Chapter 3: Sorrow Summary

Soon after Maju tells the story of the princess-fish story to Shahrazad, she falls ill. After a long, private talk with her daughter, Maju dies. Though devastated, Shahrazad eventually rouses herself from her mourning and realizes she has turned as blind as her mother was. She acts on her words and keeps herself sequestered in her father's home, and people wonder about the prophecy that Maju would give birth to the greatest storyteller of all time.

After a year of mourning, the king forces the vizier to marry again to a woman of the king's choosing. Though beautiful, the woman is cold, and neither the vizier nor Shahrazad like her. She does not care for Shahrazad either, and she looks forward to the day she will give birth to a son, believing this will make the vizier forget all about his...