King Shahyrar

While reading the Arabian Nights I wondered if I could write some of these tales and catch the ambiance of the original. This is my collection of stories.

For the benefit of those who have not read the 1001 Arabian Knights translated by Richard Bruton please suffer me a few comments. It is an anthology of stories loosely held together by a girl named Scheherazad, who relates them to the king. Before dawn she comes to a culminating point of interest and escapes the fate of the previous wives because the King wants to hear the next installment.

1) If you are shocked by the behavior of King (Sultan) Shahryar and his treatment of his wives don't blame me. I didn't make this character up. How the king came to practice this behavior is set forth in the beginning of the anthology.

2) Please keep in mind that this is the same anthology that contains the stories of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and Aladan and the Magic Lamp. These stories have been providing delightful reading to children of tender years for a long time. However, these stories are set in a context of other tales that are riddled with eroticism.

3) In the culture in which the anthology is written, the authority and power of the sultan was absolute.... King Shahryar's behavior is portrayed as a bit "Quirky" but not excessively cruel or "Over The Top". The histroy of the Middle east is full of excesses of power and horrible cruelty that make Shahryars perversity pale by comparison. His wife betrayed him, he took oaths that could not be recanted, and when he could no longer contain his desire for a woman he married and had her put to death the following morning. This is a culture that even today, stones women to death for sexual misconduct.

4) What makes this story amazing is not the Kings perversity but rather that the protagonist is a female. That Scheherazad stood up in the story and resolved to risk her life to "rescue" these unfortunate young women and ammend the Sultan's behavior. That we have a champion of woman's rights emerging in the literature of those ancient times is mind boggeling. This is a culture that has a seeming paranoria about women and does everything to keep them barefoot and in berkas. The whole culture has a slant towards reminding women of their proper place and sanctions they can expect if they step out of line. The idea that King Shahryar would treat his wives in the manner of the story is entirely appropriate from the standpoint of providing another reminder of the weakness and infedelity of woman and what they can expect if they don't behave. However what is totally out of character is that the heroine, Scheherazad, is shown to be smart, resourceful, selfless, and morally superior to all the other characters in the vignettes.

5) I will try and rehabilitate King Shahryar in these tales to make him a bit more human and write other vignettes that build on the eroticism of the seminal work.

Percy