The Arabian Nights Entertainments by Unknown

arts · EN-US

A collection of folklore stories accumulated during the Islamic Golden Age, The Arabian Nights Entertainments has entertained and fascinated readers for centuries. The book centers on a frame story concerning the sultan Shahrayah and his wife Scheherazade, who cleverly narrates captivating stories to her husband each night in order to save herself from his retribution and live another day. As a result the book encourages the literary technique of a story within a story.The frame story begins when the sultan Shahrayar learns of his brother’s adulterous wife and subsequently discovers his own wife is guilty of infidelity. Overwhelmed by fury, he has his wife executed and in his moment of grief and bitterness declares that all women are the same. Hence begins his pledge to marry a virgin bride each night only to have her executed the next morning in order to prevent the possibility of betrayal. Accordingly, Shahrayar carries out his promise and executes many young women, until there ar