This is the story of a husband who decides to marry a different lady each night, and have her murdered in the morning, so that he never has to worry about their “deceitful” ways.  Along comes one woman who tricks him into keeping her alive by telling him stories each night.  I was familiar with most of the individual stories she told, such as Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, but had never read them as told here, intertwined within the larger story.