Under the spell of a fairytale

The most important aspect of storytelling is how the story is told.

It is for this reason that some stories are still with us even after thousands of years of telling and re-telling.

Most of us know the story of Joseph of Egypt but we would still love to hear it again, if the teller could give it a new freshness.

If it is a new story, on the other hand, then nothing can hold the audience more captive than suspense.

There is the story about a Persian king who, believing all women to be unfaithful, would marry a virgin and then have her executed after the wedding night.

Finally, he married the last virgin left in the land, the daughter of his own advisor.

On the wedding night, she told him a story and promised to finish it the following night.

So good a storyteller was she that the king felt he must hear the end of the story and so he postponed her execution.

She managed to postpone her death for a thousand and one nights.

The stories from Arabian Nights continue to entertain children and adults alike, hundreds of years after they were first told. It is the magic of storytelling.

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