The tale of the Husband and the Parrot

When thinking about the storyline of this tale, it is easy to point out how unfair every one in this story is. The wife was cheating on her husband, which resulted in a parrot who told all, having to snoop for the husband. A few nights in, the wife deceived the parrot. When the parrot told the story to the husband, the husband thought the parrot was lying to him. That resulted in the quick and aggressive manner that the husband acted in, which killed the parrot. I think the lesson being taught in this story is to not make quick and irrational decisions. In Shahrayar, he is generalizing all women as being evil, because his ex-wife cheated on him, but he is really just hurting the kingdom. In the case of the husband in this story, he made a quick and irrational decision which resulted in the death of an innocent parrot, which can be compared to the kingdom in which Shahrayar rules. This lesson is being taught through creating a situation similar to what Shahrayar is going through.

The story of the fisherman and the demon

This story was pretty interesting to me. The demon was trapped in a lamp for several centuries. At first, the geni vowed to repay whoever set him free, but turned evil. The demon can be compared to Shahrayar in this case as someone who was once good, that turned evil because of an external situation. When I think of this story I also think about counting one’s blessings. The demon, despite waiting very long, should be happy that someone freed him. In the case of Shahrayar, he is a leader of a kingdom, and despite one misfortune, has many fortunes to be content with. The story ends with the demon being tricked back into the lamp and thrown back into the sea to wait for several more centuries. The lesson taught can be interpreted as somewhat of a threat. The king can be punished the same way the demon is if he continues his streak of ungratefulness.

One interesting feat about The Arabian Nights is how incognito the function of race and racial categories serve, and yet, it is just something that cannot be easily over looked.  Race and racial categories from this time of the story are also talked about and looked at much different from the way we look at them now.  The book is quite simple with the description of races, ethnicity, and religions.  There is an unclear message sent throughout the story maybe suggesting that the darker colored men bring disturbance of the norm with their entrance of the story.

There’s a perfect example of this can be found in the very beginning of the story.  The reason that the kings are so furious is that their queens are so easily and lowly seduced by these “black men” from other side of the garden wall.  They treat the queens as if they are common concubines and yet the queens go along with it without a problem.

Another quick example could come from the fisherman and demon tale.  When the “black man” appears in the story he’s given a simple description on his appearance.  In the tale he’s said to speak in a “Clear but unpleasant language.”  This specification of his language shows the gap of social and class difference between the story teller and the people like the black man.

The black men may just represent the antagonist of any tale or someone doing or going against the preference of the main subject of the story.  They are often segregated or dislike also by that subject or protagonist.

The Husband and the parrot

The lesson in this tale is to think before you act. If you act too quickly without thinking, we tend to forget about the consequences. In the case of The tale of the Husband and the Parrot, a man brought a parrot home to help him see what his wife was doing while he was going in his journeys. When the husband came back and was told by the parrot that his wife has being cheating on him. On the record report however the parrot told the husband that that it was storming and raining all night while the man knew it didn’t rain at all. Which the husband now believes the parrot has been telling a lie all alone. Out of anger he threw and killed his parrot. While the rain and storm was true due to the wife setup. Later on the husband neighbors informed the husband that his wife has been cheating all alone. The Husband should of let all the information he receive sink in before he acted up.

The tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban

This tale is about a King with a incurable disease leprosy. No one had a solution to the king’s problem. However Sage Duban has a cure to this disease and offers to help the King. The king was told to hit a ball with a mallet which will cure the king which it did. The King was very thankful for what Sage Duban has done for him. One of the Kings vizier’s was very jealous of all the attention that Sage Duban was receive so he convinced the king that if the Sage Duban can easily cure him he can also easily kill everyone. Convincing the king to have no choice but to kill Sage Duban. Before facing his death Sage Duban hands the king a poisoned book, which kills the king. The lesson here is believe in yourself and have faith in good people. Sage Duban mindset was to help and be kind. While the King can appreciate good help he is easily r convinced by his subjects.

The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon

In this story the fisherman found a jar which contained the demon. The demon, being furious as he had been trapped in the jar for thousands of years, let his anger influence his decision on what was to happen to whoever freed him. Originally, the Demon wanted to reward whoever freed him but every hundred years that passed and no one fished him from the sea, he became more and more enraged. The Demon knew that he had enough power to make his savior’s life a miserable one or a wonderful one. When the fisherman finally set the demon free, the demon decided that he would reward him by allowing the fisherman to choose his way of dying. The fisherman pleaded with the demon to let him live, but after countless tries he came up with a plan to trick the demon. He challenged the demon’s ego by telling him it was not possible that he was stuck in the jar and asked the demon to show him. The demon, wanting to prove himself, went back in the jar. The lesson portrayed through this story is to not let your power and ego influence your choices.

The Tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban

The lesson in this story is to trust your instinct and know how to filter other people’s opinion. King Yunan says, “I think that you have said what you said because you envy him”, realizing that the vizier was only thinking about himself. Deep down the King knew he shouldn’t execute the sage because he had grown to admire and trust the sage, stemming from the sages great wisdom. The vizier’s strong jealousy over the sage greatly influenced the king to the point where he second guesses himself about executing the sage. The vizier practically makes the king come to the conclusion that the only way to avoid being killed by the sage is to kill the sage first. The king witnessed the sage’s powers first hand when the sage cured him without have to drink anything or put any ointments on. The king should have trusted his instinct that told him to trust the sage, who repeatedly told him “..spare me, and God will spare you; destroy me, and God will destroy you”.

Through the Arabian Nights tells many tales story. Each tales story has religious text about sacred and profane because ironically, the text express demon as a god. In my word, definition of the demon is envying, greedy and doing bad stuff about something. However, in the story of the merchant and the demon, men are pleading for the demon that if they tell “strangers and more amazing than what happened to you and the merchant, will you grant me a third of your claim on him for his crime and guilt?” (pg. 55) Which it seems like sacred to the demon because they’re telling their hope or wish to the demon as god. Also, they like the demon to hear what they had situations in the past as pray to god about their stories.

In the other hands,  third old man’s tale (Fisherman story) looks like profane because Fisherman found the jar that has the demon in it that wants to kill the Fisherman but, Fisherman use his wise to make demon to go back in his jar and threat demon as “I intend to throw you into the sea. The first time you stayed there for eight hundred years. This time I will let you stay until Doomsday.” And make the demon to say “I will reward you and make you rich.” (pg.72) In this moment of the story, ironically Fisherman is threat the god (demon) which it looks like Fisherman stay in more upper level than the demon and play around with him.

The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon/The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot
The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon

In this the story we see how a demon who has been trapped in a jar for centuries is freed by a fisherman. The demon, being confined for centuries in this jar, has grown frustrated and anger. The first few centuries the demon promise positive things to whomever frees him; including riches, fame and luxury. By the time the last century has come he grew anger and frustration and has promised to kill whoever frees him within the century. The fisherman has saved him within this century and is destined to be killed by the demon. The fisherman being frightened and in disbelief of his eventual death finds a way to trick the demon back into the jar. At the end the demon makes the fisherman one of the richest men of his age as a thanks for releasing him. This story is being told by Shahrazad exclusively to King Shayrahar. The lesson of this story is that if one is good to another then good things will happen. When the demon tried to kill the fisherman he ended up trapped in the same jar he was always hoping to be released from. The fisherman at the end of doing the good deed of saving the demon ended becoming wealthy. So always remember to do good and good things will come to you.
The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot

In this tale we see how a very intelligent parrot is able to converse and tell the husband a lot of things. In the story the parrot had told the king about his wife’s infidelity. The wife getting mad at the parrot created a plot to have him framed as a liar. The wife tells her maids to make it seem like it rained all night with thunderstorms. When the husband asked the parrot what the wife did the night before the parrot couldn’t he recall because there was a thunderstorm all night when in reality there wasn’t and the parrot was tricked. The king knowing there wasn’t a thunderstorm the night before looked at the parrot like a liar and had him killed. This tale is being told by King Yunan to his vizier which is a tale from the larger story of The Fisherman and the Demon. The lesson in this story is that one should not interfere in other’s lives. The lesson is being taught as the parrot has been killed by the wife’s plot because he interfered in her affairs between the husband and herself.

–Matias Hernandez

Shahrazad uses the stories in hopes to persuade King Shahrayar’s biased view of women in which he thinks they are cunning and tools for outwitting men. Prior to the eighth night, she indirectly tells the king that, yes some women are cunning and evil, but not all of them. And after the eighth night, Shahrazad continues to appeal to Shahrayar’s heart through the Story of the Fisherman and the Demon and the Tale of the Enchanted King.

I believe the purpose of the story about the fisherman and the demon, which concludes to the ending between the fisherman and the king, is to teach Shahrayar to forgive and have mercy on women. In the story, the fisherman had mercy for the demon even when he clearly had the advantage of throwing the demon back into the sea once and for all. And because he had mercy, the jinn told the fisherman to sell four types of colored fish to the king of the city, and ultimately through a collection of unique tales, “the king, the enchanted king, and the fisherman lived peacefully thereafter” (The Twenty Seventh Night, p 80). Therefore, why couldn’t the king have mercy on women like the fisherman had for the demon who is clearly evil?

Shahrazad taught this lesson to Shahrayar through repetition. Through the use of the stories, Shahrazad repeated “spare me, and God will spare you; destroy me, and God will destroy you” (The Sixteenth Night, pg 55). The fisherman and Sage Duncan repeated the quintessential lesson about good for good and bad for bad. She portrayed a perfect example of one having no mercy—King Yunan refused to let the sage live; consequently, he perishes with him.

In the tale of the enchanted king, Shahrazad again attempts to reinforce the idea that some women are evil, treacherous, and unfair. However, this time, Shahrazad teaches King Shahrayar that not only are women the source of his misfortune but can also be a remedy. As the tale of the enchanted king concludes, the king did not immediately kill off the woman; instead, he made her undo the spell on the enchanted king and restore the vacant city to its original form—populated. Thus, Shahrazad taught the lessons by pinpointing the importance of women as the symbol of reproduction and production of laborers, which is a necessity for a thriving city.

And finally the stories start to have an effect on King Shahrayar, as he said to himself, “By God, I shall postpone her execution for tonight and more many nights, even for two months” (The Twenty-Fifth Night, pg 75).

The first story that I will go over will be The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon. This story, unlike some of the others, is told directly to King Shayrahar by Shahrazad. The lesson that was to be taken away from the story is to not be blinded by arrogance, and to repay good deeds with kindness  and that is exactly what Shahrazad wants the King to do. In the story, the demon is freed from a jar that has been underwater for hundreds of years, and intends to reward the fisherman with death. Instead of showing restraint, or some kind of mercy, because the demon’s arrogance and refusal to acknowledge the man who freed him, the demon wanted to either kill him or let him choose how he be killed. The fisherman warned him of what happens to those who receive ‘undeserving aid’ and in the end, tricked the demon back into his prison of a jar, when he could have easily been freed if he spared the man’s life.

The second story is the Tale of the Husband and the Parrot. It is a story within a story, and is told by King Yunan, to his vizier. The lesson to be learned is to be vigilant and to not do anything that will be regretted in the future. The lesson is well explained by the story of the husband and the parrot, because the man let his jealousy consume him, and relied on the parrot for inside information on whether his wife was faithful. This system failed as the wife tricked the parrot into making him look like a liar, which made the man kill the poor bird. Later on, the man learned that his wife was in fact cheating on him, causing him to feel great remorse about what he did to the parrot. King Yunan told the vizier this story to further emphasize the point that the vizier was making the Sage look bad out of jealousy, and the King would not do anything too hastily, for fear of regretting his actions and the accuracy of the vizier’s account.

The tale of the husband and the parrot

Shahrazad told this story to the king to explain the dangers of jealousy. There was a merchant with a beautiful wife. He had to go on a journey and he was of jealous nature and didn’t trust his wife. The merchant bought a intelligent and knowledgeable parrot. When he left for his journey and came back, the parrot informed him of his wife and lover. The wife thought one of the slaves must have told the merchant, but they swore it was the parrot. The wife decided to trick the parrot. When the merchant came home, he asked the parrot for information but the parrot replied, he was unable to see or hear because of the intense darkness and rain. The merchant got mad because he thought the parrot lied about his wife, so he killed the parrot. Later, he felt guilty because the parrot was telling the truth.
The story of the Fisherman and the Demon

The story of the Fisherman and the Demon is like the situation of Shahrazad and Shahrayar. Shahrazad was cunning and intelligent like the fisherman to trap the King in her spell and stop him from killing her. The demon becomes physically trapped while the king is almost helpless to her will because he needs to hear the endings of the stories. The demon tries to kill the fisherman but then the situations turns and the demon turns into the helpless one.Shahrazad does the same thing by turning the King’s evil plot against him by her storytelling that keeps her alive night after night.

The tale of King Yunan and the Sage Duban

The tale is about a King who has leprosy, but no physicians were able to cure him. None of the medicine and ointment were effective. Until one day, Sage Duban introduced himself to the King and promised to cure him. The smart Sage Duban prepared the mallet and ball filled with medicine, and asked King Yunan to hit the ball with mallet. This activity cured King Yunan’s leprosy. The king rewarded and honored the sage nicely. One of the king’s envious vizier was jealous and felt unsecure about his status. The vizier tried to persuade the king that the sage was actually his enemy. The king saw through the vizier’s intention and refused to believe him. King Yunan doesn’t want to do anything that he will regret afterward. The lesson being taught in this tale is to be firm and clear of your own mind, so you will not be fooled by others easily. No matter what the vizier tried to persuade, the king knew for fact that the sage did save cure him and saved his life. If the king were to believe the envious vizier and let him affect his heart of gratefulness for Sage, he would regret harming Sage Duban one day.

The Tale of the Husband and the Parrot

In this story, a jealous man bought a parrot home when he went on a journey without his wife. The parrot reports everything about the wife to the man. The man found out that his wife has a lover, he then confronted his wife and left the house for a day. When he comes back home, he asked the parrot what has happened, the parrot reports it was unable to see and hear about the wife because of the thunder and lightning. In fact, the thunder and lightning was planned by the wife. The maids tricked the parrot in to seeing thunder and lightning by using stones, steel mirror and water. The man thought the parrot is not telling the truth because there was no thunder in this summertime. He killed he parrot. Then he heard the ugly truth about his wife from the neighbors. He regret being tricked by his wife to kill his loyal parrot. The lesson being taught in this story is never let the first piece of information determine your action and decision. Find out more about the truth before taking any actions. Otherwise, you will regret your rash decision.