Could You Weave a Different Tale Every Night if Your Llife Depended on it? by Gerri Brousseau

The Arabian Desert can be a romantic and mysterious place full of hidden treasures for the taking. Once there lived a king by the name of Shahryar. King Shahryar was saddened to discover that his brother’s wife had cheated on him, but when he found his own wife to have done the same, he was angered and had her put to death.

After a time he decided to marry again. He had his vizier find him a virgin to become his wife. The morning after his wedding night with his bride, his fear that his new wife would be unfaithful to him took over, and so he had her put to death. He continued along this path having the vizier find him virgins to become his bride. Finally, there were no virgins to be found, so the vizier’s daughter stepped up and volunteered to become the next virgin bride.  

But, the vizier’s daughter was smart. On her wedding night she began to tell a story to the King, but did not finish the tale. The next morning, the King, wanting to know how the story ended, and so he kept her alive. The following evening she finished the tale, but begin another. She held the King’s interest by weaving tales within tales and not ending the story until she had begun another. This went on for 1001 nights. Her name was Scheherazade. As the story goes, after seeing the faces of his children born to him by the vizier’s daughter, he decided to spare her. Some other versions of the tale say that the King became distracted, and others offer different excuses, yet the bottom line is that Scheherazade’s life was spared. Thanks to these tales spun by a very crafty woman, we still have some wonderful stories such as Aladdin, Alai Baba and the Forty Thieves, and Sinbad.  

I write one blog article per week for Nights of Passion, and some weeks, I admit, I sit here looking at a blank page wondering what the heck I’m going to write about. I’m also thinking about beginning a new novel, and ideas stew around in my mind for weeks before I put one word on paper. I wonder if I could come up with a different story every night for a week, let alone 1001 nights. Even if my life depended on it, I think I would be hard pressed. Could you weave a different tale every night if your life depended on it?

Filed under: romance