WE probably never forget Ali Baba and his 40 thieves, but we do forget the virgin storyteller Scheherazade and the terror hanging over her neck. She is the anchor for the collection of tales that multiplied and were later called One Thousand and One Nights. She is also a hidden message that the hours of storytelling are actually precarious hours when death is delayed.

The story goes that Scheherazade made up stories as a way of saving herself fr