frame tale

Frame tales or Frame stories, can be dated back to ancient Egypt and India. A frame tale is a short story that is set within a bigger story. In literature it can be seen when the main character tells stories to other characters. The purpose of using a frame story or stories is to allow the reader to smoothly transition from one story to the next. It may also help the reader understand the bigger story better.

As stories move down from generations to generations, translators and writers may omit or add different frame stories to their liking. One Thousand and One Nights is one of those stories. As time went on, writers would add and get rid of certain stories that they believed would help the reader understand the bigger story. In One Thousand and One Nights,  the frame stories were narrated by Scheherazade.

Some other Great works that include this technique are The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Frankenstein by Marry Shelly and Homer’s Odessey.