One day, returning from hunting to the palace, King Shakhriyar witnessed an unbridled orgy of courtiers, in the center of which was his beloved wife Nurida, who accepted the caresses of an insignificant slave. The deceived husband, the humiliated ruler, in front of the court, numb with horror, deals with his wife and comes to a terrible decision – to execute one young woman in the country every morning. Soon it is the turn of the vizier's daughter, the wise Scheherazade... Staged by the Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of Azerbaijan in 1981.