Tarot of the 1001 Nights study - Tales / Scenes that the cards are based on

Hemera

Here are some of the tales/scenes for which the miniatures were probably painted by Leon Carre in the 1920´s. He painted them to illustrate Sir Richard Burton´s collection of the tales.

:love:Thanks to Elendil for the inspiration to post this thread (and for the Emperor and for the 10 of wands :)
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THE EMPEROR:
King Sharyar to whom Shehrazade tells the stories of “The Thousand Nights and One Night” OR the noble, just & wise Harun al Rashid Khalifah of Baghdad.


THE DEVIL:
Apeman Gorgis, Grandson of Iblisi.
OR: The jinni from 'The Fisherman and the Jinni': a story of faithlessness, punishment, broken promises, deceit and trickery.

THE DANGER:
In the valley of diamonds and giant snakes (from "The Second Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor")

JUDGEMENT:
Prince Hasan meditates by his father´s grave and eventually falls asleep. A Spirit sees the lovely boy and takes a liking to him. The Spirit transfers the boy to meet his future Bride. (from “Vizir Nureddin and His Brother”)

PAGE OF PENTACLES:
Asis falls in love with a lovely girl he sees through a window. The girl invites him to the palace at night. There is a gorgeous garden and a huge hall where he finds a table full of delicacies. He falls asleep. On the third night he stays awake and ends up serving the devious daughter of Dalila. (from “Asis and Asisa”)

KING OF PENTACLES:
The first night of the tales. King Shahriyar, Shehrazade and her sister Dunyasad in the King´s bedroom. The King is ready to kill Sheherazade who begins to tell the stories. (-this one was painted in 1926)

SEVEN OF WANDS:
“Abdullah the Fisherman” is fishing and catches “Abdullah the Merman”. A profitable deal is proposed. The Fisherman will bring fruits of the land and in exchange the Merman will bring him rubies, pearls and emeralds that are abundant in the sea. (from “Abdullah the Seaman and Abdullah the Fisherman”)

TEN OF WANDS:The First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor: the island on the back of a whale.

THREE OF CHALICES:
Three Ladies in Baghdad, Sokeida, Amina and Fahima and a servant boy they have hired. Fahima ends up as the wife of the Caliph, Amina marries his son and the third sister marries a beggar monk (who turns out to be a King´s son) (from “Three Ladies of Baghdad”)

SEVEN OF CHALICES:
This is from a story about a Shepard and a Seductress. (The tale is very misogynistic and thus scholars say it´s a late muslim addition to the tales.)

EIGHT OF CHALICES:
Sinbad is shipwrecked again. (from "Sinbad the Sailor")

THREE OF SWORDS:
The Slave of Love. A lovely Lady has been buried alive. Ranim sees what happens and digs the Lady up. The Lady is the favourite wife of the Caliph.

FIVE OF SWORDS:
The Magic Lake. In the courtyard of the Palace there´s a golden net that keeps the birds from flying away. (Birds= Spirit of the Palace). A young Prince has been turned to black marble from waist down due to an evil spell by an evil witch woman. The whole country has been turned into a lake and the subjects of the Prince have become the fish in the lake.

TEN OF SWORDS:
Asis and the devious daughter of Dalila by the grave of Asisa. (from “Asis and Asisa”)

PAGE OF SWORDS:
Inside the “Palace of the Garden of Happiness” Ali and a friend (called Beautiful) give the old Vizir too much to drink. The Caliph sees everything from the tree outside the Palace window. He is shocked by the betrayal and by the behavior of the old Vizir. But in the end everyone is forgiven.

KNIGHT OF SWORDS:
The Rok-bird takes the Prince to a palace where one is allowed to open 39 doors. The 40th must remain closed because a wild black winged horse lives behind that door. The Prince is curious and opens the 40th door and therefore he loses one eye plus all the treasures of the palace. (from "The Tale of the Ebony Horse")
 

Le Fanu

Oh wow! this is really useful. Shame on me for being too lazy to read the tales in full! I will, I promise. Maybe I shall get a copy in the New Year.

Do you know if there is a reasonably priced edition which has Carré's illustrations alongside the text, without breaking the bank??
 

Hemera

Le Fanu said:
Do you know if there is a reasonably priced edition which has Carré's illustrations alongside the text, without breaking the bank??

I´m afraid there isn´t..
I have been reading the Finnish translation for children (five or six huge volumes which are still just a small part of all the tales as my Sudanese workmate pointed out) I borrowed them from the local library.
I am saving for the Burton-Carré edition but it was rather pricey at amazon the last time I checked (£70 or something)
 

Elendil

I can also add:

10 of Wands: The First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor: the island on the back of a whale.

Many, many thanks to Hemera for sharing the discoveries.
 

Hemera

Elendil said:
I can also add:

10 of Wands: The First Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor: the island on the back of a whale.
.
Oh yes, thanks, I´ll add this to my first post as well if that´s okay for you:)
 

Le Fanu

Such a great thread! I shall have to get researching and see if there is anything I can add. I love this deck and I think I shall take it with me over the Christmas period. So much happening in these pictures that the deck is always good company!
 

Elendil

Hi Le Fanu

With the book (including Carre's) paintings being horrendously expensive as well as hard to track down, it would be great if you could assist in matching the images to the stories. I suspect that there was more method than madness in the choices made - and have never really understood why LoS never helped out (admittedly, many of their LWBs are terse to say the least!)

E.
 

Le Fanu

Better get myself a copy of the book first! If there is no nice illustrated version, I shall have to pick up a cheap paperback edition...

Is there nowhere on line which has the images? Must check.
 

Le Fanu

interesting site.

(no Carre, sadly.)

This would be a great volume to have...

Is this freely downloadable? It looks like the version with illustrations.
 

Elendil

Le Fanu said:
Is this freely downloadable? It looks like the version with illustrations.

I eventually downloaded this...SADLY there are no illustrations in the free version. (I haven't tried the one that requires a subscription).

Perhaps I will speak to my local library next week and see if they can locate a copy with Carre's illustrations....

In the meantime it's actually a lot of fun reading the stories and seeing if you can match them to the cards!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all by the way.

E.