Reading Notes: Arabian Nights, Part A

(Wikimedia)

- The bones of the Arabian Nights framework story have a bitter, woman hating Sultan,  and a very put upon vizier with two daughters. One of the daughters, Scheherazade, is particularly brave, and is upset with what the Sultan's murderous ways. She vows to help the kingdom and to stop the Sultan from murdering more women by putting herself in harm's way. She accomplishes this by telling stories.
- There are a thousand ways that this story could be retold. I think that I would like to keep the general cast of characters the same, and within the same time frame. However, I dislike that so many women have been murdered. How does the Sultan expect to get an heir if he keeps murdering his wives?
- I think that I would like to show that the vizier and his daughters are smuggling the women out instead of killing them. Several of the women are pregnant, and the city is calling for the Sultan's head, because he keeps murdering their daughters/sisters/loved ones. Scheherazade puts herself in danger both to help keep her father from getting caught for saving the women, and also to try and find a way to get rid of the Sultan so that one of the children of the hidden women can be put in his place, with the vizier acting as regent.



Bibliography: The Arabian Nights' Entertainment by Andrew Lang. Web Source.