1. How in the Tale of Ghanim in Ayyub, The Distraught, The Thrall O'Love does Shahrazad strive to replace King Shahryar's distrust of women with doubt over his belief?

2. In the story of The Ruined Man Who Became Rich Again Through A Dream, Shahrazad reminds King Shahryar that a life lived in faith is rewarding. Why is this an important reminder from Shahrazad to the king?

3. What kind of a character is the hermit in The Hermits?

4. Describe the character of the man burdened with debts in The Man Who Stole The Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate.

5. In the story of Nur Al-Din Ali And His Son Al-Din Hasan, how does Shahrazad continue to work towards her goal of convincing King Shahhryar to change his beliefs about women?

6. What message through the story is meant for the King from Shahrazad in The City of Many-Columned Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kalibah?

7. What kind of moral is offered in the story in The Man Who Stole The Dish of Gold Wherein The Dog Ate?

8. What could one say might be the moral of this story in The Tale of The Birds And The Beasts And The Carpenter?

9. Correlate the experience of visiting the Caliph for help/direction in the Porter and The Three Ladies of Baghdad to visiting another person of power for help in the present day.

10. In The Story of King Shahryar and His Brother, the tale within a tale about the fisherman and the Jinni demonstrates the power of what kind of belief system?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In this tale of Alaeddin: Or, The Wonderful Lamp, Shahrazad creates a character of mythological proportions who achieves greatness despite social, financial, educational, and logical obstacles. Perhaps it is Shahrazad's goal to humanize the poor through one individual so that the king can appreciate that the poor are as human as he is. Please expand upon all aspects of Alaeddin's struggles in relation to the king's own. Compare and contrast their similarities and differences.

Essay Topic 2

In Ma'aruf the Cobbler and His Wife Fatimah it is shown that one cannot fully escape the past, as proven when Ma'aruf spends most of his life as far away from his wicked wife as possible. Using examples from this story and any others found germane enough to prove the argument, explore in an essay just how Shahrazad uses the workings of fate, and the idea that one cannot escape past evil deeds, to her advantage.

Essay Topic 3

In The Tale of Kamar Al-Zaman, Kamar and Budur not only played great human/mortal part to make their life together possible, but a string of seemingly unforeseen events also play a part in their stories/lives, which gives the listener the feel that both human intention and fate play a part in people's lives. How do other characters in other tales continue to bring this concept home to the king of the interconnectedness between fate, human decisions, and devotion to Allah?

Please choose from these stories:

1. Hatim and The Tribe of Tayy

2. The Hermit

3. Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman

4. The Tale of the Birds and the Beasts and the Carpenter

(see the answer keys)

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