In the story of the Three Apples Shahrazad relates to the King what can happen when someone acts too quickly before they get all of the facts. As it is told a very powerful Caliph was walking along the banks of the Tigris River with his trusted Ja’far when they came across a basket. The basket was made of strong banana leaves sown together with red thread. The Caliph opened the box and found what was once a lovely young girl dismembered.
The Caliph was enraged by what he had found. He turned to his Ja’far and demanded that the murderer be found. He went out to the town square with some of his guards and made a plea for the killer to come forward. Much to his surprise a young man came forward and said that he had killed the girl.
When before the Caliph the young man told the tale of how he murdered the young girl. The girl had been his wife and a very good one at that, she even bore him three sons. One day she asked her husband for three apples and told him that if she didn’t have a taste of an apple she would certainly fall ill. The husband searched all over but found none. While he was searching for the apple his wife indeed became very ill. The young man despaired at the thought that his wife might die but as luck would have it, his gardener just happened to have three apples that he sold to the young man. The young man gave the apples to his ailing wife who looked at them briefly before passing out. The young man then went to work for the day in his shop.
A very ugly slave came by the shop with one of the apples that the young man had bought for his wife. He asked the slave where he got the apple to which the slave replied “My mistress gave it to me. Her pimp of a husband brought it to her.” The husband was so furious that he immediately went home and saw that there was an apple missing, when he asked his wife where the apple was she didn’t know. He decided right then that the slave had told the truth. He killed her, put her in the box that he had made and then dropped her in the river. When he came home he found his three sons crying. One of his sons spoke up and said that he stole the apple and took it to the market. A very ugly slave stole it from him. He tried to get it back and the slave why he needed it so badly but the slave hit him. In that moment he knew that the slave had lied and he killed his wife for no reason.
The Caliph was greatly moved by this and decided that the real villain was the slave. When pondering the situation at home his little daughter hugged him. In his daughter’s pocket he felt what turned out to be an apple. He asked her where she had gotten it from and she replied that she bought it from their very ugly slave. When the slave was questioned he admitted stealing it from the boy and then lying to the young man.
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