Thousands and thousands of years ago, the only entertainment for the people were the stories they told one other.
Back then, the Silk Road was a network upon which merchants transported goods, and which connected civilisations in the East and the West. Persia, now known as Iran (it was changed after Arabs invaded Iran) was in the centre of this Silk Road.
All merchants had to pass through Persia to follow their trades. They heard and saw many amazing things. Foremost among them were the stories they heard from Persians.
They memorised and narrated these stories when they came back to their homeland. As the name of Persia was not easy to remember or pronounce, they called Persian the Land of 1001 Nights and Now Where the Nights Come From.
In very old days there was a king. His beautiful wife betrayed him, so the King decided to take vengeance upon all the beautiful women in his country. Every night he married one beautiful girl. Then the next day he ordered that beautiful girl to be executed.
Everyone in the country was scared and hid their girls. No one knew what to do until a minister's daughter announced she wanted to marry the King as she had a solution for the King's mad revenge.
That night, the minster's daughter married the King and started telling him a story that was so long she couldn't finish it, so she said she would finish it the next night. This continued for 1001 nights. Every time a story was about to finish, she left it for the next night.
On night 1001, the King asked for another story.
She said, "There is no more stories, I narrated all the stories I knew. You can order for my execution tomorrow morning."
But the King was so used to her that he fell in love with her and could not order her execution.
He felt real love and a heart touched by love can never kill anyone.
Because she solved this problem, everyone else in the country fell in love with her and her stories. She was so amazing and entertaining, that was how Persia came to be called the Land of 1001 Nights.
And now Persian food, which is even more amazingly delicious than those stories, is here for you to cook and try.
