Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Episode 1: The Sire Trick

The Sire Trick

Now King Shahryar was not just a wise sultan but also an accomplished magician. Not the type that dabbed in the dark arts or a practitioner of all that superstitious and other impossible nonsense so popular in his day. No, all the tricks performed by the King were slight of hand. He was quite good at it and since he had plenty of time to practice, used his skill to amaze and confound his subjects, creating a sense of awe surrounding his rule and thereby contributing to the basis of his power.

At first it was card tricks, and then disappearing rabbits and snake charming and walking through beds of coals. There were also the coin tricks and sawing a woman in half. The credulity of his people never ceased to amaze him and as time passed his antics became even more convoluted and complex.

One of his favorite deceptions, as I've already explained, was marrying a virgin, deflowering her on his wedding night and handing her over to the executioner the following morning. The catch of course was that nobody actually saw the execution, only the evidence of it, and after everyone believed the deed was done she was whisked off incognito and married to a rising star. These God Daughters of the King, (So they were called) were much sought after by ambitious and aspiring young nobles.

The deception mentioned above made the Sultan appear cruel, causing his subjects to believe that if the King could so treat an innocent young maid he was capable of any excess of cruelty and they'd best behave themselves. Also, the God Daughter Scam proved quite useful in binding rising stars to the coattails of his leadership.

It was in the 35th year of his reign, however, that he resolved to pull off his greatest act of magic. The genesis of the trick came from the Headless Maiden Scam and he set about putting it into effect. It would become a cornerstone legacy of his amazing career.