Week 5 Story: The Sultan's Storyteller

"Interior with Painter, Woman Reading and Maid Sweeping". Web Source: Wikimedia.

The Sultan and his wife were loved by all their people. They were devoted to their kingdom, and they were humble, sincere, and respected leaders. All of the citizens, the rich nobles and the poor, adored them. One day, the Sultan’s wife became terrible ill. She could not be cured and died suddenly from the illness. After his wife, the love of his life, died, the Sultan would not speak to anyone and would not accept help or therapy. He never left his room and barely moved from his bed.

When his wife was alive, she would tell him amazing stories every night. Without her a bedtime stories he could not sleep. He hadn’t been able to sleep since his wife passed away because he missed her and her stories too much.

After many weeks the Sultan’s emotional state still had not improved. The grand-vizir was worried and wanted to do something to help. So, without permission from the Sultan, the grand-vizir hired Scheherazade the Storyteller. He couldn’t let the Sultan find out about this because the vizir knew he could be executed for doing this without the Sultan’s permission or knowledge, but he felt hiring the storyteller was the only hope of helping the Sultan.

Scheherazade agreed to help and was immediately brought to the palace. She was greeted there by the vizir. Before sending her to work the vizir said, “Scheherazade, the Sultan does not know the true reason you were brought here, and he mustn’t find out. I told him you were hired to be his new chamber maid. Can you keep quiet about this?” Scheherazade replied, “I will, sir. But, how then will I tell stories to him without him finding out who I am and the true reason for my being here?” He replied, “You were brought here to do this, so you must find a way. His wife’s stories always cheered him up. He needs someone or something that can add joy into his life, and I believe your stories might be the only way to bring him happiness and peace.”

The grand-vizir took Scheherazade to meet the other chamber maid whom she would be working with. He told them, “Do your work, but do not bother the king. He does not wish to speak with anyone. Leave him alone unless he addresses you.” They nodded, and then went straight to work. The king lay in bed staring at the ceiling, while Scheherazade and the maid swept and mopped the room. Scheherazade spoke quietly to the chamber maid, “Do you like stories and fairytales?”. The chamber maid smiled at her and nodded her head. Scheherazade said, “I always like to tell stories while I work. It makes it more enjoyable. I have a good story about a King and a magic genie, if you’d like to hear?” The chamber maid looked at her excitedly, and out of the corner of her eye, Scheherazade noticed the Sultan was now looking at her. The two-continued sweeping the room and Scheherazade began her story, “Once upon a time....” The maid and the Sultan listened intently as Scheherazade’s story went on for hours. The Sultan even was smiling at some parts of the story. When the story was almost over, Scheherazade glanced at the Sultan and saw that he was asleep and looked like he was peacefully dreaming.

Author’s Note:

I based my story off Scheherazade from the Arabian Night’s Unit. In the original story, Scheherazade is the new wife of the Sultan. He murders every wife he had the day after he marries her, so she has to create a plan to save her life. So, Scheherazade tells the Sultan many never-ending stories because this is the only way to spare her life. Her continuous stories distract the Sultan from killing her. Her stories go on for many nights. I really enjoyed this story, but I changed a lot when creating my own. I made the plot very different and did not keep many similarities between my story and the original.

Story Bibliography: Lang, Andrew. The Arabian Nights' Entertainments: Scheherazade.