Shahrazad

For some musical works named after Shahrazad, see the alternative spelling Scheherazade.

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Scheherazade or Shahrazad (in Persian شهرزاد (Shahrzad)) is the (fictional) storyteller of The Book of One Thousand and One Nights. The name Shahrzad in Persian means City-born.

The frame tale goes that every day Shahryar ("in Persian شهريار Shahryar meaning king) would marry a new virgin, and every day he would send yesterday's wife to be beheaded. Scheherazade volunteers to be the king's new wife, trusting in her ability as a storyteller to save her from the fate of her predecessors.

Each night Scheherazade would create a new story with the ending in suspense. For 1001 nights this went on and, in the end, Shahryar spared her life (and the world benefited from her 1001 stories). The nucleus of these stories is formed by an old Persian book called Hezar-afsana (the Thousand Myths) (in Persian هزارافسانه).

See also

• Arab mythology