Week 4 Storytelling: Scherahazade

Author's Note: In the original story, the Sultan was betrayed by his wife so he had her executed. She had an affair which made the sultan very untrusting of women. From then on, he married a girl in the evening and by the next morning, he had his new wife executed. This cycle repeated until he married Scherahazade who had a plan to tell him a long story in order to keep him from killing any more women. By the end of her story, the Sultan had fallen in love with Scherahazade and made her his queen. I wanted to retell Scherahazade because I think that if the Sultan was so intent on killing every girl that he married, I don't think that he would have constantly waited for a story to end for him to kill Sherahazade. I wanted to change it up because I didn't think that is how the sultan would have actually reacted. I also wanted to show what a father's love could do when he is protecting his children or others that he cares for. I chose this picture because it shows Scherahazade telling her sister, Dinarzade, and the Sultan stories.

(Scherahazade, Source:UnTextbook illustrated by H.J. Ford)

Scherahazade
In a kingdom far off, a sultan and his lovely wife lived together, ruling side by side. He loved her with all his might. He took every moment that he had and spoiled her with the most wonderful riches in the land. One day he found that she deceived him for the past several years. She was having an affair behind the sultan's back. He had no choice but to have the grand-vizir put her to death.

He was so overcome by the treacherousness of his wife that he believed that all women were vile. He believed that the fewer there were the better.

Every evening he married a new girl and the next morning he would have the grand-vizir strangle her. The cycle repeated and every morning the vizir "would see a girl married and a wife dead" the next day.

Everybody in the town was horrified and grieving. They were grieving for the daughters and sisters that were lost and they were horrified that someone in their family would be next. They were all afraid to see who the sultan would choose as his wife next.

The grand-vizir also had two daughters, Scherahazade and Dinarzade. Scherahazade was clever and her father loved her very much. She went to her father and begged him to let her be the next girl to marry the sultan. The vizir was furious with her even suggesting the idea; he knew that she would be killed.

Scherahazade pleaded with her father and told him that she wanted to end the Sultan's barbaric practice. He eventually agreed and hoped that it would work.

So the following day, the grand-vizir went to the Sultan and told him that he wished for the Sultan to have his own daughter as a wife. The sultan was stunned. "You do realize what will happen to her? Very well. If you cannot end her life tomorrow, then your life shall end too."

The vizier went back and told Scherahazade that the sultan had agreed. Scherahazade had called to her sister and said, "As a wedding gift, I will ask the sultan to allow me to have one last night with you. In the morning, you will wake and ask me to tell one of my stories for the last time."

That evening, Scherahazade was married to the Sultan. She begged him to allow her to say goodbye to her sister one last time and he sent for Dinarzade. An hour before dawn, Dinarzade did as she was told and woke her sister. Scherahazade told a wonderful story but stopped when it was time for the sultan to begin his day.

He asked her to continue, but she said "It is time for you to get ready. If allow me to live another night, I can finish the story." The sultan laughed. "I'm sorry but I cannot. I must marry a girl in the evening and have her killed in the morning. It was an entertaining story though."

So the sultan summoned the grand-vizir and commanded that Scherahazade be killed. The grand-vizir reluctantly did as he was told. "I'm sorry, my darling daughter. If only you had listened..."

Sadly, Scherahazade's plan did not work. The sultan was so overwhelmed from what his first wife had done that he could not allow for another one of his wives to live another day to (maybe) betray him.

The grand-vizir was so upset that he mourned for her all day. News spread that Scherahazade's plan had failed. Another bit of bad news had also spread. The sultan chose Dinarzade as his next wife.

The grand-vizir was furious. "How can the sultan take both of my daughters away from me?" he cried. He knew what he had to do to save his daughter.

Before the marriage, a feast was set up for the sultan and his future wife to enjoy. The grand-vizir snuck into the dining hall and poisoned the sultan's drink. Before Dinarzade was to meet the sultan for dinner, the grand-vizir stole his daughter away and ran.

The sultan had no idea that Dinarzade had left. He continued to dinner and sat down to wait for her. While waiting, he took a sip of his drink and died.

News spread that the sultan had died, but the grand-vizir and Dinarzade were long gone before the palace guards knew what had happened. But thanks to the grand-vizir, there weren't any more women being slaughtered.

Bibliography: Scherahazade from The Arabian Nights' Entertainment by Andrew Lang (1898).