Scheherazade:
To start off, it's interesting that the Sultan loves his wife so immensely yet she is struggling to stay alive via telling stories. Hopefully the story will shed more clarification on this - that was just one of my first thoughts as I read the first couple sentences of the story. I wonder how she deceived him so extremely... What a clever girl. It's sad her own father would stab her with a dagger though just because of orders. It's his daughter for crying out loud. Wow, such obedience.
The Merchant and the Genius:
Wow - this was a very creative story. I wonder if the girl made up the story on the spot or if she knew the story already. I already see plenty of parallels between the death sentence of the man and the genie postponing the man's death sentence as was the circumstances for the girl. I wonder how many of those there will be and if the sultan notices this as well.
The Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind:
So far the story is pretty fascinating. The man did not have an heir so he adopted his slave's son but was unaware his wife had such a dislike for the mother? Wow. So she turns to witchcraft? Lots of crazy elements involved here. It's neat that the stories fit so well together and because the stories are so in-depth, I have to remind myself that all these stories are really told by a girl trying to save her life.
The Story of the Second Old Man, and of the Two Black Dogs:
This story is easier to read for me than the story of the first old man. It was such an act of love for the second old man to close up his shop and pay such attention and give such love to his older brother who was now a beggar. That couldn't have been easy, emotionally or financially. Anyways, his sense of forgivness is amazing - the brothers took his money, tried to take his wife and his life, and then he still begged for the fairy to keep them alive.
The Greek King and the Physician Douban:
This is a neat story. I find it strange that the physician/king didn't think he was using medicine to cure him but said so himself that the potion in the club would make his body glow warm - isn't that medicine in a way just put in a club? And he told the king that? Anyways, is whereever each story cuts off another day that the girl waits to tell the next part of the story to stay alive?
The Story of the Parrot:
It sort of makes me chuckle that so many of the stories (including the story of the 1001 Arabian Nights) starts off with saying how much the husband loved the wife. Is the girl hoping that her husband will subconsciously adopt this passion/care for her?
The Physician's Revenge:
Wow, that's terrible the physican had to be executed. I wonder what the king's advisor had against physicians. I mean why kill him when he's done no wrong unless the guy truly believed there was no good in the world and the physician was evil. So sad.
The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles:
This is sort of a crazy story. This is the second story that I've read from this unit about a wife deceiving her husband. The poor guy... Anyways, it's terrible that she beat him so much yet treated the slave so well. I wonder how they grew so affectionate. It's an interesting punishment to turn her husband into half marble, half man - creative.
An illustration of Arabian Nights
Source: Wikipedia
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