Šahrāzād and Arabian Nights

The story begins in the golden era of Arabs, in the Middle East where Arabs established their civilization.

It was the medieval East when Persian, Arabic, and Indian literature were common.

Preferably during the Abbasid and Mamluk rule.

There was a king named Shahryar who was happily married to the love of his life.

He had a younger brother, Shahzaman, married in another region.

Both were very compatible rulers but their wives weren't like them.

The younger brother was cheated by his wife when he was away from his palace on the way to visit his brother.

Source

When he found out about his wife's cheating, he killed her on the spot.

He was heartbroken but visited his brother anyway. Though fate was playing with his elder brother as well.

He soon finds out that his brother's wife is also cheating on him when he goes hunting.

When Shahryar came back, he told him that your wife was found doing an orgy in the palace.

On hearing this, he (the king) killed his dear wife and all the servants who assisted her.

After that betrayal, his trust shattered in womanhood.

He became so enraged and cold-hearted that he wanted to punish all the women of the town.

He firmly believed that all women were cheaters and not to be trusted again.

Therefore, he devised a plan to teach innocent women lessons for the disloyalty of his wife.

He asked his vizir/minister to bring a virgin every evening for marriage. He would marry her but execute her the very next morning. Before she dared to cheat him he would kill his every wife.

He had married all the virgin women of the town. No one was left but the daughters of the Vizir.

If he couldn't bring a new girl for him, King would behead Vizir as well.

Seeing the tension in the air, vizir's elder daughter, Šahrāzād, volunteered herself for the marriage.

Her father didn't accept her proposal but she insisted and told him that she had a plan to end this oppression on the women.

There are two ways:

• I'll get killed like the rest of the women
• or I'll be successful in terminating this vicious cycle of femicide.

Šahrāzād had great compassion for all the women who were abused by the king.

She wasn't like a woman who said that she must have done something wrong for her husband to kill her eventually.

She was not only beautiful but had an intelligent mind too.

She got married to Shahryar and went to the palace to spend her last night.

When the night was expiring, she asked the king for a favor which was a part of her plan.

She asked him to let her meet her sister, Dunyazad for the last time as she would be executed when the sun rose.

Though Shahryar was merciless, he had a heart and fulfilled her last wish.

Anyhow, her sister came in, and both sisters spent the night together.

As per their plan, Dunyazad asked the king to let Šahrāzād tell her a story for one last time.

Shahryar didn't see any harm in that and let those poor sisters have some fun.

If he did know how he was going to get deceived, he would have not allowed her in the first place.

Šahrāzād began her story in a very magical manner that Shahryar found himself hooked to the plot.

He wanted to know what came next.

But when the story came to the most exciting turn, an interval, she stopped her story.

Sun had risen so she asked the king to let her finish the story the next night.

Shahryar was so indulged in her storytelling that he allowed her and postponed her execution for the next morning.

It was all due to the cliffhanger she created, a climax and suspense which are the tools of every storyteller to win their audience.

The next night came, and she finished her story but started another story and stopped in the middle, which was the most exciting part of the tale.

Any true reader will know the urge to finish a story after the middle. You simply can't resist it and will do everything to know the very end it holds.

The same happened to Shahryar.

He was at the mercy of Šahrāzād's To be continued the next night.

This way she postponed her execution for a thousand and one nights.

She kept on telling him stories for 1001 nights to save her life and the lives of women out there.

Stories about magic, literature, comics, history, romance and everything she had read in her life.

She was well-read about philosophy, medicine, literature, and history.

She had wit and brain, which any woman can wish for, a true sword of any person.

After 1001 nights of storytelling, she won the heart of the king. Her storytelling had injected empathy into the heart of the cruel king.

Meanwhile, she gave him three sons. Shahryar fell in love with her, all because of her skills to enchant him through her selection of words.

King dropped the idea of her execution and again became a kind king for his people.

He realized that her wife was loyal after a sea of bloodshed.

Later on, all the tales she told him were compiled and are now known in the world as Thousand and One Nights or Arabian Nights

If a woman is educated and has confidence she can surely find a way to deal with any situation beautifully like Shahrazad.

This is the power of fiction to teach moral lessons and open your creative mind.

People say fiction is a waste of time and is only for women and children for entertainment.
A man doesn't and shouldn't have time for stories.

But it's the stories that the parents and grandparents are telling to their children in their childhood to make them better humans.

Our minds crave for stories,
Our life revolves around storytelling
It has the power to change us for the better

P.S:

• Don't try this at home.
• Don't risk your life to rehabilitate badly raised men if you lack the art of storytelling.