Background Chapter, The Story of King Shahryar and His Brother Summary

This chapter introduces the premise of the story as a framework for the entire work, which is a series of stories within stories. Herein lies the story of King Shahryar and his younger brother, Shah Zaman, King of Samarcand, who discover their own wives are faithless and become bitter about all women.

It all begins when King Shahryar sends his Wazir with gifts to sweeten his invitation for his brother Shah Zaman to come visit. Shah Zaman insists on showing the Wazir the customary three days of hospitality before the journey and on the fourth day he sets up camp outside the city so he can begin his journey early the next morning. He forgets one gift for his brother so he goes back to...