THE STORY OF THE VIZIER NOUREDINE, HIS BROTHER THE VIZIER CHAMSEDDINE, AND HASSAN BADREDDINE
Harun al-Rashid
Source
On their way to Basra, Chamseddine, El-Hosn, and Agib stop for two days near Damascus.
And, by chance, Agib meets his father Hassan Badreddine, and enters his pastry shop.
ON THE THIRTEENTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
The vizier Chamseddine made the necessary preparations for departure; then he took his daughter Sett El-Hosn and little Agib, and left.
They marched the first day, then the second day, and the third day and so on, in the direction of Damascus, and finally they arrived safely in Damascus. And they stopped near the gates, at Midan of Hasba, and pitched their tents there to rest for two days before continuing their journey. And they found that Damascus was a wonderful city, full of trees and running waters and that it was indeed the city sung by the poet:
In Damascus, I spent a day and a night. Damascus!
Its creator swore that he would never again be able to do such work!
The night covers Damascus with its wings, lovingly.
And the morning spreads over her the shade of thick trees.
The dew on the branches of its trees is not dew, but pearls, pearls snowing as the breeze shakes them!
There, in its groves, it is nature that does everything:
The bird does its morning reading; living water is the open white page;
The breeze answers and writes under the dictation of the bird,
And the white clouds rain down their drops for writing!
Also, the people of the vizier did not fail to visit the city and its souks to buy the things they needed and also to sell the items brought back from Egypt; and they did not fail to take baths in the famous hammams and to go to the mosque of the Bani-Ommiah, located in the center of the city and which has no equal in the whole world.
As for Agib, he too, accompanied by the good eunuch Saïd, went to amuse himself in town. And the eunuch walked a few paces behind him, and had in his hand a whip capable of knocking out a camel; for he knew the inhabitants of Damascus by reputation, and wished with this whip to prevent them from approaching the pretty Agib, his master. And, indeed, he was not mistaken; for no sooner had they seen fair Agib than the people of Damascus noticed how graceful and charming he was, and that he was sweeter than the northern breeze, sweeter in taste than cool water in the palate of the weathered, more exquisite than health to the convalescent; and immediately all the people in the street and the houses and shops began to run after Agib and the eunuch, and follow Agib all the time without leaving him, despite the great whip of the eunuch; and others ran even faster, passed Agib, and sat down on the ground in his path to contemplate him better and longer. Finally, by the will of Fate, Agib and the eunuch arrived in front of a pastry shop, and, to escape this indiscreet crowd, they stopped.
However, this shop was precisely that of Hassan Badreddine, father of Agib. The old baker, Hassan's adoptive father, had died, and Hassan had inherited the shop. So that day, Hassan was cooking a delicious dish with pomegranate seeds and other sweet and tasty things. Also, when he saw Agib and the slave stop, Hassan was charmed by the beauty of little Agib, and not only charmed, but moved in a divine and quite cordial and quite extraordinary way, and he cried full of love: "O my young lord, you who have just conquered my heart and who already reign over my intimate being, you towards whom I feel attracted from the depths of my entrails, can you do me the honor to enter my shop? can you give me the pleasure of tasting my sweets, simply out of compassion?" And at these words, Hassan, despite himself, had his eyes filled with tears, and he wept a lot at the memory that came back to him at the same time of his past situation and his present fate.
When Agib heard his father's words, his heart also softened, and he turned to the slave and said to him: "Saïd! this pastry chef has just softened my heart. I imagine that he must have left a child of his own far away and that I remind him of that child. So let's go to his house to please him and taste what he wants to offer us. And, if we sympathize with his pain in this way, it is likely that Allah will have mercy on us and will make us successful in our turn in our search for my father!"
At the words of Agib, the eunuch Saïd exclaimed: “By Allah! O my master, it is really not necessary! Oh! no way! It does not become the son of a vizier to enter the shop of a pastry chef in the souk and especially to eat, like that, publicly! Ah! No! However, if it is for fear of these rascals and these people who follow you that you want to enter this shop, I will know how to drive them away and defend you against them with this good whip! As for entering the shop, no, really, never!"
At the words of the eunuch, the pastry chef Hassan Badreddine was very affected, and he turned to the eunuch with tears in his eyes and flushed cheeks, and said to him: “O great! why do you not want to sympathize and give me the pleasure of entering my shop? O you who are black as a chestnut, but white inside like her! O you whom all our poets have praised with admirable verses, I can reveal to you the secret of becoming as white outside as you are inside!" Then the brave eunuch laughed a lot and exclaimed: “Really? Really? Can you? And how then? By Allah! hasten to tell me!" Hassan Badreddine immediately recited to him admirable verses in praise of the eunuchs:
It was his exquisite politeness and gentleness of manner and nobility of bearing
That made him the respected guardian of the houses of kings!
For the harem, what an incomparable servant he is!
Because of his kindness, the angels of heaven, in turn, descend to serve him!
These verses were, indeed, so marvelous and so apt and so well recited, that the eunuch was touched and also enormously flattered; and, taking Agib's hand, he went with him into the pastry shop.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.*
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