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Keith Long's avatar

Very interesting facts at the beginning. I learn a lot from reading your stories lol

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J. M. Elliott's avatar

Ooh, this already has me hooked! I admit I've never read the original, though I'm familiar with the basic characters and plot. But I really like this change of setting, which has such a rich history of its own and brings a new dimension to the story. Already off to an impressive start, and I'm looking forward to the rest!

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Daniel W. Davison's avatar

Thank you so much for reading through the story and leaving the generous comment. I fell in love this area back in the ‘80s and read a lot of the literature available at the time about it. But it was surprising how little secondary studies there were on the topic in English. And a lot of those referred back to travelogues of explorers (and that famous annotated edition of Marco Polo).

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J. M. Elliott's avatar

It's such a fascinating part of the world! The area really entered my radar when I began reading about the famous Tarim mummies and I became mildly obsessed with these mysterious people who wove tartans and wore witches' hats and surprised a few people by turning up where they did. The history of the region is far more complex than I ever imagined.

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Frank's avatar

This marvelous Daniel. I love all the background and details that you explain where appropriate. Certainly changes my perspective of the story with an origin in far East Asia instead of Persia and the Arabian Peninsula. Looking forward to the continuing tale.

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Daniel W. Davison's avatar

Thank you so much, Frank! It’s been fun revisiting the Grimms’ tales and Arabian Nights now that I’m in my 50s. They’re very different from the versions I remember.

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Joseph L. Wiess's avatar

Interesting adaption of Aladdin.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

So many media adaptations of this story are seemingly adapted as an indirect summary of the story rather than the story itself. The original story is far more complex.

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Daniel W. Davison's avatar

I agree. The character grows over the course of the story. And his mother is an interesting characters, as is Aladdin’s wife.

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