The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-11-04
The .sThousand and one Nights.-


sand and One Nights, which belonged,
and still belongs, to all the European col
lections Of these old Arabian stories? |
will tell you why, | shall give you the
whole background on which all these va.
rious Arabian stories, wherever found ARE
arrayed. And the background is itself a
story, and this is the way it runs
Once there lived wicked Sultan OF
Persia, whose name was Schahriar and
be had many wives--lke the Persian
Shah who went journeying into England
this summer past and he thought of his
wives as stock.owners think of their cat
tlc-aud l think the present Persian
Shah thinks no otherwise,
Well, when this old Schahrlar found
that his wives were faithess and deceit.
ful-as all wives will be who are esteem.
ed no more than cattle-he vowed that
he would cut off all chances of their sin.
ming, by making an end of them; so it
happened that whatever new wife he es-
poused one day, he killed upon the next
You will think the brides were foolish
to marry him but many women keep on
making as foolish matches all the world
over and she who marrics a sot, or the
man who promises to be a sot, is killed
slowly, instead of being killed quickly
with bow.string-as the Schahriar did
his work
Besides, all women of the East were
slaves, as they are mostly BOW, and SUBJ
ject to whatever orders the Sultan might
make.
Now it happened that this old Schah.
riar had vizisr, or chief officer under
him (who executed all his murderous or.
ders), and who was horri6ed by the cruel.
ties nc 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
I
found it very hard TO win the consent of
her father, the vizier to her plan but at
last she succeeded, and so arranged mat
ters that the Schahrah should command
her 20 be his bride.
The fatal marriage.day came, and the
vizer was in an agony Of grief and alarm
The morning after the espousals, he wait.
ed,-in an ecstasy of fcar,-the usual or.
der for the slaughter of the innocent
bride but to his amazement and present
relief the order was postponed to the fol-
lowing day.
This bride, whose name was Schehcr.
azade-known now to school. boys and
schoolgirls all over the world-was most
beguiing Of speech and most charming
storyteller. And on the day Of her cs,
pousals she had commenced the narration
OF most engrossing story to her husband
the Schahriar, aud had so artfuly timed
it, aud measured out its length, that when
the hour came for the sultan to set about
his cares OF office, she should be at his
most interesting stage. The sultan had
been so beguiled By the witchery Of her
narrative, and so eager to learn the issue
that he put off thecxecutiou Of his mur.
derous design, in order to hear the ter
mination OF the story on the following
night.
And SO rich was the narration and so
great was the art OF the Princess Scheher.
azada, that she kept alive the curiosity
and wonder Of her husband the sultan, day
after day and week after week, and
month after month, until her fascinating
stories had lasted for thousand and one
nights.
II you count up these you will find
they make period OF two years and nine
months-during which she had beguied
the sultan and stayed the order for her
execution. In the interval, children had
been born to her, and she had so Won
upon her husband. that he abolished his
cruel edict forever,-on condition thai
again those enchanting stories. And the
stories she told on those thousand and one
nights, and which have hccn recited since
in every language of Europe, thousands
and thousands Of times, are the Arabian
Nights tales.
If this account is not true in all par.
ticulars, it is at least as true as the stories
are.
a good woman sacrificed herself to
work deed of bcncvolence, That story
at any rate is true, aud is being repeated
over and over in lives all around us.
AN ELoPEMENT.-There was considera