Scheherazade tells her husband a story each night because she is trying to save her life. She hopes that by telling him a story, he will be so interested that he will want to hear the end, and she will live to see another day.
In the book, The Thousand and One Nights (Tales of the Arabian Nights), Scheherazade is the wife of King Shahryar. The king has killed his first three wives because he found them unfaithful. Scheherazade’s sister Dinarzad asks for permission to marry the king’s brother, but he refuses because his brother doesn’t want to marry someone who won’t be faithful to him. However, Scheherazade convinces Dinarzad to marry him anyway and they do so secretly. The king discovers their affair and decides to kill them both, but instead decides to postpone the execution until after he has had sex with Scheherazade one last time before her death. He tells her that if she pleases him enough with her storytelling skills, then he will spare both their lives; otherwise they all die together at dawn tomorrow morning (this is where “The Thousand and One Nights” title comes from).
Scheherazade’s story-telling ability is legendary, and her tales have been enjoyed by people for centuries. The tales have been retold countless times over the years, and there are many versions of them.
