Surely you have ever heard of a collection of Arabic tales called "A Thousand and One Nights". According to legend, they were composed by the beautiful wife of the Persian king Shahriyar, trying to avoid a painful death. What is this story and who is Scheherazade, the article will tell.
Who is this girl?
According to legend, Scheherazade (her name is slightly different in different sources, she was called Scheherazade or Shikhirizade) is the eldest daughter of the vizier of Persia. A girl of noble birth, she was dazzlingly beautiful and slender, and also very intelligent. She received a good upbringing and education. Sheikh took her as his wife. The story of the girl is detailed below, from the story it will become clear who Scheherazade is. But first, about the amazing country in which the heroine of our article was born and lived.
Persia - wonderland
In the 6th century BC, the state of Persia (modern Iran) flourished in the East. In ancient times, it was the center of the greatest empire in history, the territory of which was simply huge, stretching from Egypt toAfrica to the Indus River in South Asia. The Persian kings were the rulers of most of the world known at that time.
Everyone called this region a wonderland and said that black-eyed Persian women were distinguished by rare beauty. One of the most famous women of Persia, whose name has survived to this day, was Scheherazade. Her photo does not exist, since the girl lived many centuries ago. We can only imagine her according to descriptions from ancient legends.
Ancient legend
And now we will tell you who Scheherazade is. The Persian king Shahriyar once found his beloved wife in the arms of a slave. The traitor was executed, but Shahriyar no longer believed any woman in the world. He began to spend every night with his new wife, who was executed in the morning. Soon the Sheikh's harem was empty. He began to marry young girls. But each was executed in the morning after spending the night with the king. And soon there was not a single girl and young woman left in the state, except for the young daughter of the vizier - the beautiful Scheherazade. The king ordered to prepare a 17-year-old girl for his wife. Shedding tears, the vizier said goodbye to his beloved daughter and took her to the sheikh. But the girl was very smart, even as a child her mother taught her how to treat men, and Scheherazade hoped to avoid an evil fate. She persuaded her little sister to play along with her at the right time.
And after the wedding night, Scheherazade was sentenced to death, like all the previous wives of the padishah. The girl asked permission to say goodbye to her younger sister. When the girl was brought, she becamecry and ask Scheherazade for the last time to tell her one of his wonderful tales. The sheikh graciously allowed, and now his young wife began to tell … Her tale turned out to be very interesting, and Shahriyar listened with great pleasure. But the wise Scheherazade stopped at the sharpest point and asked her husband to allow her to tell her the next night, as she was very tired. The Sheikh agreed. And so it happened: every night the newlyweds made love, and after Scheherazade told a new magical story, interrupting at the most interesting place and asking her husband for permission to tell the tale tomorrow.
According to legend, a thousand and one nights passed, and the beauty knelt before the sheikh and said to him: “I don’t know any more fairy tales. Now you can execute me, but first let me introduce you to someone. She brought and placed before the padishah three sons, one of whom ran, the second crawled, and the third sucked his breast. Shahriyar began to cry and tightly hugged his beloved wife and his children. And they lived happily ever after. Now you know who Scheherazade is.
Image in art
A lot of books were written based on this ancient legend, feature films were made. Inspired by this magical story, the Russian composer N. A. created a wonderful piece of music. Rimsky-Korsakov. Scheherazade is his most famous symphonic suite. It is performed not only by academic musicians, but also by pop artists.
The tales of Scheherazade have survived to this day as a monument of ancient Persian literature. WhoHave you heard Aladdin's Magic Lamp, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Khezar Efsane, Maruf the Shoemaker, Adjib and Gariba, and many others? Tradition says that the beautiful Scheherazade composed them all.
