The main frame story concerns Shahryār, a king who ruled an empire that stretched from Persia to India.[8] The story begins with Zaman, the brother of Shahryār, setting out on a journey to visit his brother at his palace. Early in the preparations, he remembers that he's left something inside his own palace, and returns to retrieve it—only to find that his wife has been making love to a black cook in their own bed. He kills them both, and continues on his journey, keeping the event a secret. Then Shahryār finds that his own wife, as well as his numerous slave girls, have been engaging in secret orgies with black men.[9]

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5873772&forum_id=2).#49935498)

Shahryār has his wife killed. In his bitterness and grief, he decides that all women are the same. Shahryār begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonor him.

Eventually, the Vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king, curious about how the story ends, is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins another one, and the king, eager to hear the conclusion of that tale as well, postpones her execution once again. This goes on for one thousand and one nights, hence the name.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5873772&forum_id=2).#49952055)