Sultan Schahriah had become embittered, an enemy of all women. He had an unpleasant habit of marrying and then having his brides beheaded shortly after the wedding. Soon all the eligible girls had been killed or had departed in haste. But the Sultan was still eager to be a bridegroom. He ordered his grand vizier to find him another bride. The hapless vizier looked all over in vain, for no one sought the doubtful honor of becoming Schahriah's wife.
Fearing that his own neck would be forfeit if her admitted failure, the vizier fell into profound melancholy. His beautiful daughter Scheherazade noticed his depression and asked its cause. After he had told her, she insisted that she be the Sultan's new bride. The father tried to dissuade her, but she persisted. With a heavy heart the father consented. Before she left him, Scheherazade concocted a plan. Her sister was to ask her, in front of the Sultan, to tell a story.
All went ahead as schedule. The marriage took place. The sister asked Scheherazade to tell a tale. The Sultan agreed, and Scheherazade told the first of her marvelous stories. At a crucial point in the story Scheherazade stopped.
The listeners complimented her on the telling, but she replied, "What is this in comparison with that I'll tell on the next night, if I live."
The king's reply is at the head of this introduction. And so it went. Each night Scheherazade stopped and was spared to tell the rest. This went on for a thousand and one nights. At the end of that time the Sultan had fallen in love with her and had forgotten his hatred of women. She was spared-and they lived happily ever after.
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FairyTales & Myths
A sound, that you always dream to hear, is calling you to a new magical world, a world called......
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Heronie
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