Marjan, a crippled serving girl, has told Shahrazad -- the Arabian Nights heroine who, after nearly a thousand nights, is running out of stories -- a new tale, which turns out to be incomplete. In an adventure equal to any a storyteller might relate, Marjan faces the intrigues of the harem, the dangers of the streets, and the anger of the Sultan himself to find the needed ending. With its carefully researched Persian background and its wonderful sense of people and place this story gives vibrant life to a different culture and new excitement to an old tale.