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Scheherazade, The King, and The King's Brother

What we do know is that the Persian king, King Shahryar, was betrayed by his wife. He sought consolation with his brother, Shah Zaman, only to learnShah Zaman was also married to an unfaithful woman. The king’s grief turned so bitter he swore to marry a different virgin every night, only to have her killed the next morning. He was convinced hisbride’s early death was the only way to keep a woman faithful.

Once the king had taken three thousand wives, the lovely Scheherazade persuaded her father to let her become the king’s next bride.Scheherazade’s father, a trusted advisor to the king who had the unfortunate job of beheading each of the king’s new brides, knew his daughter's marriage to the king would mean certain death for her butshe convinced him she had a plan that would stop the king’s killing of all the virgins of the land. She needed the help of Dunyazad, her sister, to do so and with tremendous reluctance, their fatheragreed to Scheherazade’s plan.

On Scheherazade’s wedding night, Dunyazad, according to plan, begged the king to allow Scheherazade to finish telling her the bedtime story she’d started before hermarriage to the king. Dunyazad assured the king she understood it would be the last night of Scheherazade’s life and the last opportunity she’d have to hear the rest of the story. The king, who neverslept anyway, agreed.

Through the night, Scheherazade spun such a spellbinding story that the king was mesmerized. In what seemed like only moments, dawn was breaking and Scheherazade’s story wasreaching its most exciting part. The king was so riveted by the story he postponed Scheherazade’s death for one more night, so she could finish telling him the story before being put to death on thesecond morning of their marriage.

Each night, for one thousand and one nights, Scheherazade told the king the most bewitching, delightful stories he’d ever heard. Each morning, just as the sun was...