Endings and Beginnings

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Though Scheherazade is the main character in ‘The 1001 Arabian Nights’, we actually know very little about her.  What we do know is that her king was made a cuckold by the queen, and once he discovered this, he murdered her in a fit of rage. He then vowed that every day thereafter he would marry a virgin, sleep with her, then have her executed the following morning so she could never humiliate him the way his first wife had.  This monstrous scheme went on for years until finally Scheherazade, the daughter of the Grand Vizier, offered herself to the king.  Far from an act of suicide, this selfless gesture was part of a plan that, if successful, would not only save her own life but the lives of countless other young women who would surely follow her fate should she fail. Her plan was simple; on the night of their wedding, Scheherazade asked the king if her little sister could come to their bedchamber so she could tell her one last bedtime story.  The king consented.  Being a master storyteller, Scheherazade spun a tale so spellbinding that before the king knew it it was already morning and she hadn’t come to the ending yet. Captivated by the story, the king decided to postpone Scheherazade’s execution by one day so that night he could hear its conclusion.  Scheherazade did finish that story but then began another that was left unfinished by morning.  This went on night after night until she had told a thousand stories to the king who by now had fallen in love with Scheherazade and no longer wished for her or any other young woman to be put to death.

 

I was curious about what Scheherazade’s life might have been like before she became the heroine of legend so I invented a scenario where she finds herself on an epic adventure with a man who is at first a stranger to her but over time she falls deeply in love with.  Together they confront many perilous situations where the only thing keeping them from being permanently separated or killed is her quick thinking and newly discovered talent for deception. Over the months that they are together, Scheherazade not only discovers romantic love but matures from a cloistered, protected innocent to a resourceful, worldly wise young woman.  It is this realization about herself that gives her the strength to face the most difficult decision she will ever have to make.  

 

Now, overcome with emotion, Scheherazade tells her beloved that she cannot return to his land with him while he pleads with her not to go back to what to him is a most certain death.