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The Story of the Blind Baba-Abdalla

From The Arabian Nights Entertainments, collected by Andrew Lang

This tale comes from The Arabian Nights Entertainments, a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk stories compiled over many centuries and presented to Western readers by Andrew Lang in the late nineteenth century. The story reflects its era; a few period terms have been modernised. Baba-Abdalla's confession to the Caliph—the Islamic ruler of Baghdad—is a classic moral fable about the blindness of greed and the painful wisdom that sometimes comes only through loss. The story is worth a reader's time because it shows how a character's inner corruption (the blindness of the heart) manifests in outward ruin, and because the consequences are irreversible—an honest, unsentimental reckoning with choice and consequence.

Band

Blue · Independent readers, confidentTypical starting range: ages 12–14

Length

long · about 1079 words in 5 sections · 2 pictures

Source

The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Andrew Lang

First published

see the About page in the reader

Regions

Canada · United States

Included formats

• · Web reader and PDF
• · EPUB for e-readers
• · Home-print sheet
• · Folded booklet
• · Binder edition (8.5 × 11)
• · Worksheet
• · Quick Check (10 questions) with answer key
• · Read-aloud script
• · Teacher’s Edition (members)

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