THE STORY OF THE VIZIER NOUREDINE, HIS BROTHER THE VIZIER CHAMSEDDINE, AND HASSAN BADREDDINE
Harun al-Rashid
Source
El-Hosn has a son that was named Agib. At age 12, Agib discovers that he does not know who his father is.
Then Chamseddine leaves Cairo with his daughter and grandson, in search of Hassan Badreddine.
Note:
- Agib means Marvelous
ON THE TWELFTH NIGHT
Sheherazade said:
It has come to me, O fortunate King, that Jia'far Al-Barmaki, vizier of King Harun Al-Rashid, continued the story to the caliphate as thus:
When the vizier Chamseddine saw that his nephew Hassan Badreddine had disappeared, he said to himself: “He is prudent, because the world is made up of life and death! that I take my precautions so that, on his return, my nephew Hassan can see the house in the same state in which he left it!" The vizier Chamseddine, therefore, took a writing desk and a reed pen and a sheet of paper, and wrote down, object by object, all the things and all the furniture in his house. Thus he wrote: “Such a cupboard is situated in such a place, such a curtain is in such a place”, and so on… When he had finished, he sealed the paper after having read it to his daughter Sett El-Hosn and put it carefully in the paper box. After that, he picked up the turban, the bonnet, the breeches, the robe, and the purse, and made a bundle of them, which he locked up with great care.
As for Sett El-Hosn, the vizier's daughter, she became pregnant after her first wedding night; and, after nine full months, she gave birth to a full-term son like the moon, who looked just like his father in every way, just as handsome! so nice! so perfect! When he was born, the women cleaned him and blackened his eyes with kohl; then they cut his cord and confided him to the maids and the nurse. And, because of his surprising beauty, he was named Agib.
When the admirable Agib had reached, day by day, month by month, year by year, the age of seven, the vizier Chamseddine, his ancestor, sent him to the school of a highly reputed master, and he highly recommended him to this schoolmaster. And Agib, every day, accompanied by the black slave Said, his father's good eunuch, went to school, to return home at noon and in the evening. And he went to school thus for five years, until he was thus twelve years old. But, meanwhile, Agib had made himself unbearable to the other children in the school; he beat them and insulted them and said to them: "Which of you is like me?" I am the son of the vizier of Egypt! In the end, the children got together and went to complain to the schoolmaster about Agib's bad behavior. Then the schoolmaster, who saw that the exhortations to the vizier's son were in vain and who, because of his father the vizier, himself did not want to send him away, said to the children: "I am going to teach you something that you will tell him, and who will henceforth prevent him from returning to school. So tomorrow, during game time, all gather around Agib and say to each other: “By Allah! we are going to play a very interesting game! But no one can take part in this game unless they say their name and the name of their father and mother out loud! Because whoever cannot say the name of his father and his mother will be considered an adulterine son and will not be able to play with us!"
Also, in the morning, when Agib arrived at school, the children gathered around him, consulted among themselves, and one of them exclaimed: “Ah, really yes! it's a wonderful game! But no one will be able to play this game unless they say their name and the name of their father and mother! Let's go! One after another! And he winked at them.
Then one of the children came forward and said: “My name is Nabih! My mother's name is Nabiha! And my father's name is Izeddine!" Then another came forward and said: "My name is Naguib! My mother's name is Gamila! And my father's name is Mustapha!" Then the third and the fourth and others also said the same way. When Agib's turn came, Agib very proudly said: "I am Agib! My mother is Sett El-Hosn! And my father is Chamseddine, vizier of Egypt!"
Then the children all cried out: “No, by Allah! the vizier is not your father!" And Agib furiously exclaimed: “May Allah confuse you! The vizier is my father, indeed!" But the children began to giggle and clap their hands, and turned their backs on him, shouting: “Go away! you don't know your father's name! Chamseddine is not your father! He's your grandfather, your mother's father! You will not play with us!" And the children burst out laughing.
Then Agib felt his chest shrink, and was choked with sobs! But immediately the schoolmaster approached him and said to him: "How, Agib, do you not yet know that the vizier is not your father, but your grandfather, the father of your mother Sett El-Hosn! As for your father, neither you, nor us, nor anyone knows him. For the sultan had married Sett El-Hosn to the hunchbacked groom; but the groom could not sleep with Sett El-Hosn, and he told all over the town that, on his wedding night, the people had locked him in, the groom, to sleep with Sett El-Hosn. And he also told amazing stories of buffaloes and donkeys and dogs and other beings similar. So, Agib, no one knows your father's name! So be humble before Allah and your comrades who consider you an adulterine son. Besides, Agib, you are absolutely in the same situation as a child sold on the market who does not know his father. Again, know that Vizier Chamseddine is your grandfather only, and your father is unknown. So be modest from now on."
At this speech of the schoolmaster, little Agib fled running to his mother Sett El-Hosn, and he was so choked with tears that he could not at first articulate anything. Then his mother began to console him, and, seeing him so moved, her heart melted with pity, and she said to him: “My child, tell your mother the cause of this sorrow! and she kissed him and caressed him. Then little Agib said to her: “Tell me, my mother, who is my father?" And Sett El-Hosn, greatly astonished, said to him: "But it's the vizier!" And Agib answered him, crying: “Oh, no! he is not my father! Don't hide the truth from me! The vizier is your father, yours! But he is not my father! No! no! Tell me the truth or I'll kill myself right now with this dagger!" And little Agib repeated to his mother the words of the schoolmaster.
So, in memory of her cousin and husband, the beautiful Sett El-Hosn began to remember her first wedding night and all the beauty and charms of the wonderful Hassan Badreddine El-Basri! And, at this memory, she wept with emotion, and sighed these stanzas:
He kindled the desire in my heart and went away! He went out of the house!
My poor departed reason will not return until it returns!
But I, meanwhile, have lost the soothing sleep and all my patience!
He left me, and with him my happiness left me, and he deprived me of peace!
And since then I have lost all rest!
He left me, and the tears in my eyes mourn his absence;
They flow and their streams would fill the seas;
That one day may pass without my desire to bring me back to him,
Without my heart beating with the pain of his absence,
Immediately his image rises in front of me, rises in front of my soul,
And I redouble my love, desires, and memories!
Oh! It is always he whose beloved image presents itself first to my eyes from the first hour of the day!
And it is always thus, for I have no other thoughts, nor other loves!
Then she just sobbed. And Agib, seeing his mother crying, also began to cry. And, while each was crying on his side, the vizier Chamseddine, hearing cries and tears entered. And he was also greatly tormented and heartbroken when he saw his children weeping thus, and he said to them: “My children, why are you weeping thus?" So Sett El-Hosn told him about little Agib's adventure with the school children. And the vizier, at this story, remembered all the past misfortunes, which had already happened to him, to his brother Noureddine, to his nephew Hassan Badreddine and finally to little Agib, and, with all these memories put together, he could not prevent himself from crying too. And, in despair, he went up to the sultan, told him the whole story, told him that this situation could not last for his name and the name of his children, and asked his permission to leave for the countries of the Levant to reach the city of Basra where he intended to find his nephew Hassan Badreddine. Then he also asked the sultan to write him decrees that he would take with him and which would allow him, in all the countries where he would go, to do the necessary research to find and bring back his nephew. Then he began to cry bitterly. And the sultan had his heart touched and wrote to him the necessary decrees for all the countries and all the provinces. Then the vizier greatly rejoiced, and made many thanks to the sultan and also many wishes for his greatness, and prostrated himself, kissing the earth between his hands; then he took his leave and went out. And that very hour he made the necessary preparations for departure; then he took his daughter Sett El-Hosn and little Agib, and left.
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.*
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