The Sultan loved to shower his wife with extravagance. However, she had wronged him so deeply, he found it best when less women were in the world for they were all wicked at heart. The story says that he almost lost his mind over the deceptiveness but I honestly think he lost his marbles. Every night, he would marry a new wife just to have her strangled by the grand-vizir the following morning, a fate he also reserved for his first wife. As you can imagine, this caused havoc all throughout town, The grand-vizir had two daughters:
- Scheherazade: the oldest of the two who had both intelligence and beauty
- Dinarzade: the youngest deemed average at best
In a shocking turn of events, Scheherazade asks her father
to bring her to the Sultan in order to stop his barbaric practices. After many
protests from her father, he finally obliged, offering her to the Sultan with a
heavy heart. Scheherazade comes up with a plan to ask the Sultan if her sister
can sleep in their chamber the night of their wedding. She asks Dinarzade to do
her a favor: ask her to tell her a charming story one last time.
The Merchant and the Genius
Scheherazade begins to tell a story about a merchant who has to cross the desert. He brought with him dates and biscuits for he knew that there would be no food to be had. On his fourth day he came across a fountain of water and decided to rest. A genius (genie) came to him saying that he killed her son and she will do the same to him. The man speaks of his wife and children while begging for forgiveness but the genius was not impressed.
This concludes the end of the first night and Scheherazade asks the Sultan to give her till tomorrow to finish the story. He agrees and lets her live. This goes on and on.
The following morning the Sultan grew eager to hear the continuation of the story. The merchant asks to say goodbye to his wife and child one last time, claiming that he will be back in one year. Surprisingly, the genius agrees. He settles his affairs and comes back to the desert. As he waits, he is greeted by some bystanders. After hearing his story, they all stay to see the outcome. When the genius arrives, the merchant tells him a story, delaying the inevitable.
The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind
This is the story of the first bystander to come across the Merchant. Apparently the hind (female deer) is his wife and he adopts the son of his favorite slave. His wife does not care for the mother or the son. The merchant asks her to look after them in his year long absence. During this time, she learned magic and turned his son into a calf and the slave into a cow. When he returned he finds his slave dead and his son missing.
During a feast, he asks his servant to bring forth the fattest cow. But just as he was about to slaughter it, he found pity on the cow and asks for another. His wife was annoyed at his compassion for alas, he could not kill the second cow after seeing tears run down her face. The steward ended up killing the cow he did not know was his slave. Upon opening it up, their was nothing but bones despite its girth.
He then tries to kill a calf but couldn't so he asks the steward to take care of it. His daughter, who practices magic informs him of who the calf and slaughtered cow really were. The daughter returns the boy to normal and in exchange will marry her in gratitude. She also turned his wife into a hind.
The Second Old Man, and the Two Black Dogs
The two dogs are the old man's brothers. They used the sum of their father's estate to become merchants. The eldest brother sold his share to travel foreign lands. A year later a beggar comes to his shop; it was his brother asking him to not speak of his misfortunes. He shuts down his shop, gives his brother half of his profit and tells him to start over.
The second brother also decides to travel but comes back in the same state as his older brother. Later both brothers convince the old man to travel together. He looks at the 6,000 profit and gives each man 1,000, burying 3,000 close to his house. Two months into their journey he finds himself a wife but the two brothers become jealous of him. They end up throwing the couple over board. Turns out his wife was a fairy and transported him to an island. Upset at his brothers, she turns his brothers into dogs for 10 years. Pleased with his story, the genie grants him a third of the merchant's punishment.
The Story of the Fisherman
A poor fisherman could not support his family. He makes it a rule to not throw his nets more than four times a day. One day he finds himself catching nothing but junk. He finds a big yellow pot in his fourth throw and decided to sell it back to the owner. Turns out he found a genie who tells him the only favor he will grant the man is choosing the way he dies. However, the cunning fisherman tricks the genie back into the bottle. This transition as the fisherman as the story teller.
The Great King and the Physician Douban
Scheherazade is telling a story about a fisherman who is telling a story to the genie about a king who is about to tell a story to his vizir. Can you wrap your head around that? A clever physician tells the King with an unknown disease that he can cure him. Turns out he did and the physician received the highest honor. The vizir grew jealous and tells the king that the physician is trying to assassinate him.
The Story of The Parrot and Ogress
The King's story is of the parrot and the Ogress is the vizir's counter story to the king. The story of the parrot is about a king who's bird was telling him the truth about his wife. but his wife cleverly devised a plan to trick the bird into thinking that it was raining when it wasn't causing the king to believe that it was crazy. He found out that that was not the case after accidentally killing the bird. The vizer's counter story was about a young prince who got lost after hunting with his vizer. He came across a woman crying on the road. She claimed to be an Indian princess but really she was an ogress wanting to eat the prince. The prince ran away, told his father, and had the vizir strangled for his carelessness.
The Physician's Revenge
After the jealous vizir convinces the king that the physician was an assassin, in irony, he became one, killing him with poison after learning about his execution.
The Sultan and the Fish
We go back to the story of the genie and the fisherman who says that he will make the man rich if he lets him out of the lamp.
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| Scheherazade Source |
The Merchant and the Genius
Scheherazade begins to tell a story about a merchant who has to cross the desert. He brought with him dates and biscuits for he knew that there would be no food to be had. On his fourth day he came across a fountain of water and decided to rest. A genius (genie) came to him saying that he killed her son and she will do the same to him. The man speaks of his wife and children while begging for forgiveness but the genius was not impressed.
This concludes the end of the first night and Scheherazade asks the Sultan to give her till tomorrow to finish the story. He agrees and lets her live. This goes on and on.
The following morning the Sultan grew eager to hear the continuation of the story. The merchant asks to say goodbye to his wife and child one last time, claiming that he will be back in one year. Surprisingly, the genius agrees. He settles his affairs and comes back to the desert. As he waits, he is greeted by some bystanders. After hearing his story, they all stay to see the outcome. When the genius arrives, the merchant tells him a story, delaying the inevitable.
The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind
This is the story of the first bystander to come across the Merchant. Apparently the hind (female deer) is his wife and he adopts the son of his favorite slave. His wife does not care for the mother or the son. The merchant asks her to look after them in his year long absence. During this time, she learned magic and turned his son into a calf and the slave into a cow. When he returned he finds his slave dead and his son missing.
During a feast, he asks his servant to bring forth the fattest cow. But just as he was about to slaughter it, he found pity on the cow and asks for another. His wife was annoyed at his compassion for alas, he could not kill the second cow after seeing tears run down her face. The steward ended up killing the cow he did not know was his slave. Upon opening it up, their was nothing but bones despite its girth.
He then tries to kill a calf but couldn't so he asks the steward to take care of it. His daughter, who practices magic informs him of who the calf and slaughtered cow really were. The daughter returns the boy to normal and in exchange will marry her in gratitude. She also turned his wife into a hind.
The Second Old Man, and the Two Black Dogs
The two dogs are the old man's brothers. They used the sum of their father's estate to become merchants. The eldest brother sold his share to travel foreign lands. A year later a beggar comes to his shop; it was his brother asking him to not speak of his misfortunes. He shuts down his shop, gives his brother half of his profit and tells him to start over.
The second brother also decides to travel but comes back in the same state as his older brother. Later both brothers convince the old man to travel together. He looks at the 6,000 profit and gives each man 1,000, burying 3,000 close to his house. Two months into their journey he finds himself a wife but the two brothers become jealous of him. They end up throwing the couple over board. Turns out his wife was a fairy and transported him to an island. Upset at his brothers, she turns his brothers into dogs for 10 years. Pleased with his story, the genie grants him a third of the merchant's punishment.
The Story of the Fisherman
A poor fisherman could not support his family. He makes it a rule to not throw his nets more than four times a day. One day he finds himself catching nothing but junk. He finds a big yellow pot in his fourth throw and decided to sell it back to the owner. Turns out he found a genie who tells him the only favor he will grant the man is choosing the way he dies. However, the cunning fisherman tricks the genie back into the bottle. This transition as the fisherman as the story teller.
The Great King and the Physician Douban
Scheherazade is telling a story about a fisherman who is telling a story to the genie about a king who is about to tell a story to his vizir. Can you wrap your head around that? A clever physician tells the King with an unknown disease that he can cure him. Turns out he did and the physician received the highest honor. The vizir grew jealous and tells the king that the physician is trying to assassinate him.
The Story of The Parrot and Ogress
The King's story is of the parrot and the Ogress is the vizir's counter story to the king. The story of the parrot is about a king who's bird was telling him the truth about his wife. but his wife cleverly devised a plan to trick the bird into thinking that it was raining when it wasn't causing the king to believe that it was crazy. He found out that that was not the case after accidentally killing the bird. The vizer's counter story was about a young prince who got lost after hunting with his vizer. He came across a woman crying on the road. She claimed to be an Indian princess but really she was an ogress wanting to eat the prince. The prince ran away, told his father, and had the vizir strangled for his carelessness.
The Physician's Revenge
After the jealous vizir convinces the king that the physician was an assassin, in irony, he became one, killing him with poison after learning about his execution.
The Sultan and the Fish
We go back to the story of the genie and the fisherman who says that he will make the man rich if he lets him out of the lamp.
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