Introduction
Then King Shahrayar grabbed his sword, brandished it, and, entering the palace chambers, killed every one of his slave-girls and replaced them with others. He then swore to marry for one night only and kill the woman the next morning, in order to save himself from the wickedness and cunning of women, saying, "There is not a single chaste woman anywhere on the entire face of the earth." Shortly thereafter he provided his brother Shahzaman with supplies for his journey and sent him back to his own country with gifts, rarities, and money. The brother bade him good-bye and et out for home.
Shahrayar sat on his throne and ordered his vizier, the father of the two girls, to find him a wife from among the princes' daughters. The vizier found him one, and he slept with her and was done with her, and the next morning he ordered the vizier to put her to death. That very night he took one of his army officers' daughters, slept with her, and thenext morning ordered the vizier to put her to death. The vizier, who could not disobey him, put her to death. The third night he took one of the merchants' daughters, slept with her till the morning, then ordered his vizier to put her to death, and the vizier did so. It became King Shahrayar's custom to take every night the daughter of a merchant or a commissioner, spend the night with her, then have her put to death the next morning. He continued to do this until all the girls perished, their mothers mourned, and there arose a clamor among the fathers and mothers, who called the plague upon his head, complainded to the Creator of the heavens, and called for help on Him who hears and answers prayers.(Norton Anth.)
A Thousand and One Nights is a story about the king, Shahrayar, who, having been told of women's betrayal by his brother, decides to never marry. Instead, Shahrayar would bed a woman for one night and then kill her in the morning. This proceeded until many of the young women in his kingdom were lost and the vizier didn't know who else to bring, until his daughter asked him to bring her to the sultan. For the vizier's daughter was very educated and knew many stories and poems by heart. The first night she spent with Shahrayar she told him a story, but the sun rose before she could finish and Shahrayar had to spare her if he were to know how the story ended the next night. This went on for a thousand and one nights until finally Shahrayar decided to marry the woman and abandon his ritual practice. This is a story of an evil king who is defeated through literature and starving the monstrous side of its evil acts. (Norton Anth.)
Pictured here is another evil king, Zahhak, who fell to ruin because he did not let the monster in him starve away. The image is from the Shahnama in which the story of Zahhak is told. Zahhak was Satan to kill his father to acquire his fortune and power. When his father died, Zahhak became the ruler. Then Satan appeared as a cook and presented Zahhak with amazing and delicious foods. Zahhak, pleased with the cook, told him to ask for anything he desired. The cook, Satan, replied that he wished nothing but Zahhak’s happiness, and would be so very happy if he could show this by kissing each of the king's shoulders. The cook kissed Zahhak’s shoulders and disappeared. Two black snakes appeared where Satan’s lips had touched. The snakes caused great pain and could not be cut off for they would simply grow back. All the doctors in the land couldn't provide any explination or remedy to the dilemma. Until Satan appeared in court as a visiting physician and told Zahhak that a young man's brain would satisfy the snakes for a short time and keep Zahhak safe. This led to Zahhak killing those underneath him to feed his own snakes, and eventually his downfall.(Firdausi) The subjects of Zahhak had quickly grown to hate him for pointlessly killing his own subjects, quite similarly to Shahrayar only the opposite gender.