ألف ليلة وليلة (Thousand and One Nights — 14th-15th century MS)

...had two daughters. The older one was named Shahrazad, and the younger one was Dinarzad. The older one, Shahrazad, had read books, works, wisdom, and medicine. She had memorized poetry, studied news, and learned the sayings of people and the words of sages and kings. She was intelligent, wise, educated, and refined. She had read and studied books. The narrator said, she said to her father one of the days, "O my father, I will let you know what is in my secret." He said, "And what is it?" She said, "I desire from you that you marry me to King Shahryar. Either I will be the cause of the salvation of the people, or I will die and perish a qualitat Latin: "of quality" just as other girls have perished." When the vizier heard the words of his daughter Shahrazad, he became angry and said, "O little of mind, do you not know that King Shahryar has sworn to himself that he will not spend more than one night with a girl and in the morning will kill her? I will present you to him to sleep with you one night, and in the morning, he will order me to kill you. So your mind has not gathered sense; I cannot disobey him." She said to him, "O my father, you must present me to him, and leave me to my business." He said, "And what has caused you to do this in this matter so that you risk yourself?" She said, "O my father, you must present me to him—a definitive word and a firm action." The vizier, her father, became angry and said, "O my daughter, whoever does not know how to handle affairs falls into danger. Whoever does not calculate the consequences, the age is not his friend. As it is said in the common proverb: 'I was sitting at my length, and my meddling would not leave me alone.' I fear for you that there will befall you what befell the donkey and the ox with the plowman." She said, "O my father, and what befell the donkey and the ox with the plowman?" He said, "Know that a certain wealthy merchant had wealth, baggage, livestock, and camels. He had a wife, children, and little ones, and he lived in the countryside, occupied with farming. He knew the language of beasts, animals, and predators. If he spoke to anyone, they would die. Thus, he knew every language of every kind of animal, but no one knew of this for fear of himself that he would die. He had a donkey and an ox in the house, fol 16/1b and each of them was tied to a manger opposite one another. The merchant sat one day beside him..."