Scheherazade is the fictional
heroine of "
A Thousand and One Arabian Nights"
tale. Educated, beautiful and
witty, she is the elder of two
daughters of a head of state (
vizier) of a kingdom located somewhere between
Arabia and
China.
The head of the kingdom, the
sultan, (not Scheherazade's father), loves his wife very dearly but she commits
adultery which sends him into
rage and
vengeance. He
decrees to have a new wife every
night and put her to death every morning. This order carries out for three years until Scheherazade wills her father into allowing her to become the sultan's next wife.
Right after Scheherazade marries, she
begs the sultan permission for her
sister to
sleep in the same chamber. Just before dawn, Scheherazade's sister asks her to tell her a
story. As she tells what is the first of a thousand and one "
Arabian Nights" the sultan listens in and becomes fascinated. All the while Scheherazade plans to tell the story until its
climax, then stop and leave the sultan in
suspense. The sultan agrees to let her live another night to hear the ending, and this cycle continues for a thousand and one nights. During this time, Scheherazade bears the sultan three sons which convinces him of her wifely
devotion. He revokes the decree and he and Scheherazade live
happily ever after.