By Jovan Stipić

Seldom has there been a story, or a collection of stories, with as much adventure, love and wanderlust as seen in “One Thousand and One Nights”. It is no wonder then, that the stories and tales found in the book are as well-known as they are today.

“Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”, “Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp” and “The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor” are but a few tales woven from the deserts of the Middle East that survive thanks to the collection. But do you know how they came to be? Do you know why it is called “One Thousand and One Nights”?

Our story begins near India, in the Sassanid Empire, where a wise and just King Shahryār finds his wife in bed with a servant. Heartbroken by his wife’s betrayal, he condemns them both to death.  Later, he visits his brother Shah Zaman, in search of respite and healing. However he finds no such thing as, while Shah Zaman was on a hunting trip, Shahryār finds his brother’s wife to be unfaithful as well. Upon his return, Shah Zaman kills both his wife and the cook that she was found in bed with, cutting them both in half. Embittered because of the unfaithful transgressions he had witnessed, Shahryār proclaimed that no woman could ever be trusted. 

Over the next three years the King would continue to bed and marry virgins, only to have them executed the following morning, before they could betray him. Thus the Sassanid Empire began to crumble as hundreds of women were killed because of Shahryār’s distrust. It seemed that his plunge into madness would end in tragedy, not only for him, but for his subjects as well.

That is, until the daughter of the Grand Vizier, Scheherazade, offered to marry the King. Knowing of the plight that had struck both the King and his people, she pledged herself to help. The vizier, her father, objected to the idea, he could simply not bear for his daughter to lose her life in such a way. Yet Scheherazade boasted not only great beauty and courage, but also a cunning spirit. 

On the night of their union, just before Shahryār was about to lay with his new wife, she began to weep. With eyes filled with tears, Scheherazade told her husband that she knew of the fate that awaited all of his wives. The only thing she wished for was to see her younger sister one last time.

Though mad, Shahryār was not without a heart and he allowed Scheherazade one last boon. Little did he know that her sister, Dunyazad, was in on the plan as well. Soon after she arrived, Dunyazad asked Scheherazade to tell her a story. Though the first story that Scheherazade told varies from edition to edition, traditionally it is accepted that “The Tale of the Trader and the Jinn” was the first tale told. By the time dawn came, her sister and husband were captivated by the story, yet the crafty Scheherazade withheld the ending from the King. She explained that she would finish the story that very evening, if he were to mercifully permit it.

Shahryār, eager to hear the ending, agreed to her terms. After all, he could just execute her the following morning. That night she finished her story, but began another anew. Night after night, and a thousand after, this would continue, all the while the two began falling in love with one another. Thus Scheherazade changed the denouement of her own story, by telling him all of the fables from the famous book “One Thousand and One Nights”. By the time she was done, as the legend goes, they had two children and a new dawn had shone upon the Sassanid Empire.

Unfortunately, the truth was a bit less romantic. The first manuscript originated around the 9^th century AD, in Baghdad. The tales seem to have been written over centuries long after the fall of the Sassanid Empire, in the early 7^th century. Though, the scholars suggest that most of them originated in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age which lasted from the 8^th to the 13^th century. Thankfully to the sheer grandness of the Arab Empire, that means the tales themselves contain elements from Indian, Greek and Persian storytelling. They also mention the Mongol’s, the Crusades and many other real historical events.

Somehow, these stories eluded the Europeans until the 18^th century, when Antoine Galland translated them into French. Of course, many other translations and variations followed, yet it is the volume translated by Sir Richard Burton that we know best today. It is also suspected that he was the one who coined the name “The Arabian Nights”, but there is no real proof as to whether that is true or not.

Though its genesis might not be as romantic as the tale of Scheherazade makes us believe, the book still adds immeasurable shared culture to the world. It also speaks of a time when that same culture wasn’t as closely guarded as some are today, but freely shared. It is with timeless subjects and symbolism that the book entwines its stories and connects us all in adventure, emotion and prose like no other.