I like this story because it shows how jealous people will do anything to see others demise. The Greek King was a leper and no one could cure him. One day Douban shows up and says he can cure him without giving him any medicine. He secretly hides the medication inside a polo stick and ball, and has the king play. Sure enough, it cures the king and he is very happy and gives Douban great honors. His vizir however is very jealous and tries to turn the king against Douban by trying to say he is there to assassinate him, but the king sees straight through the vizir and calls him out on being so jealous.
If I were to rewrite this story I think that I would make this about two girls who are friends. One girl really needs help with a homework problem but her friend can't figure it out either. So she goes to another girl who easily figures it out and the first friend gets very jealous. The first friend tries to tell the original girl that the second girl purposely did it wrong just to make her get the problem wrong on their assignment, and not to trust her. But girl number one realizes girl number two's jealousy and calls her out.
I think it's important to realize the dangers of jealousy and how many people are not at all above sabotage if they feel threatened in their position.
This story also reminds me of a TV show I watched, where a girl was a Lieutenant for a police station but got demoted, and to get her position back she started sleeping with her replacement's fiance, in order to make her go crazy thinking he was having an affair but unable to prove it. It worked, the new girl had a meltdown at work and the old girl got her job back, but it just goes to show the lengths people will go to get rid of perceived threats.
Bibliography:
The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang link to story
Homework by Flickr
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