THE STORY OF THE VIZIER NOUREDINE, HIS BROTHER THE VIZIER CHAMSEDDINE, AND HASSAN BADREDDINE
Harun al-Rashid
Source
Chamseddine, in Cairo, is saddened to not find his brother Noureddine and blamed himself for his disappearance. However, he is not able to find him.
At the same time, the two brothers get married, and their wives give birth to a son and a daughter.
Note on the meaning of the names:
- Chamseddine: Sun of the Religion
- Noureddine: Light of the Religion
- Hassan: Handsome
- Badreddine: Full Moon of the Religion
ON THE THIRD NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
It happened to me, O fortunate King, that the vizier then arose, and welcomed the handsome Noureddine with great joy, and said to him: "Go, my son, run and enter your wife's house, and be happy!" And tomorrow I will go up with you to the sultan. And now I have only to ask for you from Allah all his favors and all his blessings."
Then Noureddine once more kissed the hand of the vizier, her father-in-law, and entered his wife's apartment. And it happened what happened!
So much for Noureddine!
As for his brother Chamseddine, in Cairo… here it is. When the journey that he made with the Sultan of Egypt, going to the side of the Pyramids and from there elsewhere, was finished, he returned home. And he was very worried about not finding his brother Noureddine. He asked about him from the servants, who replied: "When you left with the sultan, the same day our master Noureddine mounted his harnessed mule in great pomp as for the days of procession, and said to us: "I am going somewhere near Qalyub, and I will be away for a day or two because I feel that my chest is tight and that it needs a little air. But let none of you follow me! And from that day until now, we haven't heard from him."
Then Chamseddine was very saddened by the absence of his brother, and his pain grew stronger day by day, and he ended up feeling the most extreme affliction. And he thought: “Certainly, there is no other cause for this departure than the harsh words I said to him the day before my journey with the Sultan. And that's probably what made him run away from me. So I must repair my wrongs towards this good brother, and send in search of him."
And Chamseddine immediately went up to the sultan and informed him of the situation. And the Sultan caused envelopes to be written sealed with his seal, and sent them, by couriers on horseback, in all directions, to all his lieutenants in all the countries, telling them, in these envelopes, that Noureddine had disappeared and that you had to look for it everywhere.
But, some time later, all the couriers returned, without result, because not one had gone to Basra, where Noureddine was. Then Chamseddine lamented on the verge of lamentations and said to himself: “It is all my fault! And that only happened because of my lack of discernment and tact!"
But, as everything has an end, Chamseddine consoled himself at the end, and after some time he became engaged to the daughter of one of the big merchants of Cairo, and made his marriage contract with this young girl, and married her. And it happened what happened!
Now, there was this coincidence that the very night of Chamseddine's penetration into the nuptial chamber was precisely that of Noureddine's penetration, at Basra, into the room of his wife, the vizier's daughter. But it is Allah who allowed this coincidence of the marriage of the two brothers on the same night, to make it clear that he is the master of the destiny of his creatures!
Moreover, everything happened as the two brothers had planned before their quarrel, namely that the two wives were pregnant the same night, and gave birth the same day, at the same time: the wife of Chamseddine, vizier of Egypt, gave birth to a girl who had not her second in beauty in all Egypt; and the wife of Noureddine, in Basra, gave birth to a son who had no second in beauty in the whole world of his time! As the poet says:
The child!... He is nice! and handsome! and its size!…
Drink from its mouth! drink this mouth and forget the full cups and the overflowing vases!
To drink from his lips, to quench his thirst in the freshness of his cheeks,
To admire himself at the springs of his eyes, oh! and forget the purple of the wines, their aromas, their flavor, and all the intoxication!
If Beauty herself came to face this child, Beauty would lower her head in confusion!
And if you asked her: “O Beauty! what do you think? Have you ever seen his equal?
She would answer: "Like him?" in truth, never!"
Noureddine's son, because of his beauty, was named Hassan Badreddine.
His birth was an occasion of great public rejoicing. And on the seventh day after his birth, there were feasts and banquets truly worthy of the sons of kings.
Once the celebrations were over, the vizier of Basra took Noureddine and went up with him to the sultan. Then Noureddine kissed the earth in the hands of the sultan, and, as he was endowed with great eloquence of language, a valiant heart, and very keen on the beauties of literature, he recited to the sultan these verses of the poet:
It is he before whom the greatest of benefactors bows and effaces himself;
For he has won the hearts of all chosen beings!
I sing his works because they are not works, but things so beautiful
That one should be able to make a necklace out of them that would adorn the neck!
And if I kiss the tips of his fingers, it's because they are no longer fingers,
But the keys of all benefits.
The sultan, delighted with these verses, was very generous with gifts to Noureddine and the vizier, his father-in-law, without knowing a word of Noureddine's marriage, or even of his existence; for he asked the vizier after having complimented Noureddine on his beautiful verses: "Who is this eloquent and handsome young man?"
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.*