throughout time people across the world told each other tales of how they came to be of heroes and monsters romance and tragedy death and rebirth mythology helped shape the ancient world explaining the unexplainable this is mythology unleashed long ago in the isles of india lived a sassanid king who had two sons sharia and shazam who both grew to be powerful warriors and eventually wise and just kings one day shariah invited his younger brother to visit him in his kingdom after a few hours upon the road to shoddy out his kingdom shazam realized he had forgotten something and turned back home to retrieve it upon returning home to samarkand the king walked into his bed chamber only to find the sight of his wife in bed with one of the servants [Music] heartbroken and enraged shazam slew them both he continued on his way to his brother's kingdom but what he saw made him more and more depressed this depression levied itself in a way when one day he noticed while his brother was away hunting sharia's wife and 10 of his concubines were having an orgy with a handful of servants when sharia returned from his hunting trip shazam proceeded to tell his brother of what had happened to him back home and of his wife's infidelity it was not until shariah witnessed for himself his wife and concubines fornicating with the same servants grief stricken sharia condemned his wife his concubines and all of their lovers to execution embittered by his wife's betrayal and of the transgression of his brother's wife sharia proclaimed that no woman could ever be trusted over the next three years sharia consecutively married a succession of virgins and executed them the following morning before they could have the chance to betray him it was a dark time in the kingdom of shariar hundreds of women were executed families were leaving by the score and the king was losing the support of his subjects as his mind delved deeper into madness the king's vizier wise and loyal to his lord was in grave trouble in addition to having to watch his lord rend the empire and himself asunder he could find no more virgins for the kingdom mary it was his duty to find his king a bride and should he fail in any of his duties it would mean his head the vizier hung his head it was hopeless but then his daughter shahrazad came in to console him knowing of his plight shahidzad volunteered to marry the king if only to save her father's life the vizier was mortified he could not bear to let his daughter be killed but nor could he fail in his duties to the king his hands were tied but shahrazad boasted not only great beauty and great courage she was crafty she devised a plan that would both save her life her father's life and help king charizard on the very next day shahidzad and shariar were married on the night of their union as the king was about to lie with his new bride tears filled her eyes shahirizad explained to him that she knew she would be executed come morning and wish to see her sister danyazad one last time mad though he may have been was not without a heart and he permitted the sisters to be together dunyazad who was in on the plan requested shaharazad tell them a story will your highness permit me to tell a story as my sister asks the king obliged excited to hear this story and so shaharazad told her sister and her new husband a story the story captivated both members of her audience but when the sun rose scheherazade withheld the ending of her story she told her husband that she would conclude the story that very night if he would allow it charizard eager to hear the rest of the story agreed to the terms he could always execute her when the story was finished so the following night scheherazade finished her story but proceeded to tell the king a new story which he was of course eager to listen to and just as the night before she omitted the ending to be told the following night and so this went on for a time story after story fable after fable and oh the stories she told him historical and fantastical of far-off lands of kings and queens thieves and beggars romances and tragedies poetry and erotica fables of magic and mystery monsters and ghouls wicked sorcerers and powerful gin of ebony horses and talking birds she told him the thrilling tale of alibaba and the 40 thieves the comical story of the death of a hunchback the robust seven voyages of sinbad the sailor the enchanting tale of aladdin and the wonderful lamp some stories like the three apples and the fishermen in the gin would even contain stories within the stories recounted by the characters and king sharyar seemed to never grow tired of hearing these never-ending stories this pattern of beginning stories one night ending them the next only to begin a new one went on consecutively for one thousand and one nights when shahrazad finally finished her storytelling she had birthed three sons with their husband sharia's madness had finally lifted and his kingdom was finally healing shahrazad was pardoned from the original cruel fate sharia had intended for her for her storytelling her wit and charm had absolved him of his pain and assuaged the anger built up in his heart towards womankind she was declared a woman unlike any other pure of heart and intention and ingenious [Music] sharia proceeded to bestow honors upon his entire court and held a weeks-long feast for all of his subjects rich and poor to begin to mend his relationship with them he soon called upon his brother shazam and regaled him with the events of the past few years shazam like his brother had a great change of heart and wished to make amends for his past deeds to make for a brighter future shahzaman went on to marry dhonyazad the vizier father of shahirazad and dunyasad became the viceroy of samarkand and the two brothers with their ingenious wives jointly ruled sharia's kingdom with wisdom and peace for many years to come in time shazam related to the chroniclers his story and of the stories told to him by shahrazad these were written down and became known as one thousand and one nights and one day would be called the arabian nights you