Read Online In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah - Free Book Online Page B

With great reluctance, he agrees. Unlike the other victims,
she has no intention of meeting the executioner or his sword.
    She has a plan.
    Sherherazade is wedded to King Shahriyar and taken to his
quarters. Before they sleep, she begins a tale that cannot be
finished in a single night. The king allows her to live an extra
day so that her tale may be completed. The next evening, she
begins a tale inset, 'framed' within the first. Each night that
follows, the tale is left unfinished, or it links to another. The king
has no choice but to allow his bride to live another day, so that
she might complete her story.
    A thousand and one nights pass.
    During that time, Sherherazade reveals the greatest single
repertoire of tales ever told. And in the same span of time she
bears her husband three sons, calms his rage and remains his
queen.
    Throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries,
Western literature was influenced heavily by the Arabian Nights ,
as were the arts. Oriental themes were thrown into vogue.
Paintings of scantily-clad nymphs reclining in harems became
popular, as were images of mysterious domed palaces and scenes
of Arabian courts bedecked in jewels and gold. The effect of the
stories was so profound that it touched everything from costume
to furniture, from wallpaper to architecture.
    The legacy continues to be seen to this day. Anyone unwilling
to believe it need only travel to the Sussex coast and look upon
the Prince Regent's Eastern aberration, the Royal Pavilion at
Brighton.
     
    My friend Abdelmalik had seemed crestfallen when I declined
his offer of an Arab stallion. He said that, by accepting, I would
be honouring not only him but every male member of his family
that had ever lived. The next week, when we were sitting
together at Lugano's, the conversation turned from horses to
stories once again.
    Abdelmalik drew a horizontal line in the air with his finger.
    'Here in Morocco, we live on a tightrope,' he said. 'It's because
of our belief. We know that God is there for us, and because He
is there we hope He will send angels to catch us if we fall.'
He slapped the table with his hand. 'If the angels do not
come,' he said, 'it's because He wants us to hit the ground.'
    The waiter distributed fresh glasses of café noir . When he had
gone, Abdelmalik continued.
    'The stories reflect our lives,' he said. 'The people in them
walk a fine line between prosperity and disaster. That's the way
it's always been and that's what makes us who we are. In a single
life a man can know wealth, poverty, thirst and hunger, as well
as satisfaction. You may describe our lives as being like a rollercoaster,
up and down. We would say that they are full, that they
are rich even though we may be poor.'
    I asked him about jinns.
    'They're as real to me and every other man in this café as this
glass of coffee,' he said. 'I may not be able to see them, but I
know they are right here beside me.'
    'How do you know that, though?'
    'Can you see clean air?'
    'No.'
    'But would you doubt its existence?'
    I asked if he had ever searched for the story in his heart. He
pushed his sunglasses up on to his head and grinned.
    'You have been talking to a Berber,' he said.
    'Do you know the tradition?'
    'Of course.'
    'If I wanted to find out my story, where would I look first?'
    'You could search near a shrine,' he said. 'But you can't start
just like that.'
    'Why not?'
    'You must prepare yourself first.'
    'How would I do that?'
    'By changing the way you see.'
    Abdelmalik explained that I would have to learn to observe
with untainted senses again, like a child.
    'An athlete doesn't start running until he's warmed up,' he
said. 'In the same way, you have to ready your mind if you want
it to work for you. It's a point that has been known in the East
for thousands of years, but something you're still ignorant of in
the West.'
    'How do I ready my mind?'
    'You must appreciate without prejudice,' said Abdelmalik. 'Only
    then will you be ready to