Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Episode19: Epilogue

Two weeks later it was announced that both the young women had missed menses. While it was in accordance with what the king had forecasted, this alone was not conclusive. A month later, when it happened a second time, everybody began taking note.

After four months passed it seemed certain that the Scheherazade and Fatima were pregnant. This gave further credence to the credibility of the experiment because, while a relationship between the moon and a woman was common to folklore, this was the first real proof that the two were actually linked.

Members of the royal court began showing the Sultan a deference that was not the result of fear, but rather one that sprang from a genuine reverence and awe. However, this was nothing compared to the acclaim that resulted when Fatima delivered a daughter.

"Could it be true," the people whispered, "that the sex of a child was determined by a spirit and the relative presence of light or darkness at conception?"

However, three days later, when Scheherazade gave birth to a son, the realm exploded in an outpouring that all but deified the Sultan. Not only had he produced a male heir, after a string of so many females, but he’d also predicted in advance, that it would happen.

Scheherazade was delighted and her position as first wife was insured. Fatima was thrilled with a daughter after a long history of bearing boys.

The realm rejoiced that the line would continue, unbroken, for another in a long line of generations.

In celebration, King Shahryar discontinued his policy of marrying virgins and having them beheaded the following morning. To this day it's widely believed that having intercourse during the day is more likely to result in a male than copulating at night. In his honor a compendium of tales, that have come to be called The 1001 Arabian Nights, was written containing many examples of Scheherazade’s tales and the wisdom of the Great Sultan, Shahryar.