is the daughter of the vizier of King Shahrayar. Shahrayar is mad with all
women because of his cheating wife and decides to sleep with a woman and
put her to death the next day. Shahrazad doesnt like this and decides to
marry Shahrayar to stop all the killing of women. One of the many tales that
Shahrazad told Shahrayar so that she could stay alive was the story of the
vizier, Shams al-Din, and his daughter, Sit al-Husn. Shams al-Din already
wanted his daughter to marry his nephew but the king doesnt approve of
this and so makes the vizier write up a contract between a hunchback and
Sit al-Husn. Though Shahrazad and Sit al-Husns fathers both refuse their
daughters marriages and dont get what they want initially, Sit al-Husns
does this to suggest that her father was wrong to oppose the idea of a
Shahrazad and her father, the vizier and Sit al-Husn and her father, Shams
al-Din, both of the fathers refuse the marriages of their daughters initially.
Shahrazad told her father that she wanted to marry King Shahrayar after
hearing that the king was planning on sleeping with women and putting
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them to death the next day, her father not approving of this decision. The
vizier tells his daughter, Foolish one, dont you know that King Shahrayar
has sworn to spend but one night with a girl and have her put to death the
next morning? If I give you to him, he will sleep with you for one night and
will ask me to put you to death the next morning, and I shall have to do it,
since I cannot disobey him (pg. 15). In this passage the vizier is telling his
are not going to be in her favor. This shows how much the vizier cares about
his daughter and that he only expects the worst to come from this decision.
choice but to put her to death even if he doesnt want to. For the other story,
the king wants for Sit al-Husn to marry him but Shams al-Din says otherwise
because he already has someone else in mind for his daughter. He tells the
king, O King, accept my apology and do not reproach me but grant me your
indulgence Having recorded the date of the day I got married, the night I
went in to my wife, and the day she gave birth, I have reserved my daughter
for her cousin; besides there are plenty of other women and girls for our lord
the king (pg. 205-206). The first thing that Shams al-Din says is accept my
apology, which is already implying that what the king wants cant happen
and will never happen as long as Shams al-Din has a day in it. Shams al-Din
tells the king that he has already given his daughter to his nephew and thats
who he wants his daughter to marry by using the term reserved. This
shows that even though Shams expects for the king to not be okay with this,
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he still tells the king about his other plans for his daughter anyway,
signifying hope for his daughters future. For both the viziers, however, their
attempts of trying to get what they want for their daughters dont exactly
Sadly, in both stories the fathers end up not getting what they want for
their daughters initially and even though they are both sad about it, they
cannot do anything because they must obey their king. Shahrazad hears the
tales that her father tells her to try and convince her not to marry Shahrayar,
but she is very stubborn. She said, Such tales dont deter me from my
request. If you wish, I can tell you many such tales. In the end, if you dont
take me to King Shahrayar, I shall go to him myself behind you back and tell
him that you have refused to give me to one like him and that you have
begrudged you master one like me. The vizier asked, Must you really do
this? She replied, Yes, I must. (pg. 20) Shahrazad is telling her father that
no matter what he says, whether she has his approval or not, she is going to
marry the King for the sake of all the other women who could be put to
death. When she says such tales dont deter me from my request, she is
saying that her mind is made and cant be changed. Shahrazad is showing
that she is very determined and is going to attempt and that she really
doesnt care for what her father has to say about it since she says that she
shall go to him behind his back. Must you really do this? Yes, I must:
these words are the acceptance of what the viziers daughter is going to do
and that he cant do anything to change her mind. The king was not happy
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with what the vizier has said to him and decides to mean: It happened that
the king had a hunchbacked groom with two humps, one behind and one in
front, and he sent for the hunchback and, summoning witnesses, ordered the
vizier to draw the marriage contract between his daughter and the
hunchback that very day, swearing that he would have the hunchback led in
procession and that he would have him go in to his bride that very night.
(pg. 206) In this passage, the king decides that because Shams al-Din has
other plans for his daughter that he will force Shams to write up a marriage
contract between the worst servant that he has and Sit al-Husn. This
happens because Shams al-Din opposes the king, which is something that
the king obviously doesnt appreciate. The term hunchback is a term that
is looked down upon and no one wants to marry someone like that. Shams al-
Din is ordered to draw the marriage contract because the king knows that
his vizier cant disobey him and uses this to his advantage. The king is very
mean and tells Sit al-Husn and the hunchback to be ready that very night
because he didnt want to waste any time with his vengeance. Because both
fathers refuse initially, they end up not getting what they wanted for their
Though both fathers dont get what they wanted for their daughters
initially, the vizier doesnt end up getting what he wants because his
daughter still ends up marrying King Shahrayar while Sit al-Husn ends up
sleeping with her cousin which is exactly what Shams al-Din wanted. The
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vizier couldnt do anything his daughter marrying the king so he just allows it
to happen. This is what he said: The king was delighted and said, Go to her,
prepare her, and bring her to me early in the evening. The vizier went down,
repeated the kings message to his daughter, and said May God not deprive
me of you. (pg. 20) The vizier is forcefully giving his daughter permission to
marry King Shahrayar and knows that he cant stop it now. The vizier went
down because he had no choice but to tell Shahrazad what the king told him
to. He is also doing this not just because he cannot disobey the king but also
because he knows this is what his daughter wants to do. Since the vizier
wishes that she doesnt get taken away from him because he will still care
for her even though she went against him since he tells her May God not
trust her and her decision since he doesnt say anything more. Shams al-Din
thinks that Sit al-Husn slept with a man other than the hunchback last night,
but he gets a surprise when he is looking around Sits room. This is what
happens: Then he unfolded the trousers and found the purse with the
paper, he read, Badr al-Din Hasan al-Basri has sold to Isaac the Jew the
cargo of the first ship to arrive for a thousand dinars and has received the
money, and as soon as he read it, he screamed and fell into a swoon. (pg.
221) Shams al-Din finds out that it was actually his nephew that slept with
the name alone and knows that this is his nephew, hence why he falls into a
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swoon. He doesnt even care for what the rest of the paper is saying
because all he cares about is the fact that his daughter slept with his
nephew. This shows that even though he thought that his nephew and his
daughter could never be together, fate decides to be on his side to help his
daughter get pregnant with his nephews child, exactly what he wanted the
whole time. This difference shows that maybe Shahrazad is telling her father
that what happened to Shams al-Din and Sit al-Husn could happen to her and
her father: fate could end up being on their side and the marriage could turn
out to be a good thing and not what the vizier thinks it will turn out to be.
The parallel between the two stories was created because Shahrazad
wanted to suggest that her father was wrong to oppose her marriage with
Shahrayar since Shahrazad hasnt been put to death yet. Focusing on the
ending of the story of Shams al-Din and his daughter, the marriage that was
supposed to happen between her and the hunchback ended not even
that all hope was lost and that what he wanted would never happen yet the
just waited to see what happens and then is surprised to find out that he was
wrong. Now looking at the story of Shahrazad and her father, the vizier, the
vizier thinks that Shahrazad will end up getting put to death, and of course
he doesnt want to put his own daughter to death. Shahrazad was suggesting
that her marrying Shahrayar will end up being a good thing and she will not
be put to death like her father thinks she will. She also suggested that her
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father shouldnt look at the marriage negatively and to just go with it until