Once upon a time in the kingdom of Persia began one of the best stories ever told.
A king named Schahriar discovers his wife is cheating on him, and he kills her, and resolves never to trust a woman again. Every day he takes a new wife, and after every wedding night ends, he beheads her. This goes on for three years until he marries Scheherazade, the beautiful daughter of his top adviser. Knowing full well his gruesome habits, she volunteers herself, after a thousand women have met their death. Instead of accepting the same fate as the others, this queen does something different. She has a servant wake her before dawn. Then she wakes the king, and starts telling a story so compelling that it transfixes the king. He listens until the height of suspense, and spares her life to hear the conclusion of the story that she promises to tell the next morning. Each morning she starts another story, and she ends each story with a cliffhanger, each night for a thousand and one nights, until he falls in love with her, and she lives a long life. We have Scheherazade to thank for tales like Aladdin and the Magic Lamp, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor. I wish I had her power, but I am glad not to have to!
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