A collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. Scholars generally date the collection's genesis to around the 9th century. The stories proceed from a singular, original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and various forms of erotica. In one story, a misogynist king begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonour him. The tales vary widely. Some editions contain stories from only a few hundred nights, while others include 1001 or more.