The article will tell you who Scheherazade is

Surely you've ever heard of the collectionArabian fairy tales under the name "Thousand and one night". According to tradition, the beautiful wife of the Persian king Shahriyar composed them, trying to avoid an excruciating death. What is this story and who is Scheherazade, the article will tell.

Who's that girl?

According to legend, Scheherazade (in different sources of herthe name is slightly different, it was called Shahrazada or Shikhirizada) - this is the eldest daughter of the Vizier of Persia. A girl of noble birth, she was dazzlingly beautiful and slim, and also very smart. She received a good upbringing and education. She took a wife as sheikh. Below is detailed the story of the girl, from the story it becomes clear who Shaherezada is. But first about the amazing country in which the heroine of our article was born and lived.

Persia is a wonderland

In the 6th century BC in the East flourishedthe state of Persia (modern Iran). In ancient times it was the center of the greatest in the history of the empire, the territory of which was simply enormous, stretching from Egypt in Africa to the Indus River in South Asia. The Persian kings were the lords of most of the world known at that time.

Everyone called this land a wonderland and said,that black-eyed Persians were of rare beauty. One of the most famous women of Persia, whose name has come down to our days, was Scheherazade. A photo of her does not exist, as a girl lived many centuries ago. We can only represent it by descriptions from ancient legends.

Ancient legend

And now we'll tell you who Scheherazade is. Persian king Shahriyar once found his beloved wife in the arms of a slave. The woman was executed, but Shahriyar no longer believed any woman in the world. He began to spend every night with his new wife, who was executed in the morning. Soon the sheik emigrated. He began to marry young girls. But everyone was executed in the morning after the night spent with the tsar. And soon there was not a single girl and a young woman left in the state, except for the young daughter of the vizier, the beautiful Shahherezady. The king ordered to prepare a 17-year-old girl for him as a wife. Pining with tears, the vizir said goodbye to his beloved daughter and took her to the sheikh. But the girl was very smart, even in her childhood, her mother taught her how to treat men, and Scheherazade hoped to avoid an evil fate. She persuaded her little sister that she would play along at the right moment.

And here after the wedding night Scheherazadewere sentenced to death, like all previous wives of the padishah. The girl asked permission to say goodbye to her younger sister. When the girl was brought, she began to cry and ask Scheherazade for the last time to tell her one of her wonderful fairy tales. Sheikh graciously allowed, and now his young wife began to tell ... Her story was very interesting, and Shahriyar listened with great pleasure. But the wise Shahherezada stopped at the most acute place and asked her husband to let her tell her next night, since she was very tired. The shaykh agreed. And so it was: every night the newlyweds gave themselves up to love, and after Scheherazade told a new magical story, interrupting at the most interesting place and asking her husband permission to tell the tale tomorrow.

According to legend, a thousand and one nights passed, andthe beauty knelt before the sheikh and told him: "I do not know any more tales." Now you can execute me, but first let me introduce you to someone. " She led and placed before the padishah three sons, one of whom ran, the second crawled, and the third sucked the breast. Shahriyar cried and hugged his beloved wife and his children tightly. And they lived happily ever after. Now you know who Scheherazade is.

Image in art

Based on this ancient legend, it was writtena lot of books, made feature films. Inspired by this magical story created a wonderful musical work by the Russian composer NA. Rimsky-Korsakov. "Scheherazade" is his most famous symphonic suite. It is performed not only by academic musicians, but also by entertainers.

Scheherazade's fairy tales have survived to this day as a monument of ancient Persian literature. Who has not heard "Aladdin's Magic Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves", "Hezar-Efsane "," Marufa-shoemaker ","Ajiba and Gharib "and many others? Tradition says that all of them were composed by the beautiful Scheherazade.