Forgiveness In The Arabian Night's Myth

In the Arabian Night’s myth, a merchant and a Jinni come head to head, as the merchant has accidentally killed the Jinni’s son. Three Shaykhs tell their stories of forgiveness in hopes the Jinni will leave the merchant be. People have to forgive each other for their wrongs, so that they may be forgiven when they do wrong. However, forgiving someone is often associated with forgetting what they have done. Through forgiveness, humans learn to live in peace, but they must not forget the situation that had divided them, to begin with. The story tells of a merchant sitting under a tree, throwing stones. The Jinni appears out of nowhere and accuses the merchant of slaying his son. The merchant replies "How have I slain thy son?" (Arabian Nights …show more content…
When the merchant returns to meet the Jinni, three Shaykhs appear. They wait with the merchant for the Jinni to arrive. Once they meet the Jinni, each Shaykh describes their own story of forgiveness. The Jinni agrees that for every story he deems marvelous, he would grant the Shaykh one-third of the merchant's blood. Once all of the Shaykhs have told their story, the Jinni grants forgiveness to the merchant.
This myth could be analyzed in a “Microscope and Telescope” point of view, as described by Wendy Doniger. When the Jinni first appears, he has a microscopic view of the situation. He sees that his son has been killed, and feels that he must take revenge. While only looking at the minor details of the situation, the Jinni is blind to the fact that the merchant did not intend to kill anyone. As each Shaykh tells their story, the Jinni changes his outlook on what has happened. He slowly goes from a microscopic to a telescopic view. Each Shaykh has had experience being betrayed or having been part of a situation where they had to forgive. The Shaykhs have a more open mind to the idea of forgiveness because they look at the big