delanceyplace.com 11/2/11 - scheherazade lives

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In today's excerpt - Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, told one thousand and one tales to the king to stave off her own execution:

"You have surely heard of the tales of Scheherazade known as One Thousand and One Nights or, simply, The Arabian Nights. The fifth [Muslim] Abbasid caliph, Harun al-Rashid, appears in some of these tales, many of which take place in Baghdad during its golden age.

"The work as it exists today was collected over many centuries, and in addition to stories from the caliphate era, it includes tales that can be traced back to the folklore of Persia, India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. The framing story of Scheherazade was probably drawn from a Persian work, which itself incorporated Indian influences.

"The oldest Arabic manuscript of One Thousand and One Nights that we know of dates from the fourteenth century, though scholars generally agree that the story was created around the ninth. The first European version appeared in the early eighteenth century, translated into French by Antoine Galland from an Arabic text, but it included a number of stories not in the original manuscript—including some of our favorites today: 'Aladdin's Lamp,' 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,' and 'The Seven Voyages of Sinbad.' Although different versions of the book include different tales, what they have in common is the framing story, which can be synopsized as follows.

"A Persian king, Shahryar, discovers evidence that his new bride has been unfaithful to him. In his anger, he has her executed and declares all women to be unfaithful creatures. He begins to marry a succession of virgins, only to execute each one the morning after their wedding night. Eventually, the king's vizier cannot find any more virgins in the kingdom—but the vizier's own daughter, Scheherazade, offers herself, and her father reluctantly agrees.

"On the night of her marriage to the king, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a story, but she doesn't end it—forcing him to postpone her execution so that he might hear how the fascinating tale concludes. The next night, she imparts the ending—but begins a new story, forcing the king to postpone her execution yet again. This continues for 1,001 nights.

"The stories included in the volume are meant to rep­resent the various tales told by Scheherazade to the king. Some editions contain only a few hundred 'nights,' while others compile a full 1,001 stories. They include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, horror tales—even erotica. Many depict djinns (genies), magicians, and fantastic places, intermingled with real people and geography. Within this rich collection can be found early crime fiction, science fiction, and satire, along with many tales that hinge on fate, destiny, and coincidence. ...

"But what of Scheherazade? Different versions of One Thousand and One Nights have different endings. In some, Scheherazade asks for a pardon; in some, the king decides not to execute her out of love for their chil­dren; and in others, something happens to distract the king from his plan—but they all end with her life being spared. In the world of this influential and immensely enjoyable book, a great story well told is as important as life or death."