The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey

The purpose of this story was for the Vizier to warn his daughter Shaharazad of what she was getting herself into. She knew the King was on a mission to kill every woman he slept with. After getting cheated on by his wife, the King decided to marry a new woman each night, sleep with her, then kill her in the morning. Shaharazad saw this and thought she could be the one to stop him and save the women. However, the Vizier wanted his daughter to reconsider so he told her the story of the Ox and the Donkey.

In this story, the Donkey gave the Ox advice. The donkey did so to help the Ox but did not fully consider the consequences. At the end, the Ox was saved and very grateful to the Donkey but the advice back fired on the Donkey. Now the Ox was comfortable and the Donkey was suffering. The Vizier told Shaharazad this story because the Donkey miscalculated what he was doing. He miscalculated and it turned out for the worse. In this case, the Vizier believed his daughter was miscalculating what she was trying to get herself into. He did not want her to go through with it because it could easily lead to her death. He was trying to save Shaharazad.