Analyzing the Narrative Discourse of One Thousand and One Nights“Khalid Bin Abdullah and the Young Thief” as a Model

This paper aims to analyze the narrative discourse in “Khalid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasry and the Young Thief”, an anecdote that is included in One Thousand and One Nights. Analyzing the anecdotes narrative discourse is of critical importance in the process of exploring the methods utilized in structuring the story and designing its formal elements by way of coming to grips with its narrative mode and aesthetic dimension. The anecdote was studied in the light of narrative approaches that utilize three discourse elements generally used by narrators, namely: 1. Time: through this element, I studied the existing relations between the time of the story and the time of the discourse most manifest in sequential time, the rhythm of the narrative and succession. 2. Style: through this element I underscored those approaches upon which the story relied to communicate speech and thoughts, including direct and non-direct discourse and narrated discourse. 3. Vision: through this I focused on the relation between the narrator and the story he narrated, and the recipient and the angle through which s/he perceived the story. The discourse analysis I used in studying the above story yielded many conclusions. It became obvious that the story utilized diversified discourse aspects. That proves that the anecdotes in One Thousand and One Nights cannot be said to have been based on improvisation; rather they were woven by a popular creative narrator who was in control of the narrative. He was also an authoritative narrator and capable of manipulating the narrative content and developing a discourse through which he was able to attain specific objectives such as negating the idea of women infidelity. This negation led the recipient, Shahrayar, to nullify his decision to kill women.