> By his own account he wrote them down (in French) based on narration from a Sy... | Hacker News

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defen on April 1, 2021 | parent | context | favorite | on: Arabian Nights

> By his own account he wrote them down (in French) based on narration from a Syrian Maronite storyteller who visited him in Paris

That sounds a lot like the origin story of Don Quixote... (within the text, it was allegedly told to Cervantes by Cide Hamete Benengeli)

goto11 on April 1, 2021 [–]

The storyteller did exist though. He even wrote a memoir! But he didn't write down his own stories. He narrated them for Galland, presumably in French, and Galland wrote them down... a few days later... from memory.

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