[jveritas]

I think we are both right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_One_Thousand_and_One_Nights

[muawiyah]

The stories appear as "collections" simultaneously with the introduction of paper to the Middle East. That spread like wildfire to Moslem Spain.

Jewish people known as "Schmei de Lapu" (Schmidlap) were paper-makers.

That name didn't quite stick but it showed up in Medieval Germany as a common name for folks who made fireworks (one of the other Eastern inventions sweeping Europe). First multi-stage rocket was built in the Middle Ages by a guy named Schmidlap in Germany!

"Schmei", which is obviously the root word for "smith" meant someone who "smeared stuff", or dyed cloth, or mixed cement, etc. Very useful word and was picked up by most European countries as they came into contact with Romans or Spanish Jews.