Scheherazade's First Night

Long, long ago, in a great land stretching between India and the islands of China, there reigned a sultan called Shahryar. Shahryar had once been a just and cheerful ruler. But one day he learned that the people he trusted most had betrayed him. His heart was so broken and so full of anger that he no longer trusted anyone. Every day he took a new wife, and, fearing that she too would one day betray him, he sent her away from his palace the next morning. Great fear and sorrow fell over the land; families took their daughters and fled to other countries.

The sultan's vizier had two daughters. The elder was called Scheherazade, and the younger Dunyazad. Scheherazade was very beautiful, but her real beauty was in her mind. She had read thousands of books; she knew by heart the histories of ancient kings, the verses of poets, the sayings of wise men and the tales of distant lands. She could see how much her father suffered from the sultan's anger, and how sorrowful the land had become.

One day she went to her father: "Father, give me in marriage to the sultan." The vizier was horrified: "My daughter, have you lost your mind? Don't you know the sultan's anger?" Scheherazade said calmly: "I know, Father. But either I will free the sultan from this anger, or I will have done all I can for the daughters of this land. Trust me." The vizier wept for a long time and tried to change her mind, but Scheherazade was determined. At last the vizier went to the sultan and gave him his daughter as his wife.

Before going to the palace, Scheherazade called her sister Dunyazad: "Dear sister, listen carefully. When I go to the palace, I'll ask the sultan to send for you too. When you come, after midnight you must say to me: 'Sister, if you aren't asleep, tell us a lovely story to make the night pass.' And I will tell a story. Perhaps the stories will soften the sultan's heart."

Scheherazade went to the palace. When night came, she began to cry beside the sultan. "Why are you crying?" asked the sultan. "Sire, I miss my sister very much. I want to say goodbye to her." The sultan sent for Dunyazad. Dunyazad came and sat at the foot of the bed. After midnight, just as her sister had taught her, Dunyazad said: "Sister, if you aren't asleep, tell us a lovely story to make the night pass." Scheherazade turned to the sultan: "If this good and noble sultan will allow me, I will." The sultan could not sleep, and he was bored. "Tell it," he said.

Scheherazade began: "I have heard, O fortunate sultan, that once upon a time there was a very rich merchant. One day he set out on a journey, grew tired and sat down under a tree, took a date out of his saddlebag, ate it and threw away the stone. Suddenly a huge jinn appeared before him with a sword in his hand: 'Get up, I'm going to kill you! The stone you threw hit my son in the eye!' The merchant begged: 'I did it without knowing. Give me a year, so I can go and say goodbye to my family and pay my debts, and then I'll come back.' The jinn gave him time. A year later the merchant kept his word, came back to the tree and began to wait for the jinn. Just then an old man came up to him, leading a gazelle..."

Scheherazade brought the story to its most exciting point; just as she was about to tell who the old man's gazelle really was, the first light of morning crept in through the window. Scheherazade fell silent. Dunyazad said, "Sister, what a lovely story!" Scheherazade said, "That's nothing compared with what I'll tell you tomorrow night, if the sultan allows it."

The sultan was very curious to hear the end of the story. "I won't send Scheherazade away before I've heard how it ends," he thought. That day he kept Scheherazade in his palace. The next night Scheherazade went on from where she had left off. She told how the old man's gazelle was really his enchanted wife. Then a second old man came, and then a third. Each of them told the jinn his own strange story, and for each story the jinn spared a part of the merchant's life. In the end the jinn spared the merchant completely.

But as soon as Scheherazade finished this story, she began another: the tale of the fisherman and the jinn. Before that story was finished, morning came. The next night another story came out of the fisherman's story, and another out of that one. Scheherazade wove her stories into one another so skilfully that the sultan could never go to sleep without hearing the end. She told of Aladdin, of Ali Baba, of Sinbad the Sailor, of the porter of Baghdad, of clever girls, brave young men and wise old people. Her stories told of loyalty, patience, honesty, mercy and forgiveness.

Nights followed nights, and months followed months. As the sultan listened to the stories each night, he slowly began to change. The kind-hearted people in the stories taught him to trust people again and to forgive. His anger slowly died down, and his heart grew softer. In the daytime he began to give justice again and to care for his people. Peace came back to the land; the families who had fled slowly returned.

And so exactly a thousand and one nights went by. On the thousand and first night, when Scheherazade finished her story, she knelt before the sultan: "Sire, for a thousand and one nights I have been telling you stories. In that time I have given you three sons. Now I have a wish to ask of you." The sultan lifted her up with tears in his eyes: "Scheherazade, before you ask, let me speak. You have saved me, this land and all the daughters of this land. Your stories have healed my heart. You are my queen, and you shall be at my side for the rest of my life."

The sultan held a great celebration. The whole city celebrated for thirty days and thirty nights. Dunyazad married the sultan's brother, Shahzaman. The sultan had all the stories Scheherazade had told written down and made into a book in golden letters. That book was called The Thousand and One Nights, and it is still read all over the world today.

This tale tells us: the power of a story is far greater than people think. A story told wisely can soften even the angriest heart. And true courage is shown not with a sword, but with wisdom and patience. Tonight, before you sleep, listen to a story too; perhaps one day you'll tell stories that touch people's hearts.