Qut al Qub

This is my favorite of the Nights stories. Qut al Qub was concubine to the sultan, and she was his favorite above all others. She was extremely well educated and interested in science, and she was extremely envied. One day the Sultan's wife came up with a plot to dispose of her competition while the sultan was away. She had a wooden sculpture made and painted to look just like her, and snuck Qut al Qub some sleeping potion. She was scared to kill her outright, so she had Qut al Qub placed in a coffin with the orders to take her to the cemetery and bury her alive.
The servants did as instructed, although at the cemetery they kept talking about how it was a shame to bury such a treasure. Unknown to them they were overheard by a foreign merchant. Said merchant had become lost while fleeing from a riot, and was trying to find his way out of the cemetery when he overheard and saw the servants. He followed his gut instinct and hid. He heard their conversation about the treasure inside the coffin, and when the servants went off to deal with the riot. He snuck over to the coffin and opened it.
Inside the coffin lay Qut al Qub and he was amazed by her beauty. He also noticed that she was still alive. He picked her up and through many wrong turns and dead ends got her back to his place. He was able to revive her, and she was very grate full and rather randy, but it was at that moment that he noticed something. Written on the drawstrings of her pants was the Sultan's name proclaiming her as his. Meanwhile the Sultan returns only to be told that Qut al Qub was dead from virulent and deadly disease, and from a distance he watched them burn the mannequin.
He backed off, and placed a sword between them in his bed. They continued in this way for a number of days, until information of her whereabouts was linked to the Sultan. Soldiers were sent and the two were brought before him. The Sultan could not believe that the merchant had not touched her, so the merchant was tortured, his goods taken, and he was exiled. Qut al Qub was returned to her place in the harem, but she was not happy.
Eventually she could no longer take it, and she went out in search of him. She searched and she looked; until eventually she found him wasting away from his wounds. She was able to heal him with her skills, but again the Sultan's mamelukes were not far behind. They again were brought before the Sultan, but this time compassion was shown and a deal was struck. Qut al Qub was allowed to marry the merchant, and the Sultan decided to execute his wife and marry the merchant's beautiful sister. They all lived happily ever after until the great sunderer turned them all to dust.