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Scheherazade () is a major character and the storyteller in the frame story of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the One Thousand and One Nights.
The name appears as in the Encyclopaedia of Islam and as in
the Encyclopædia Iranica. Among standard 19th-century printed editions, the name appears as in Macnaghten's Calcutta edition (1839–1842) and in the 1862 Bulaq edition, and as in the Breslau edition (1825–1843). Muhsin Mahdi's critical edition has .
The spelling Scheherazade first appeared in English-language texts in 1801, borrowed from German usage.
From that point on, vowing revenge against all women, the Persian King married a new virgin every day, afterwards beheading his previous wife. He'd killed 1000 such women by the time he was introduced to Scheherazade, who volunteered to spend the night with him against her father's wishes.
In Sir Richard Burton's translation called The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Scheherazade was described in this way:
McDonnell writes, "that following night, Scheherazade finished the story and then began a second, even more exciting tale which she again stopped halfway through. Again, the king spared her life for one more day. And so the King kept Scheherazade alive day by day, as he eagerly anticipated the finishing of the previous night’s story."
At the end of 1001 nights, and 1000 stories, Scheherazade told the king she was out of stories; but during these 1001 nights, McDonnell writes, the king had fallen in love with her, spared her life, and made her his queen.
History
The oldest known text of the tale of Scheherazade is a ninth century (CE) Arabic manuscript from Cairo. Across the next five centuries, Scheherazade’s "witty, lively and dynamic" voice was taken up by storytellers across the cultivated urban centres of Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and al-Andalus, with influences from multiple traditions, including Greek, Coptic, North African, and Hebrew. By the twelfth century the 1001 Nights was established, with the story of Scheherazade being its frame.
Narrative
After returning home early from a hunting trip, King Shahryar found his beloved wife in bed with servants, and in a fit of rage, beheaded them on the spot. Then he traveled to the estate of his brother, who was away at the time, and was shocked to discover his brother's wife "among a small crowd of nude figures, dancing in the moonlight and indulging in desires."
Scheherazade had perused the books, annals and legends of preceding Kings, and the stories, examples and instances of bygone men and things; indeed it was said that she had collected a thousand books of histories relating to antique races and departed rulers. She had perused the works of the poets and knew them by heart; she had studied philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments; and she was pleasant and polite, wise and witty, well read and well bred.
According to Callan McDonnell, inside the king's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved younger sister, Dunyazad, who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story. The king listened in awe, but as the night passed, Scheherazade eventually had to stop in the middle. He spared her life for one more day so that she could finish the story the next night.
See also
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