The Arabian Nights Entertainments- Volume I

Arabian Nights concerns a Persian king and his new bride. He is shocked to discover that his wife is unfaithful. He has her executed: but in his bitterness and grief decides that all women are the same. The king begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonor him. Scheherazade offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins a new one, and the king, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once again. So it goes on for 1,001 nights.