I was told stories about genies and witches and about great birds that could carry away elephants on their wings… and stories about distant kingdoms and magical lands ruled by warrior-kings. I was told stories of good and bad… and stories of hope and others of despair. I was even told stories about stories. And all the while, I listened, amazed. The more I listened, the more my mind worked. And the more I came to understand that these stories had a power about them, a secret life-blood all of their own. They were magical instruments, machineries that could alter states of mind and change the way we think. Stories are part of the default programming of Man. They are within us all, born into us, and they make us who we are – they make us human. Since earliest childhood, I have feasted on these stories, especially those contained in The Thousand and One Nights. A treasury of storytelling and culture that is in itself a labyrinth of worlds, The Nights conjures realms more fantastical than any other I know.
