M&D and Arabian nights (spoiler?)

[Basileios Drolias]

ok, I admit it i havent read the Arabian nights, but it happened that I am
reading Mahfouz's "Arabian Days and Nights" which is sort of based on the
original arabian nights in parallel with M&D. One of the first episodes in
Mahfouz's book is the episode of teh merchant who is visited by a djin and
gets this strange bitemark (could it have been a dogmark? or just a
dream?). Yesterday I read page 561 of M&D and the similarities in the
images hit me hard on the head. After all the whole form of M&D is very
similar to the arabian nights: A long story told by Cherrycoke so he can
amuse the kids (like Scheherazade with  the sultan). Oh well I found it an 
interesting parallel and i thought i could share it with you.... 

basil