Scheherazade is married to the Sultan.

All his many previous brides have been

beheaded the morning after their wedding. Her plan to stay alive is to keep the terrible
tyrant amused with stories, always leaving him wanting more.
Her first story is an amusing tale which she heard from her father. It tells of a crafty
donkey who advises a bull how to avoid work. He does not realise that their master can
understand the speech of animals and will outwit him. But there is a twist to the tale.
The master’s wife demands to know what the animals have said, but he cannot tell her
or else he will die.
Bertie has adapted this story from the rather racy, x-rated (and no doubt true to the
original), translation of 1001 Nights by the famous Victorian explorer, Richard Burton.
We try to keep the spirit of the original as much as possible – and in fact we think this is
much closer than most children’s versions out there – but there’s a lot in 1001 Nights
that just wouldn’t quite do for a children’s site.
Adaptation by Bertie.
Read by Elizabeth. Duration 19.30.

Proofread by Jana Elizabeth.

Praise be to Allah, Scheherazade is married to the Sultan Sharyar. All the many brides
of the Sultan, who came before her have been put to death on the first morning of their
marriage. It is late in the night, and the dawn is but a few hours away. The newly weds
cannot sleep, and Scheherazade begins to tell her husband a story.
There was once a merchant who was rich in cattle and camels. He lived in the country
with his wife and family and devoted himself to farming. Now, Allah in his wisdom had
given him the power to understand the speech of all kinds of animals and birds. But this
great gift came with a condition: he must not tell any human being what he heard the
animals say or he would surely die on the spot.
One evening he was sitting by the stables while he watched his children playing in the
hay, when he heard his bull talking in his deep low voice:
“Oh donkey,” he was saying to his fellow animal. “How come you have the best barley,
the freshest water, and the easiest life? You stay here indoors all day while the men wait
upon you like servants, sweeping your stall, and brushing your coat until it shines. But
as for me, they lead me out to work at the call of the dawn prayer. The men make me
wear a thing called a yoke around my shoulders and it is heavy and uncomfortable.
They crack whips over my back and force me to pull the plough through the fields from
morning to sunset. My life is nothing but toil and trouble. But your duties are light and
pleasant. Once every two weeks, you carry the master to the market on your back. He
is not fat, and the burden is not great, and on the way he learns to like you and
appreciate you. Your life is so much better than mine. Dear donkey, pray do help me.
Tell me how I can live like you?”
You can imagine how the merchant was intrigued by this conversation, and how he
tuned in his ears in to make sure that he did not miss a word. He heard the donkey
laugh with a great Eeeee-ore! and reply to the bull:
“Why you big old fool! You are ten times as strong as I am, and yet you let the humans
treat you without any respect for your superior force. Don’t you have any sense? Do
your horns grow inside your head where your brains should be? Listen to your wiser
and better brother, and your problems shall be done and dusted. Do not show
willingness for work, or of course the men will take advantage of you. When they come
in the morning, and try to place the thing called a yoke over your neck, toss your head.
When they try to drive you out to the fields, lie down in your manger and refuse to move.
They cannot make a great hulk like you even budge an inch if you do not wish it. Bellow
like you are angry or ill. They will soon get the message and leave you alone.”
The merchant heard all the words of the donkey, and he was curious to see whether
the bull would heed his advice. It was therefore not entirely surprising to him when, the
next morning, the steward came to him, looking anxious and worried and and said:
“Sir, something has got into the bull. Perhaps it is a demon, or perhaps he is ill. When
we try to put the yoke on his neck, he tosses his head so that we cannot manage it.
When we try to drive him out of the stall, he bellows at us and paws the ground with his
front leg. And now, finally, he is lying down in the straw. What are we to do sir? We
cannot force the bull to go out into the fields if he does not wish it. He is far to big and
strong.”
The merchant understood only too well what was wrong with the bull. He was not ill,
and no demon had bedevilled him. All that had happened was that he was following the
advice of his friend the donkey. The merchant had already decided what must be done.
He would teach the donkey a lesson. He said to his steward:
“If the bull does not wish to work, then let him take a well earned rest. Put the yoke on
the donkey, and make him plough the fields today, for it is only fair that he takes his
share of the hard work.”
And following their master’s orders, the men placed the yoke over the shoulders of the
donkey, and they dragged him out to the fields. When he stubbornly dug his heels into
the ground, they cracked whips over his back. He had no choice but to pull the heavy
plough through the earth all day, even though the sun was hot, and his mouth was dry.
When at last he came back to his stall in the evening, his legs were weak and and his
whole body was weary. He saw the bull lying down in clean straw, looking rested and
happy. Indeed the bull welcomed him home cheerily saying:
“My true friend, the kind and wonderful donkey, I have done exactly as you advised
me, and today I have enjoyed rest, water, and good food. I thank you from the bottom of
my bull’s heart for your words of wisdom.”
But the donkey had little to say just then. He was unusually quiet beacuse he was so
weary. He took a long drink of water and lay down in his hay, utterly exhausted by his
day’s work.
When the morning came, the merchant rose early for he wanted to see how his
animals had faired. He peeped in through the window of the stables and he saw that the
bull was swishing his tale happily. They donkey was still lying down in his straw, feeling
less than his best. The bull was saying:
“I am so looking forward to another day’s rest. When the men come for me, I shall
again toss my head, paw the ground, and bellow with my great voice. Then I shall lie
down and they will not be able to lead me out to work.”
As the donkey stood up, he felt that his legs were still shaky from the previous day’s
toil in the fields. When he heard the bull’s plans to stay at home, he reflected: “Oh
foolish me! I am not half as clever as I thought. I gave the bull good advice, but I did not
foresee how it would rebound on me and how I would pay for it. Now I must play a trick
on him, or I shall suffer once more.”
 And so now he said to the bull:
“My friend, I have advised you well once, and now I shall advise you again. When the
men come today, do not toss your head and refuse to take the yoke. Nor should you
bellow with rage or lie down in your straw, if you care for your life. For yesterday, I heard
the merchant speaking to his steward. He gave orders that if the bull does not work, he
should take him to the butcher and make meat for the poor people, and leather for
shoes and saddles.”
The bull thanked the donkey for once again giving him wise advice, and when the
men came to fetch him from the stall, he willingly took the yoke and went out to the
fields for his day’s work.
The merchant saw all that had happened, and all day long he was laughing and
smiling to himself whenever he thought of the trick that he had played on the donkey.
Now the merchant had a wife, whom he had been married to for many years, and
whom he loved dearly. She did not fail to notice that he was smiling to himself all day,
and she asked him the reason. He said:
“My beloved, I am laughing at a conversation that I overheard between the animals,
but I cannot tell it to you for I will surely die on the spot. Long ago, I prayed to Allah that I
should understand the speech of all kinds of creatures, and in return for this favour I
offered that if ever I should betray what I heard to another human soul, then I should die
immediately.”
The merchant’s wife only grew more curious when she heard this reply, and
demanded more and more vehemently that he should tell her what he had heard the
animals say and that she should share in his amusement.
“But I shall surely die if I tell you!” he protested.
“Nonsense! There can be no secrets between man and wife. I shall leave you if you
do not tell me! “ she replied.
The argument went on so long that the merchant could bear her sulking no longer. He
sat down to write his will and worked with his steward to make sure that all his affairs
were in order and his debts were paid before he died. Then he called all his family and
his servants to a meeting and told them of his decision:
“This evening I shall relate to my wife what I heard of the conversation between the bull
and the donkey, and then I must surely die. And therefore this is my last farewell. May
Allah be praised and always be with you.”
And so saying, he went about the family and servants distributing small gifts so that they
would remember him well.
Now when Scheherazade reached this part of the story, she said to the Sultan:
“But great one, I must halt my tale, for the sunlight is at our window and it is time to rise
and meet whatever the day holds in store for us.”
And the Sultan, who had been listening very intently to the tale, and was greatly
amused by it, was anxious to hear what happened next. Would the merchant really tell
his wife what had happened, and die on the spot? He begged Scheherazade to finish
the tale, but the call to Prayer was already echoing around the rooftops of the palace,
and the maids were busy sweeping the courtyards.
The wise and lovely woman stroked the Sultan’s head, and said: “If it so pleases you,
great master, I shall finish telling the tale this following night.”
And as the Sultan so wanted to know the end of the story, he gladly agreed to her
suggestion, and Scheherazade lived through that day as his queen. The following night,
she continued her story of the merchant:
All of the merchant’s household was in tears and even the dogs got to hear of the
terrible news and began to howl. Only the cockerel strutted about the farm looking as
proud and as pleased with himself as usual. He made his call to the hens:
“Cock-a-doodle-do!!”
The behaviour of the cockerel angered the farm dogs who said:
“Why do you make merry when we are in mourning for the master? Have you not
heard that he is about to die? Do you not have any respect for him?”
And the proud cockerel replied:
“I am not sorry for the master. I have 50 wives and he has but one. He should
understand better how to behave with his wife.”
And it so happened that the merchant, was sitting in his study overlooking the
farmyard, and when he overheard this conversation, he felt ashamed that he had given
in to despair and not handled the situation better. He thought to himself:
“I am shrewd in business, and know all there is to know about farming, but in my own
home I am like a fool, and understand nothing of diplomacy. I must be as cunning as….
as the donkey.”
And with new hope in his heart, he went to his wife’s room, and knocked softly on the
door: His wife’s voice called out from within:
“Are you now ready to tell me what you heard the animals say that was so amusing?”
And the merchant replied that he was ready, and he came into the room:
“My dear, it is all very simple,” he explained. “The bull spoke like this:”
“LOWWWWWW!”
And the donkey replied like this:
“EEEE-AWWWW!
And then the dogs said:
“AOWWWWWW!”
and the cockerel said:
“Cock-a-doodle-do!”
And when she heard her husband speak like this, the wife laughed so much that she
forgot her anger and was happy.
And that was the very first story of 1001 Nights that Scheherazade told the Sultan,
enchanting and amusing the cruel tyrant with her words and in so doing softening his
heart. When she had finished the tale, her sister, Dunyazad, who shared the room with
them spoke up and said:
“Your excellence, do you wish my sister to tell you another tale? For she has a great
many others, some even more wonderful than this one.
And the Sultan who was not sleepy, said that he would gladly hear another tale, if it
was as entertaining as the one they had just heard, and so Scheherazade began the
second story of 1001 Nights.
But if you would like to hear it, you will have to come back another time to
Storynory.com. We do have many stories on the site, including classic stories,
adaptations and originals, all of which you can download for free.