The One Thousand and One Nights series includes some of the most beloved folk tales of all time. Occasionally known as Arabian Nights, four of its classic fairytales are available as stories on the BetterSleep app, in the form of specially-curated soundscapes. At BetterSleep, we want our library of bedtime stories to improve your bedtime routine and help you get a more restful night’s sleep.
How do bedtime stories help you get better sleep? Above all else, they relax your mind and help keep any intrusive, racing pre-bedtime thoughts at bay. Instead of being mentally consumed by the trials and tribulations of your day (and keeping you awake in the process), BetterSleep bedtime stories can provide you with an ideal soundtrack and mood for when you nod off to sleep. You can even keep the music playing after the story has finished, or play it again from the beginning if you wish. Better yet, you can add your own sounds from our library (e.g. rain, vinyl crackling, river sounds) to the story!
If you have a premium subscription to BetterSleep, you can access these and a host of other stories to help give you a more peaceful slumber, complete with narration and custom music designed to get you there. Here’s what you should know about each of the One Thousand and One Nights stories in our library.
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
You’ve seen the film as a child (though it’s a bit different from the original story), here’s an opportunity to re-immerse yourself in the world of Aladdin! This 42-minute story is a retelling of the classic Arabian folktale about a young, streetwise boy who meets a magician pretending to be his uncle. The magician leads Aladdin to a cave, where he finds himself trapped before accidentally rubbing a ring the magician gave him. A genie appears, granting Aladdin the wish to go home. His mother then rubs a lamp Aladdin found while in the cave, another genie shows up, and plenty more surprises ensue!
A shorter story at only 27 minutes, is another classic example of ancient Arabian folklore. This tale revolves around an impoverished fisherman who reels in a magic lantern after casting his net four times, but failing to catch any fish. After opening the lantern, a genie emerges promising to make whoever freed him rich. You’d think this would lead to the fisherman’s luck seemingly changing overnight, but the genie in this story isn’t quite what you’d expect them to be. Instead, the genie gives the fisherman a choice for how he wants to eventually die—leading to a truly wild series of events.
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
One of the most well-known and frequently-adapted stories from the One Thousand and One Nights series, this is a classic tale of Ali Baba, a young, poor woodcutter who stumbles upon a den of 40 thieves, later discovering it held massive amounts of treasure those thieves owned. Entering the den is as easy as saying ‘open sesame’ (this story is actually where the saying originated), he steals some of the treasure, and this is where the story truly kicks off. At 44 minutes, BetterSleep’s retelling of this story is a longer one, but definitely one that can help you feel like a million bucks while sleeping.
Sinbad the Sailor’s First Voyage
This is the first chapter in the story of Sinbad, a young man from Baghdad who recalls seven of his voyages at sea across parts of Asia and Africa. While at sea looking for the fortune he’d suddenly lost, Sinbad finds himself on what he thinks is an island, but it’s actually a sleeping whale who just so happens to grow trees. Of course, this is all fun and games until the whale wakes up! If you don’t need too much time before you start drifting off to slumber, this is a good story for you, as BetterSleep’s version clocks in at only 21 minutes.
