Slavic fairy tales. He embodies other features and ideals, but this is what interests us. In addition, an amazing magical world has been created on the pages of the fairy tale "Aladdin's Magic Lamp" that can capture the imagination of both children and adults.