In this revised interpretation of the famous folk collection which is The Thousand and One Nights, al-Shaykh takes a closer look at the content often reduced or misplaced from the classic stories. There is a pronounced emphasis upon the adult content of the original stories. In fact it is al-Shaykh's intention to portray the eroticism of the old tales in order to illustrate a more profound point concerning the efficacy of sexual relationships from a historical perspective.
One story depicts a husband distraught to arrive home and catch his wife in bed with a servant. The boy was much younger than the husband, inciting not only jealousy but also disappointment. Enraged, the husband murders both lovers and throws them off a cliff. In the telling of this story, he's talking to his brother after the act, uncertain how to proceed.
Sinbad the sailor makes an appearance, in a less family friendly imagining of his story. As the narrator, Sinbad is eager to remove any heroic bent from his tale. He possess no noble intentions. On the contrary, he remarks continually about his immense fear, to the point of losing physical control over his body. He becomes as much a passive agent in the adventure as the reader in its telling.
