抄録
There are four versions of the Arabian Nights, originally called A Thousand and One Nights, called "Culcatta#1" "Bulak" "Cullcatta#2" and "Breslau" versions. I try to examine the Cullcatta#2 in this short thesis, so the numbering of the nights cited in this paper depends on that of the Cullcatta#2. This version is now being translated into Japanese in the Oriental Books Series of Heibonsha Publishers in Japan. I am interested in the influence of old Indian folktales on the Arabian Nights. Of course, it is obvious that the Arabian Nights was influenced by many precious stories, those from ancient, and middle ages of Egypt, Iraq, the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and India. Especially the Indian stories influenced themes of wisdom and of wives' excuse for their husbands in the Arabian Nights. Here I will concretly analyze 5 stories told in the 578th to 606th nights of the Arabian Nights in comparison with famous Indian folktales Vetalapancavimsatika and Sukasaptati.
