From “The Tale of the Ox and the Donkey”
“You, my daughter, will likewise perish because of your miscalculation. Desist, sit quietly, and don’t expose yourself to peril. I advise you out of compassion for you.” She replied, “Father, I must go to the king, and you must give me to him.” He said, “Don’t do it.” She insisted, “I must.” He replied, “If you don’t desist, I will do to you what the merchant did do his wife.” She asked, “Father, what did the merchant do to his wife?” He said:
It was the end of the day and the merchant came home after a stressful days worth of work. The merchant’s wife was home the entire day, doing house chores and the like. Tired as well, his wife said, “Husband, would you please help me cook and clean a little, I am tired and I have been taking care of our children all day.” The merchant replied, “Sorry, I tired and I cannot help, I will help you tomorrow.” The wife thought, “Okay, so tomorrow it is.” The next day, the merchant came home tired and weary again. The wife looked up from her work as he came home and he said, “Sorry wife, I cannot help today either, I have worked very long and hard. Tomorrow I will help you.” A bit distraught, the wife reluctantly agreed. This kept happening, the merchant would come home tired and promise to help tomorrow and the wife would agree.
One evening, it was the day of the wife’s birthday. The wife was excited to come home, expecting a gift and help from her merchant husband. The merchant came home empty handed and weary. In a fit, the wife screamed, “Husband! You have not helped me at all this past year and I am sick and tired of this! You did not even bring me a gift- It is my birthday today! You completely forgot about me!” The merchant replied, “Wife, I am tired, please do not yell, I do not want to deal with this right now.” The merchant’s response enraged the wife even further. The wife said, “You work only from sun up to sun down, I work that and much more! I should be resting, not you!” Feeling his temper begin to boil, the merchant said, “I am done.” and he stayed silent. The wife continued to yell at the merchant; the merchant not saying a thing. The merchant began to help the wife with her chores, all without saying a word. Weeks passed by and the merchant still had not said a word to his wife. Initially the wife did not mind and enjoyed the extra help around the house. However, weeks became months and the husband still had not said a word to the wife. Every night after they finished their chores and went to bed, the wife would say, “Good night husband.”, she would not receive a reply. Every morning as the wife greeted the merchant, “Good morning husband.”, she would not receive a reply. Eventually the wife caved and said, “Husband, please stop ignoring me. If you keep ignoring me I do not know what I will do. Please!” The merchant said, “Good.” and then left for work.
The vizier said to his daughter, “If you don’t stop, I will do what the merchant did to his wife.” She said, “I don’t care about that. Actually, I would much rather have you do to me what the merchant did to his wife. I hate you since you refuse my request and I rather not speak to you at all. You know what, I’m going to not talk to you until you give me what I want. Starting….. now.” The vizier gave in quickly to the daughter and requested a meeting with the king. King Shahrayar said:
“Did you want to meet me? Aren’t you afraid of me?”, She replied “I want to talk to you every night.” And she told the story of the merchant and his wife alike to the king, the king continued to want to hear the story.
The merchant actually was terminally ill, he don’t want to say that to his wife. His wife kept getting angry everyday to him, a few days later, he finally came back home after work, suddenly blacked out and fell to the floor, the wife was surprised and screamed at the time “O my husband !!”