Reading Part A

This week I read part A of the Arabian Nights unit. I love Aladdin, so I wanted to explore this story unit a little more closely. It opens with an angry Sultan, who was betrayed by his wife to a terrible degree and he orders her to be put to death. I wish I could've known more about what she did to deserve death, but it must have been pretty extreme because the Sultan believed every woman was secretly evil.  He then orders a new bride every day only to have the grand-vizir kill her the next morning. However, one day the grand-vizir's daughter,  Scheherazade, offers herself as the bride and has a plan to remain alive. She begs for her sister to stay with them in the chambers and allow her to tell her stories. The Sultan becomes so engaged in the stories he allows Scheherazade to do this every night, so he is able to hear the end of these stories. I really enjoyed part A of this unit. I thought the introduction was very interesting, and it actually kept me on edge. I thought some of the stories in the middle were slightly dull, but overall I liked the concept of interlacing the stories. The dialogue was easy to follow as well. 
Bibliography: This story is part of the Arabian Nights unit. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Caption: Arabian Nights obtained from www.anandasacramento.org