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. The article will tell you what this story is and who Scheherazade is.
Who's that girl?
According to legend, Scheherazade (her name is slightly different in different sources, she was called Shahrazade 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 smart. She received a good upbringing and education. The sheikh took her as his wife. The girl’s story is described in detail 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 - a land of wonders
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 enormous, stretching from Egypt in Africa to the Indus River in South Asia. The Persian kings were the rulers of most of the known world at that time.
Everyone called this region a wonderland and said that the black-eyed Persian women were distinguished by their rare beauty. One of the most famous women who has survived to this day was Scheherazade. There is no photo of her because the girl lived many centuries ago. We can only imagine it based on descriptions from ancient legends.
Ancient legend
Now let’s 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 trusted a single 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 take young girls as wives. But each was executed in the morning after spending the night with the king. And soon there was not a single girl or young woman left in the state, except for the vizier’s young daughter, the beautiful Scheherazade. The king ordered a 17-year-old girl to be prepared as 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 moment.
And then 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 in, she began to cry and ask Scheherazade for the last time to tell her one of her wonderful fairy tales. The sheikh graciously allowed it, and so 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 him to finish telling her the next night, since she was very tired. The Sheikh agreed. And so it happened: every night the newlyweds indulged in love, and after Scheherazade told a new magical story, interrupting at the most interesting place and asking her husband for permission to finish the tale tomorrow.
According to legend, a thousand and one nights passed, and the beauty knelt before the sheikh and told him: “I don’t know a single fairy tale anymore. Now you can execute me, but first let me introduce you to someone.” She brought and placed three sons in front of the padishah, one of whom was running, the second was crawling, and the third was suckling. 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
Based on this ancient legend, many books have been written and feature films made. Inspired by this magical story, 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.
Scheherazade's tales have also survived to this day as a monument of ancient Persian literature. Who hasn't heard "The Magic Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" Khezar-Efsane", "Maruf the Shoemaker", " Ajiba and Gariba" and many others? Tradition says that all of them were composed by the beautiful Scheherazade.
Scheherazade (Scheherazade, Shihirazade, Shahrazade) - the legendary main character of “The Tale of King Shahryar and His Brother,” which borders the Persian fairy tale cycle “A Thousand and One Nights” and serves as a connecting thread between other stories.
Scheherazade is the eldest daughter of the royal vizier, a girl of rare beauty and remarkable intelligence, who volunteered to free the people from the consequences of Shahriyar’s unsuccessful marriage (having survived his wife’s betrayal, the king became convinced of the depravity of women, but since it was difficult to do without them, Shahriyar took possession of an innocent girl every night, and in the morning killed her).
Having asked to enter the royal bedchamber as another victim wife, Scheherazade used all her eloquence, telling the king fairy tales before sunrise (which, not without intent, came at the most interesting point in the story). Shahriyar's curiosity outweighed his bloodthirstiness every time, and he gave Scheherazade a reprieve until the next night, wanting to hear the end of the tale, but the next night everything was repeated. Thus, the cunning girl played for time long enough until Shahryar returned to common sense and abandoned the mass extermination of women.
see also
- Scheherazade - ballet
- (643) Scheherazade is an asteroid discovered in 1907.
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Excerpt characterizing Scheherazade (character)
When Natasha opened his door with her usual movement, letting the princess pass first, Princess Marya already felt ready sobs in her throat. No matter how much she prepared or tried to calm down, she knew that she would not be able to see him without tears.
Princess Marya understood what Natasha meant with the words: this happened two days ago. She understood that this meant that he had suddenly softened, and that this softening and tenderness were signs of death. As she approached the door, she already saw in her imagination that face of Andryusha, which she had known since childhood, tender, meek, touching, which he so rarely saw and therefore always had such a strong effect on her. She knew that he would say quiet, tender words to her, like those her father had told her before his death, and that she would not bear it and would burst into tears over him. But, sooner or later, it had to be, and she entered the room. The sobs came closer and closer to her throat, while with her myopic eyes she discerned his form more and more clearly and looked for his features, and then she saw his face and met his gaze.
He was lying on the sofa, covered with pillows, wearing a squirrel fur robe. He was thin and pale. One thin, transparent white hand held a handkerchief; with the other, with quiet movements of his fingers, he touched his thin, overgrown mustache. His eyes looked at those entering.
Seeing his face and meeting his gaze, Princess Marya suddenly moderated the speed of her step and felt that her tears had suddenly dried up and her sobs had stopped. Catching the expression on his face and gaze, she suddenly became shy and felt guilty.
“What is my fault?” – she asked herself. “The fact that you live and think about living things, and I!..” answered his cold, stern gaze.
Scheherazade (Scheherazade, Shihirazade, Shahrazade; Persian. شهرزاد ) is the main character of the frame of the fairy tale cycle “A Thousand and One Nights”, which begins with “The Tale of King Shahriyar and his brother” and ends with “The Tale of King Shahriyar and Scheherazade”.
An image framed by a collection
One of the first written mentions of the character was recorded at the end of the 10th century in the catalog (index) of Ibn al-Nadim “Kitab al-fihrist”.
Scheherazade is the eldest daughter of the royal vizier, a girl of rare beauty and remarkable intelligence, who volunteered to free the people from the consequences of Shahriyar’s unsuccessful marriage: having survived his wife’s betrayal, the king became convinced of the depravity of women; but since Shahriyar needed women for sex, he took possession of an innocent girl every night, and executed her the next morning.
Having asked to enter the royal bedchamber as another victim wife, Scheherazade used all her eloquence, telling the king fairy tales every night until the morning. At the same time, the sunrise interrupted the story at the most interesting point and Shahriyar gave Scheherazade a reprieve until the next night, wanting to hear the end of the tale. However, the cunning Scheherazade, having finished one tale, immediately began the next, which she again did not have time to tell before sunrise. In this way she told stories for a thousand and one nights, until finally her stock of tales ran dry. However, Shahriyar by that time fell in love with Scheherazade and married her, stopping the mass extermination of women.
- (Persian شهرزاد) ambiguous proper name. Also pronounced Scheherazade and Scheherazade. Translated from Old Persian it means “of noble birth.” In modern Persian it means "born in the city." Contents 1... ...Wikipedia
Scheherazade- Shaherez ada, s and Shahraz ada, s... Russian spelling dictionary
Scheherazade- Scheherez/da and Shahraz/da (1 f) (lit. character) ... Spelling dictionary of the Russian language
This term has other meanings, see Scheherazade. Scheherazade Genres Pop Years from 1990 to 1999, from 2012 ... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Scheherazade. Scheherazade fr. Shehérazade ... Wikipedia
Scheherazade tells tales to King Shahryar... Wikipedia
This term has other meanings, see Scheherazade ... Wikipedia
- “Scheherazade” symphonic suite “Scheherazade”, one of the best symphonic works of the Russian composer N. A. Rimsky Korsakov, written in 1888. Rimsky Korsakov created “Scheherazade” under the influence of the Arabian fairy tales “The Thousand and One... ... Wikipedia
- “1001 days, or New Scheherazade” satirical story (cycle of short stories) by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov (1929). The story consists of ten short stories, united by a common plot. The short stories were published in the magazine "Eccentric". The cycle remained unfinished... ... Wikipedia
- “NEW SCHEHERAZADE”, USSR, PETROPOL, 1990, color, 125 min. Urban drama. Based on the story of the same name by Valery Popov. The story of a girl who works as a shopkeeper, who came to the big city in search of a beautiful life. Cast: Nadezhda Rezon, Vladimir Baranov (see BARANOV... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema
Books
- 1001 days, or New Scheherazade. Stories, vaudevilles, scripts, Ilf Ilya Arnoldovich, Petrov Evgeniy Petrovich. The book by outstanding satirists Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov includes the stories “Bright Personality”, “1001 Days, or New Scheherazade” and “Extraordinary Stories from the Life of the City of Kolokolamsk”, and…
- Scheherazade of Sales, Pavel Platonov. The title of this book suggests that these are business stories, instructive sales storytelling, which contains recipes and rules tested by the author’s twenty years of practice. Simple and bright...
There was a king, his name was Shahriyar. One day it happened that his wife cheated on him... And this is where a sad night that lasted more than 1000 and one night began.
Shahriyar became so angry that he began to take out all his anger on the others. Every night a new wife was brought to him. Innocent, young. After spending the night with the beauty, the king executed her. Years passed. And, probably, the Persian kingdom would have been left without, but a brave maiden was found who decided to be Shahriyar’s next wife.
Scheherazade, according to legend, was not only beautiful and smart, but also very educated, because she came from the family of one of the viziers of Shahriyar.
The trick that gave birth to love
Scheherazade decided to outwit the bloodthirsty king. At night, instead of love pleasures, she began to tell the ruler a fairy tale, and in the morning the fairy tale ended at the most interesting moment.
Shahryar was impatient to find out the continuation of the most interesting story, so he did not execute Scheherazade, but left her life to hear the continuation. The next night, Scheherazade appeared even more beautiful, she slowly began to tell the king the continuation of the story, but by the morning this one ended at the most interesting place.
The vizier's family, who could lose their beautiful daughter at any moment, was horrified, but the wise maiden assured that nothing would happen to her for 1000 and one nights. Why exactly this amount? The life of a female slave in the slave market in those days cost 1000 and one coin; the wise Scheherazade valued her life on the same number of nights.
Is there a lie in the fairy tale?
Scheherazade told the ruler a variety of tales, some of which were so plausible that Shahriyar easily recognized in the heroes his own courtiers, himself and the merchants from the medina, where he was simply forced to go, intrigued by the stories of the beauty.
Scheherazade's stories were so interesting and unusual, so fantastic and fascinating that the king listened to her for a thousand and one nights! Imagine, for almost two years, my wife told Shahriyar fairy tales at night.
So how did it all end? Do you think that one day she told an uninteresting story, and the king executed her? Not at all! Over many months of meetings with the beauty, the king sincerely fell in love with her, moreover, Scheherazade’s edifying instructive stories made it clear to the sovereign that he should not kill innocent girls just because his wife turned out to be unfaithful to him, because the rest were not to blame for this.
Scheherazade's tales were stories where there was meaning, where they talked about good and evil, about what is true and what is a lie. Maybe Shahriyar’s anger would still have lived in him if he had not met Scheherazade, who with her wisdom, beauty and patience gave the ruler a new love.
