Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-12-10
gI1e family Circle.
The 3" Thousand and one Nights.

Ehe Thousand and one Nights"
But how came that title Of the Thou
sand and One Nights, which belonged, and
still belongs, to all the European stories?
| will tell you why and in telling you why
| shall give you the whole background on
which all these various Arabian stories,
wherever found, are arrayed. And the
background is itself story and this is the
way 1t runs:
Once there lived a wicked Sultan of
Persia, whose name was Schahriar and
he had many wlves-like the Persian Shah
who went journeying into England this
summer past-and he thought of his wives
as stock owners think of their cattle, and
1 fear the present Persian Shah thinks no
otherwise.
WE'LL when this old Schahriar found
that his wives were faithless and deceitfuI
as all wives will be who are esteemed no
more than cattle-he vowed that he would
cut off the chance Of their shining by max
ing an end Of them; so it happened that
whatever new wife he espoused one day,
he killed upon the next.
You think the brides were foolish to
marry him, but many women keep on max
ing as foolish matches all the world over ;
and she who marries sot, is killed slow
ly, instead of being killed quickly with a
bow, as Schahriar did his work.
Besides, all the women of the East were
slaves, as they are mostly now, and subject
to whatever orders the Sultan M ght make
Now it happened that this old Schanriar
had a vizier, or chief officer under HIM
(who executed all his murderous orders)
and was Mortified by the cruelties he had
to commit And this same vizer had
beautiful and accomplished daughter, who
was even more Mortified than her father :;
and she plotted how she might stay the
bloody actions of the Schahriar.
She could gain no access to him, and
could hope to win no influence over him
except by becoming his BRIDE; but if she
became his bride she would have but one
day to live. So, at least, thought her SIS
tiers and her father. Sac of course found
it very hard to win the consent of her IA
Their, the vizier, to her plan; but at last she
succeeded, and so arranged matters that
the Schahrar should command her to be
his bride.
The fatal marriage day came, aud the
vizer was in agony Of grief and alarm.
The morning after the espOusal, he wait
ed.-in an ecstasy Of fear, the order for
the slaughter of the innocent bride but
to his amazement and present reIiet, the
order was postponed to the following day.
The bride, whose name was Scheher-
azade-known now to School-boys and
school girls all over the world-was most
beguiling of speech, and most charming
story teller. And on the day of her es-
pousals she had commenced the narration
OF most engrosSing story to her husband
the Schahriar, and had SO arttully timed
1t, and measured out its length, 50 that
when the hour came for the sultan to set
about his cares of Office she should be at
its most interesting stage. The sultan had
been so beguled by the witchery of her
narrative, and so eager to learn the issue
that he put off the execution Of his muir
derous design, IN order to hear the termin-
alton OF the story on the following night
And SO rich was the narration aud SO
great was the art of the Princess Scheh
erazade, that she kept alive the curiosity
and wonder OF the husband, the sultan,
Gay after day, and week after week, and
month after month, until her fascinating
stories had lasted for thousand and one
nights.
If you count up these yon will find they
will make period of two years and nine
NOTWITHSTANDING which she had beguiled
the sultan and stayed the order for her
execution. La the interval, children had
been born to her, and she had so won uo.
on her husband, that he abolished his crue
edict forever, on condition that from time
to time she should tell over again those
enchanting stories Aud the stories she
told on those thousand and one nights
and which have been recited since in every
language in Europe, thousands and thous
ands and thousands Of times, are the Ara
ban Nights tales. If this account is mo-
true in all particulars, it is at least as true
as the stories are.
A good woman sacrificed herself to WORK
a deed of benevolence That story a
any rate is true, and is being repeated
over aDd over in lives all around us.-St
Nicholas for Nocem5er.