In the envelope narrative, Shah, a Persian king ruling in India and China embittered by his wife’s infidelity kills her and resolves to sleep with a virgin every night and kill her in the morning.
The two stories here recount the tale of King Yunnan , his physician Durban, and the king’s evil wazoo.
The story of Durban begins at the top of page 25 and goes to page 34.
Specific response guidelines:
Read carefully, and making specific reference to the text, come discuss one or more of the following:
• What can we learn about science in the Abbasid era?
• What does this tell us about palace politics?
• What elements of the story appear Islamic, and what elements UN-Islamic?
• What lessons is the story trying to convey?
• Anything else you found remarkable or interesting.
