Page "History of literature" Paragraph 30

A number of stories within the One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ) also feature science fiction elements.

One example is " The Adventures of Bulukiya ", where the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, journey to the Garden of Eden and to Jahannam, and travel across the cosmos to different worlds much larger than his own world, anticipating elements of galactic science fiction ; along the way, he encounters societies of jinns, mermaids, talking serpents, talking trees, and other forms of life.

In another Arabian Nights tale, the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater submarine society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land, in that the underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist.

Other Arabian Nights tales deal with lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them.

" The City of Brass " features a group of travellers on an archaeological expedition across the Sahara to find an ancient lost city and attempt to recover a brass vessel that Solomon once used to trap a jinn, and, along the way, encounter a mummified queen, petrified inhabitants, lifelike humanoid robots and automata, seductive marionettes dancing without strings, and a brass horseman robot who directs the party towards the ancient city.

" The Ebony Horse " features a robot in the form of a flying mechanical horse controlled using keys that could fly into outer space and towards the Sun, while the " Third Qalandar's Tale " also features a robot in the form of an uncanny boatman.

" The City of Brass " and " The Ebony Horse " can be considered early examples of proto-science fiction.