Story and Plot
The Sultan sends his son the young Prince to be educated away from the court in the seven liberal arts by Seven Wise Masters. On his return to court his stepmother the empress seeks to seduce him. To avert danger he is bound over to a week's silence by Sindibad, leader of the Seven Wise Masters. During this time the empress accuses him to her husband, and seeks to bring about his death by seven stories which she relates to the emperor; but her narrative is each time confuted by the Seven Wise Masters led by Sindibad. Finally the prince's lips are unsealed, the truth exposed, and the wicked empress is executed.
The frame narrative served as the flexible way to transmit tales to other listeners.
Hundreds of surviving European texts are known. These normally contain fifteen tales, one for each sage seven from the stepmother, and one from the princes; though the framework is preserved, only four of the commonest European tales are also found in the Eastern version.
Read more about this topic: Seven Wise Masters
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