Scheherazade: I’ve
heard the basic idea of this story before in relation to Aladdin and the Lamp. It was definitely a brave thing for
Scheherazde to offer herself to be the Sultan’s bride. She seems very confident
in her ability to keep the Sultan entertained. The nested story telling seems
like it will have a really cool effect.
The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind: The story itself was pretty sad and I don’t like
thinking about poor cows getting sacrificed :( But the set-up of the story is
perfect for Scheherazade to preserve her life! The second man’s story is
promised to be even more entertaining than the first man’s. So how could the
sultan refuse to allow his wife to live when he will then miss out on a great
story?
The Story of theSecond Old Man, and of the Two Black Dogs: I know that these stories are
stories within stories within stories (!), but I wonder if the old men were
telling their real life stories or if they were making up these fantastic
stories to appease the genie. I know that in a world where genie’s exist and
threaten well-meaning merchants that it’s possible that a man could marry a
fairy and have his brothers turned into dogs. But wouldn’t it be funny if the
deer was just a deer and the dogs were just dogs, and both stories were
entirely false?
The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles: I think it might be interesting to tell this story
from the perspective of the enchantress queen. She must have really loved her
slave to mourn for him for two years and try to keep him alive. Maybe she was a
little wicked and crazy, but she obviously had feelings too!
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| (Scheherazade illustration by H.J. Ford 1898) |
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