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Robinson Crusoe: Sheherazade

SHEHERAZADE THE marvelous tales that Sheherazade told to King Shahriar, stories of love and adventure and mad magic, cannot be attributed to any one author, for the very good reason that there never was an author. They are popular stories that, perhaps about the year 1450, were put into the present form by a professional story-teller, presumably a Persian.

In primitive communities, where few of the people can read and where books are difficult to get, these professional readers are in great demand. They pick up here and there tales that appeal to all and bind them into a long narrative. Some people have thought that Homer's long poems originated in this way. Everywhere in the near East the traveler finds these story-tellers to-day. An eager audience collects to hear them, each paying a small fee for the privilege of listening. The entertainer declaims as he walks to and fro and always stops his narrative just before an exciting climax, so that he will be assured of listeners on the morrow. His audience follows his recital with breathless interest, especially when he illustrates thrilling episodes with lively pantomime.

Year after year these groups of listeners gathered centuries ago. The story-teller discarded the tales that did not hold the attention of his listeners. Gradually the process of elimination went on until only the best were handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. Then some unknown benefactor of mankind had them written down and connected them with the framework of Sheherazade and Shahriar. And these are the "Arabian Nights" that have delighted children and grown men and women for decades.