Delila the Trickster - 1001 Nights (S7, #2)

In this episode we’ll discuss a story from the “Arabian Nights” collection.  It is entitled “Delila the Wily.”  This is a long story, so long in fact, that we’ve covered it in two previous episodes. (Please listen to those episodes if you wish to hear the actual story.  Here I will only share a summary.) Delila is a trickster figure who brings chaos wherever she goes.  But she is much more than that. Her acts of cunning cause the listener to reflect on justice, law, morality and the ability of women to be the author of their own lives. In Delila’s world actions are not black or white, but a multitude of shades of gray.  In this episode, we’ll discuss her world and why tricksters are needed now more than ever.

Story: "The Wiley Dalilah and Her Daughter Zaynab," in Arabian Nights: Volume I, trans. Jack Zipes (New York: Penguin Books, 1991).
Illustration:  Edmund Dulac, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. National Library NZ on The Commons, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

This podcast is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/. Sound effects from my finch "Tweedles."
Copyright 2026 Kathy Shimpock.