In their Arabic form both books originate in the early Abbasid period, combine seriousness with mirth, cater for the 'elite' reader and have another more 'common' side, combine Arab with Persian culture and originate from Middle Persian. The Nights begins with The Tale of the Ox and the Ass, and the opening of Kalila wa Dimna is with The Tale of the Lion and the Ox. He remarks that a number of stories in The Nights, could be paralleled with those of Kalila wa Dimna such as the small collection of beast tales in the 146th Night.[1][2]