One Thousand and One Nights

Once upon a time in the land between Persia and India there were two sisters who inherited their father's vast kingdom to become queens themselves. One was called Ariyahh, while the other was Shazama.

In addition to their unfading beauty, both were also champion horsewomen and the best archers in their land. Since no foreign prince could beat either of them in a contest of horse rider and archery, the queens watched their empty bedchambers night after night and were resorted to take illicit lovers for fulfilling their womanly wants.

Such virile and lustful stock were the sisters born of, that each was capable of going through twelve men in a single night before retiring to the sweet season of slumber! Both queens had their favorites, on whom they showered treasures and titles, and kept in their palaces for their own enjoyment.

Their troubled marital aspect aside, the queens proved to be even-handed rulers, and for ten years they reigned justly in their separate provinces, treating their subjects with affection and enjoying untroubled lives, until one day Ariyahh felt a sudden longing to see Shazama and sent off her vizier to fetch her younger sister.

Upon the invitation, the happy Shazama immediately started preparing for the journey. She had red tents with her royal signet put up outside her city, where the best camels, mules, servants and guards were assembled and quartered, while her ministers was left in charge of the affairs at home.

The moon hung high and the rocks were cool, and Shazama was ready to set out; but then she thought of something that she had forgotten and went back to the palace. When she entered her room, the queen discovered her favorite lover in bed making love with a servant girl!

"If this is what happens before I have even left the city, what will this damned man do if I spend time away with my sister?" So in a fit of rage she drew her silver dagger and right there stabbed her lover in the heart. As to the servant girl, she was also ordered to be harshly flogged for the carnal offense.

Still, the shock had so spoiled Shazama's mood that when she arrived at Ariyahh's palace the next day she was in such a state of sorrow, her face pale and showing signs of illness. Ariyahh thought that it must be the weariness from travel and put no questions to her sibling. In order to cheer her up, Ariyahh invited her to a hunt, but that she refused and the older sister had to set off by herself.

In the royal palace there were windows that overlooked the garden, and as Shazama was admiring her sister's exotic plants, a back door opened and out sneaked in twenty men and women. The men were all handsome and well-dressed youths, while the wenches, by their lascivious manners, were clearly prostitutes hired from the streets.

Shazama was entranced by this unusual sight and looked on. The group made to a marble fountain where they all took off their clothes and embraced each other; there they spent the lazy afternoon kissing, embracing, fornicating and drinking their queen's good wine until the sun's golden chariot drew to a halt, and thus was the royal palace reduced to a common brothel by all the giggles and moans.

That evening Ariyahh returned with her many bounties from the wild: pretty pheasants, nimble hares, many-eyed peacocks, lusty boars, wandering ibexes, and even a proud hart! The younger sister used the opportunity of their feast to confess what she saw in the palace that day, and her word struck the host like a bolt of lightning.

"I must see this with my own eyes," said the bitter queen, at which the younger sister suggested that she makes another announcement of hunting and then hides with her so that she could judge the truth herself. This they did the next morning, and the buffoonery which Shazama had described happened again in the garden until the call for the afternoon prayer.

Ariyahh was beside herself and told her sister: "Fools we are to put our love in men and share with them our gold and bedchamber. The heart we tore from our chests out for them they swiftly threw away and fed to the mongrels! Behold how they mingle now with the strumpets while in the clothes and shoes of my gifts!" Upon saying this the two queens left their disguise, entered the garden with guards, and there cut off the heads of all men and banished the whores from the city.

The next day, queen Ariyahh and Shazama, who refused to go back to her sad home and now instead resided in her sister's palace, announced that, every night for the next three years, they would take a virgin, fornicate with him both and then order his death. Such would be their revenge on the male sex.

Upon the news, young men, including many of the queen's soldiers, began to flee away until there was no youth left in the city. Then, when the queens asked their vizier to bring them a young man that very night, he searched but could not find a single one, and had to go home empty-handed, dejected and afraid of what the queens might do to him.

On his way home the vizier ran into a young man whose look was most handsome and manner most noble, that he almost mistook for a prince. He questioned him who he was, why was he going towards the palace when everyone else was going away, and had he not heard of the queens' declaration?

To the vizier's questions the youth replied: "I am by name Shahrazad, a wealthy merchant's son here to further my studies in the capital. As you have seen me, I was just on my way to answer the noble queens' calling, for though I am still alien to a woman's touch, a thousand volumes of books and poetry have I collected and perused, accounts of past events and esoteric knowledge have I absorbed in my chest, that shall amply amuse the royal mistresses for many a fortnight to come. Therefore, take me to where the towers stand and open these bronze gates for my admittance."

"This one jests!" The vizier to himself, "but he jests for my benefit. A bookworm he is, I doubt not by his silly way of presenting himself, but the queens are not looking for bedtime tales! Very well, I shall fetch this lamb to the lionesses' den."

The queens were most pleased to see the young man, who would soon be their very first victim. They inquired his name and bade him to their soft rose-scented bed, and together they were about to devour him before a glass would run out of its sands. Ariyahh said: "Tell us your last wish, sweet Shahrazad, before we start making love to you, and we will fulfill your wish, except you cannot beg for your life, for that is cast in the stone already."

To them he replied: "My cultured queens, the rousing sport will leave our blood in a state of much exhaustion, made worse by this talk of dismal death. Allow me instead to produce a timeless tale that is guaranteed to entertain your highnesses." Being restless and curious, the queens were glad to listen to a story, so they heartily gave their permission to Shahrazad, thinking it was but a useless trick to buy time against his sentence.

The story unfolded into one that resembled much the reality, though it was set in times ancient. Two virgin queen-sisters remained unspoused because no man could match their martial prowess. Every suitor who failed to beat either's skill was to have their faces branded and banished from the kingdom. When a graceful princess from lands afar came to challenge the siblings, he too was defeated, and the red hot iron was ready for him; when he suddenly said to the queens that, with his other sword, far more powerful than the one made of iron, he could battle and defeat them both at once, but it must take place not in the open range but in the queens' private quarters. Being naturally curious the queens agreed and led him into their room... At this Shahrazad the youth abruptly broke off.

"What happened next?" Demanded the impatient Shazama, while her sister was biting her lips with the same craving look. Observing the effect of his tale taking place, Shahrazad said: "that is what I'm about to show your highnesses, not through tale but in action." With that he loosened his garments and displayed his manly sword standing between the legs; it had grown to such an wondrous girth and length as to rival the queens' own arms. Ariyahh and Shazama wasted not a single moment to embrace it, kissing and caressing as if it was their own blood child. The three then spent the rest of the night practicing that marvelous natural art that was gifted to every mortal by the wise gods.

When they again came to themselves morning had now dawned, and Shazama exclaimed: "What a pleasant, delightful, and sweet ending this story has!" Ariyahh agreed, "May the blessed queens live with their noble prince happily ever after!" To them Shahrazad replied: "Indeed, my good queens, but how can this compare with what I shall tell you this coming night, if I am still alive?" The sisters, now with their murderous hearts cooled and their libidinous groins heated, consented to his plea, and they embraced one another again until the sun had fully risen.

So it was, that when the next evening came, the queens were engrossed in another tale equally tantalizing, and at the end of it Shahrazad entertained them both with his sizable talent and left the queens weeping in rapture. With the same promise he yet lived to see another day's sun. The queens had heard about many strange and exotic tales since:

In one tale, while picking mushrooms in the wood two foolish wives started arguing who could last longer in bed, and a bandit who happened to be nearby was more than glad to be their judge, despite the wives' fierce objection. The match went from morning to sunset and there was still no clear winner, so the bandit had to take the two wives back to the cave, where his other thirty friends were eagerly staying for their turns.

In another tale, two sisters from a noble household went on a pilgrimage with their loyal manservant. Through the long journey both women fell in love with the servant and began to secretly despise one another, to such a point that both asked the servant behind the back to murder the other sister. In the end the servant realized what evil women he had been serving and slew them both and continued the pilgrimage on his own.

In yet another tale two women met on the road and decided to group up and become killers of men. They rode from east to west and left many a man dead along their trail, until one day they ran into a young and smart sheriff who saw through their disguise in an instant. The couple were cuffed and locked up in the local jail, and certain death on the gallows awaited them. But the night before their execution the sheriff paid a secret visit to their cell to see if he could save these poor misguided souls...

Each night the tales would end with him and the two queens playing the roles in the story, and engage in a new marvelous position of lovemaking: never had tales become so lively and wild and bewitching in this mundane world!

By the time the one thousand and first night came, both queens had born children by Shahrazad: three boys by Ariyahh and three girls by Shazama, so evenly divided as if ordained by the gods. When the story finished the tale of the night, the curse on his head had long been lifted. Shahrazad was no longer a quick-witted youth, but a fully grown man with full beards and hair on his chest, and now could easily lift a sword and lead an army of ten thousands. Upon his proposal, the two queens most happily became his brides, and that night was celebrated in a most exhaustive lovemaking yet experienced by any human being.

The next day Shahrazad was formally crowned as king, and thus the kingdom, split into two between the two queens after their father's death, was once again reunited. The new king ruled with justice and charity, and he lived happily with his two beautiful queenly wives and many, many handsome children until the end of time.