A Thousand and One Nights

The legendary Persian Queen Scheherazade telling her ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS stories to King Shahryar

Every day, King Shahryar married a new virgin , and every day he
would send yesterday's wife to be beheaded. This was done in
anger , having found out that his first wife had betrayed him. He
had killed three thousand such women by the time he was introduced to
Scheherazade, the vizier's * daughter .

Against her father's protestations, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the King. Once in the king's chambers, Scheherazade began to tell the king a story.

During the long night, the king lay awake and listened in awe as Scheherazade told her first story. Scheherazade stopped in the middle of the story. The King asked her to finish, but she said there was not enough time, as dawn was breaking. So the king spared her life for one day to finish the story. The next night, Scheherazade finished the story, and then began a second one, even more exciting, again stopping halfway through, at dawn. Again the king spared her life for one day to finish the second story.

And so the king kept Scheherazade alive day by day as he eagerly anticipated her finishing the previous night's story. At the end of one thousand and one nights, and one thousand stories, Scheherazade told the king that she had no more tales to tell him. During these one thousand and one nights, the king had fallen in love with Scheherazade and had had three sons with her. So, having been made a wiser and kinder man by Scheherazade and her tales, he spared her life and made her his queen.
*vizier = high officer or minister of state in various Muslim countries
VOCABULARY

Read the story. Look at the sentences, and try to define these words from the context.

1. virgin (noun) E v e r y d a y, King S h a h r y a r married a n e w v i r g i n ,
a. an airline company
b. a person who has never had sex
c. a stewardess

2. beheaded (verb)
E v e r y d a y h e w o u l d s e n d y e s t e r d a y ' s w i f e t o b e b e h e a d e d .
a. got a hair cut
b. behaved badly
c. had her head cut off

3. betrayed (verb)
H i s f i r s t w i f e had betrayed h i m.
a. cheated on him
b. cooked for him
c. married him

4. protestations (noun)
Against her father's protestations, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the King.
a. praises
b. objections
c. help

5. volunteered (verb)
a. worked without pay
b. worked with pay
c. studied at school

6. chambers
Once in the king's chambers, Scheherazade began to tell the king a story.
a. kitchen
b. bedroom
c. living room


7. in awe (in = preposition awe = noun object of the preposition)
The king listened in awe as Scheherazade told her first story.
a. sitting on the bed
b. happily living’
c. a mixed feeling of fear and wonder
8. dawn (adverbial noun)
She said there was not enough time, as dawn was breaking.
a. morning
b. evening
c. night

9. spared her life
So the king spared her life for one day.
a. didn’t kill her
b. changed her
c. talked to her

10. alive (adj.)
So the king kept Scheherazade alive day by day
a. awake
b. asleep
c. living

11. eagerly (adverb)
He eagerly anticipated her finishing the previous night's story.
a. really interested
b. very helpful
c. sadly

12.anticipated (verb)
a.thought ahead
b. stopped
c. continued

13. tales (noun)
She had no more tales to tell him.
a. pictures
b. stories
c. writings




GRAMMAR
1. Please circle all the past tense verbs (21) in the story (one is past progressive)
2. What are the subjects and the infinitives?




3. There are four past perfect verbs in the story. (HAD + past participle of a verb)

What did his wife do to him?
a.

By the time he was introduced to Scheherazade, what had he done to his wives?
b.

As she was telling him these tales, what happened to the king?
c.

Over all these 1001 nights, she not only told him all those stories, what happened to Scheherazade?
d.

Please tell me about two things that happened n the past -- one before the other. The first thing will use the PAST PERFECT TENSE.

YOUR TURN
e. _________________________________________________________



4. PASSIVE voice is NOT A VERB TENSE

It is used when the subject becomes the object. S V O
For example: regular order of sentences is S V O Sally threw the ball.
PASSIVE voice: verb (to be) + past participle
S V
S V O The ball was thrown (by Sally).
a. A man robbed the woman.

S V
aa. The woman was robbed on the bus (by a man). PASSIVE voice

S V O
b. Most of the students have done all their homework.

S V
bb. All the homework was done by most of the students. PASSIVE voice


b. What are the PASSIVE VOICES USED IN THIS STORY? Talk to your partner and see if you can identify them. (4) Write the sentences from the story.




Look for the verb (be) + a past participle Subject Verb and NO object.

1.

2.

3.

4.
YOUR TURN
Please write a pair of sentences, the first with a Subject, Verb, and an Object.
Then write the same sentence in the PASSIVE voice using the verb to be + past participle with only a Subject and that verb.



COMPREHENSION AND CONVERSATION
Please talk to your partner and then write complete sentences to answer these questions.

1. Why did King Shahryar behead all his wives?


2. What did Sheherazade volunteer to do?




3. Why did the king spare Sheherazade’s life?




4. How did Sheherazade save her own life?




5. What’s your opinion about what Sheherezade did?
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