Peak Misogyny

Nights 210-227

Wow, this story really fell apart. It had been one of my favorites, but it took a very bad turn in this week’s reading. We left Princess Budur, dressed as a man, betrothed to Princess Hayat. Through some twists and turns (and some homophobia), the problem is solved when Qamar marries both Budur and Hayat. Ok, I guess. 

But then Qamar has sons with both of the princesses, the boys grow up to seventeen years old, and each princess falls in love with the other’s son. The princesses try to seduce the boys, and they both fail. To avoid embarrassment, they tell Qamar that the boys raped them to get him to execute them. It’s a very misogynistic turn of events. It reminded me of Nuzhat in Night 142: the author discards all the decency of the female character for the sake of a new plot.

Of course, the boys survive the execution and start their own adventure. By the end of it, another monstrous slave has appeared to imprison one of them. The slave's name is Ghadban, just like in the long story from Nights 52-156 or so. I am starting to suspect that the endings to these stories were edited by someone who really didn’t like someone named Ghadban.