@HistorybyMae

Scheherazade is the fictional Persian Queen in the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as One Thousand and One Nights. She is the narrator, and the 1001 tales are the stories she told the sultan every night. 

The work was collected over many centuries by various authors across West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and North Africa. Some tales trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Sanskrit, Persian, and Mesopotamian literature.

Fun fact: Considering the nature of this channel and the fact I am Persian (Iranian), I’ve always felt as though she were my spirit animal. 

Summary:
The monarch Shahryar, on discovering that his first wife was unfaithful to him, resolved to marry a new virgin every day and to have her beheaded the next morning before she could dishonor him. Eventually, the vizier could find no more virgins of noble blood and, against her father's wishes, Scheherazade volunteered to marry the king.

Once in the king's chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved younger sister, Dunyazad, who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the long night. The king lay awake and listened with awe as Scheherazade told her first story. The night passed by, and Scheherazade stopped in the middle. The king asked her to finish, but Scheherazade said there was no time, as dawn was breaking. So the king spared her life for one day so she could finish the story the next night. The following night Scheherazade finished the story and then began a second, more exciting tale, which she again stopped halfway through at dawn. Again, the king spared her life for one more day so that she could finish the second story.

Thus the king kept Scheherazade alive day by day, as he eagerly anticipated the conclusion of each previous night's story. At the end of 1,001 nights, and 1,000 stories, Scheherazade finally told the king that she had no more tales to tell him. She summoned her three sons that she had bore him during the 1000 nights to come in before the king. 

Then she kissed the ground again and said: "King of the age, these are your children and my wish is that as an act of generosity towards them to free me from sentence of death, for if you kill me, these babies will have no mother and you will find no other woman to bring them up so well." The king granted her a pardon as he could see that she was a "chaste and pure woman, freeborn and God-fearing." She was celebrated throughout his kingdom for 30 days.

@theyounggamer3315

She saved many women from being killed because of the Sultan's fear and power. I doubt she loved him or even grew to love him after he killed a thousand women. She was smart and brave and an excellent storyteller. And she loved her sister very much. She survived 3 years, bore three children, and still was so afraid that she might die if she had no story to tell that she felt the need to ask to be spared when the time came. Three years of entertaining the Sultan would mean nothing if all he saw her as was entertainment and a child-maker.

@nmg6248

I feel like something is lost in this telling. For one Shaharazad’s sister would have been sacrificed and so she volunteers herself instead. Also that the telling of the stories was very calculated to save her sister and the other women. Shaharazad was a hero and a shrewd warrior.

@ttilah___

i hate that this is portrayed as being romantic in any way, it really reflects the time period. like wow hes a mass murderer who only values women for sex and one of his victims is lucky enough to find a way out of being slaughtered like a worthless animal.. truly a love story for the ages!

@RHCole

Sultan got that incel energy

@yangyangjeong

Omg this is where the 1001 Arabian night stories come from??

@just_swiftly_shake_it_off_1989

Scheherazade is also a BEAUTIFUL orchestra piece!! As a violinist, I’ve had the pleasure to play it.

@unalakes

And they say women are over emotional, just get over it dude

@vraimothra

the book The Wrath and the Dawn was inspired by this tale if you find it compelling! i loved the authors retelling of the story and it makes the Sultan less, shall we say, incel coded lmao

@kallista5194

In the version I read decades ago, he was suffering from mental illness caused by a Djinn. The cheating and plot by his first wife, had been a deception (hallucination); the first wife was also innocent.
Scheherazade had known him since childhood as a kind and gentle person (i think their families knew each other), and her faith in who he was, was what finally broke the spell and released him from his Djinn-induced paranoia. 

I went years before learning there are (so many!) different versions of this story. I think I still prefer this one; it paints the sultan as a decent person who's just having a complete mental breakdown due to circumstances beyond his control, metaphor or not. His redemption was a major part of his character arc, and he was haunted with remorse for the rest of his (short) life. It was only a happy ending in that his bloodline survived and his sons were raised well. Everyone else pretty much got shafted, including Scheherazade, who genuinely loved him but only saved him from the curse of madness, to then lose him to the curse of depression. It really rattled my then 8 year old mind, and struck a chord in my heartstrings.

Remove the Djinn interference and his remorse, though, and it's an even darker story of callous brutality. 😢

@mariamwadie9638

When your life depends on a cliff hanger 💀

@TAVEROS

this was actually the source of many stories nowadays! Aladin was apart of the 1001 nights :D

@gargeeeeee

Mae is the Scheherazade of YouTube!
We wait for Mae's videos just like the Sultan waited for Scheherazade's stories.

@SabrinaRina

Told him bedtime stories like a big baby. Huh, so making lovers into mothering figures goes back ages.

@ВаряВетренная

Being fair, she actually proved some sort of loyalty and determination by keeping up this challenge

@sleepnow3053

She saved a lot of other girls then

@ashiravage

I have always been a fan of Scherezade. I grew up reading the Arabian Nights, which makes Scherezade my biggest inspiration. She was one of the bravest women in history.

@crescentedwards851

That girl was one with the library. Kudos to her survial skills

@DUDETE9

I know this is random...but I am suffering through some serious depression, yet every time I see your posts come up I cheer up a little...even if the stories are not always cheery. Just knowing there was so much history that transpired, gives me a hope to keep living. Thank you ❤

@Ziad3195

One Thousand and One Nights was first compiled in the Medieval Islamic World, with many versions and tales (or nights) added over time. While it is sometimes called the "Arabian Nights" because the first English translation in the 18th century called it that, the tales come from various regions. However, make no mistake, Arabic influence is prominent throughout. With the tales featuring the Arab poet Abu Nuwas, the Arab Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, and many Arab scholars and scientists, for example. And many tales do come from Arabic regions and from Arabd. So for this reason, it is more accurate to refer to it as "One Thousand and One Nights."

The regions these nights came from include; India, Persia, Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Al-Andalus.

And it influenced European literature and art profoundly. As did many other Persian and Arabic poetry and prose works.