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The Arabian Nights are a collection of stories from all over Asia. The stories include "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," "The Adventures of Sinbad the Sailor," and "Aladdin and the Lamp," but all the stories begin with one storyteller, Scheherazade. Here is her story.
 Long ago, Arabia was ruled by King Shahriar. His kingdom extended from Persia to China and he was well-loved by his people. King Shahriar had a wife, whom he adored. One day he discovered that his wife was plotting against him. Betrayed, the king had his wife put to death. He vowed he would never again trust a woman. The bitter king decided to take revenge against all women. Each night he commanded his Grand Vizier to bring him a young woman to marry, and each morning he would have his new bride killed. Before long, nearly every family in the kingdom had lost a daughter to the king's desire for vengeance.
The Grand Vizier himself had two daughters, Scheherazade and Dunyazade. Scheherazade was renowned for her wisdom and her beauty. She begged her father to let her marry the king. Her father was horrified. "If you do this, you will die!" he exclaimed. "Perhaps, father," Scheherazade said. "But I have a plan. If you will bring me to the king as his bride, I think I may be able to save all the women in the kingdom. To do so, however, I will need the help of my sister."
Reluctantly, the Grand Vizier agreed. The king was very surprised to see Scheherazade, but he told the Grand Vizier that the deal remained the same. At dawn, the Grand Vizier would be expected to kill his own daughter.
 On the night of their wedding, Scheherazade asked the king a favor. "I have a little sister, whom I love very much. Please allow her to spend the night with us, so I may spend my last night alive with her." The king agreed. As the two sisters had arranged, just before dawn Dunyazade asked Scheherazade to tell her a story. "You tell such wonderful tales," Dunyazade said, "and I would like to hear one last story to remember you by."
Knowing that the king would be listening, Scheherazade told a fantastic story. Dawn came just as the story reached its most exciting point. The king decided to postpone his young wife's execution until the next day so he could hear the end of the story. But the story never ended. Each night Scheherazade would tell a story, artfully weaving one exciting tale into the next. And each morning the king would postpone her execution in order to hear the end of the tale. This continued for 1001 nights. As time passed, the king overcame his grief. Gradually he fell in love with the beautiful and clever Scheherazade.
A collection of stories told by Scheherazade in 1001 Arabian Nights are available online at: http://www.candlelightstories.com/arabianpage.asp
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