Part 27

Schemseddin Mohammed returned to his daughter’s chamber more astonished than before. Well, then, my abused daughter, said he, can you give me no farther light into this matter? --Sir, said she, I can give you no other account than what I have done already. Here are my husband’s clothes, which he left upon the chair; perhaps you may find somewhat there, that may solve your doubt. Then she showed him Bedreddin’s turban, which he took and examined narrowly on all sides. I should take this to be a vizier’s turban, if it were not made after the Moussoul [61] fashion. But perceiving somewhat to be sewed between the stuff and the lining, he called for scissors, and having unript it, found the paper which Nourreddin Ali gave Bedreddin, his son, as he was dying, and which he had put into his turban for more security.

Schemseddin Mohammed having opened the paper, knew his brother Nourreddin’s hand, and found this superscription, ‘For my son, Bedreddin Hassan.’ Before he could make any reflections upon it, his daughter delivered him the bag that lay under his clothes, which he likewise opened, and found it full of sequins; for, as I told you before, notwithstanding all the liberality of Bedreddin, it was still kept full by the genie and fairy. He read these following words upon a note in the bag: ‘A thousand sequins belonging to Isaac the Jew.’ And these lines underneath, which the Jew wrote before he parted from Bedreddin Hassan. ‘Delivered to Bedreddin Hassan, for the cargo of the first of those ships that formerly belonged to Nourreddin Ali, his father, of worthy memory, sold unto me upon its arrival in this place.’ He had scarce read these words, when he gave a shout, and fainted away.

The vizier, Schemseddin Mohammed, being recovered from his fit by the help of his daughter, and the woman she called to her assistance. Daughter, said he, do not frighten yourself at this accident; the reason of it is such as you can scarcely believe. Your bridegroom is your cousin, the son of Nourreddin Ali. The thousand sequins in the bag puts me in mind of a quarrel I had with my dear brother; it is, without doubt, the dowry he gives you. God be praised for all things, and particularly for this miraculous adventure, which demonstrates his almighty power. Then looking again upon his brother’s writing, he kissed it several times, shedding abundance of tears.

He looked over the book from one end to the other, where he found the date of his brother’s arrival at Balsora, of his marriage, and of the birth of Bedreddin Hassan; and when he compared the same with the day of his own marriage, and the birth of his daughter at Cairo, he admired how every thing did agree so exactly.

The happy discovery put him into such a transport of joy, that he took up the book, with the ticket of the bag, and showed it to the sultan, who pardoned what was past, and was so much pleased with the relation of this adventure, that he caused it, with all its circumstances, to be put in writing for the use of posterity.

Meanwhile, the vizier Schemseddin Mohammed could not comprehend the reason why his nephew did not appear; he expected him every moment, and was impatient to have him in his arms. After he had expected him seven days in vain, he searched for him through all Cairo, but could hear no news of him, which perplexed him very much. This is the strangest adventure, said he, that ever man met with, and not knowing what alteration might happen, he thought fit to draw up in writing with his own hand, after what manner the wedding had been solemnized; how the hall and his daughter’s bed-chamber were furnished, and other circumstances. He likewise made the turban, the bag, and the rest of Bedreddin’s things, into a bundle, and locked them up.

After some days were past, the vizier’s daughter perceived herself with child, and was brought to bed of a son after nine months. A nurse was provided for the child, besides other women and slaves to wait upon him; and his grandfather called him Agib. [62]

When young Agib had attained the age of seven, the vizier, instead of teaching him to read at home, put him to school with a master, who was in great esteem; and two slaves were ordered to wait upon him. Agib used to play with his schoolfellows, and as they were all inferior to him in quality, they showed him great respect, according to the example of their master, who many times would pass by faults in him, that he would not pass by in the rest. This complaisance spoiled Agib, so that he became proud and insolent, would have his playfellows bear all from him, and would bear nothing from them, but be master every where; and if any one took the liberty to thwart him, he would call them a thousand names, and many times beat them.

In short, all the scholars were weary of his company, and complained of him to their master. He answered, that they must have patience. But when he saw that Agib still grew more and more insolent, and occasioned him a great deal of trouble, Children, said he to his scholars, I find Agib is a little insolent gentleman; I will show you a way how to mortify him, so as he shall never torment you any more: nay, I believe it will make him leave the school. When he comes again to-morrow, and that you have a mind to play together, set yourselves round him, and do one of you call out, Come, let us play, but upon condition, that they who desire to play shall tell his own name, and the names of his father and mother, and they who refuse it shall be esteemed bastards, and not suffered to play in our company.

Next day, when they were gathered together, they failed not to follow their master’s instructions; they placed themselves round Agib, and one of them called out, Let us begin a play, but on condition, that he who cannot tell his own name, and that of his father and mother, shall not play at all. They all cried out, and so did Agib, We consent to it. Then he that spoke first asked every one the question, and all fulfilled the condition except Agib, who answered, my name is Agib; my mother is called the lady of beauty, and my father Schemseddin Mohammed, vizier to the sultan.

At these words all the children cried out, Agib, what did you say? That is not the name of your father, but your grandfather. A curse on you, said he in a passion; what! dare you say that the vizier Schemseddin Mohammed is not my father? No, no, cried they, with great laughter, he is but your grandfather, and you shall not play with us. Nay, we will take care how we come into your company. Having spoken thus, they all left him, scoffing him, and laughing among themselves, which mortified Agib so much that he wept.

This schoolmaster, who was near, and heard all that passed, came just at the nick of time, and speaking to Agib, said he, Agib, do not you know that the vizier Schemseddin Mohammed is none of your father, but your grandfather, and the father of your mother, the lady of beauty? We know not the name of your father no more than you do. We only know that the sultan was going to marry your mother to one of his grooms, a hump-back fellow; but a genie lay with her. This is hard upon you, and ought to teach you to treat your schoolfellows with less haughtiness than you have done hitherto.

Little Agib being nettled at this, ran hastily out of the school, and went home crying. He came straight to his mother’s chamber, who being alarmed to see him thus grieved, asked him the reason. He could not answer for tears, his grief was so great; and it was but now and then he could speak plain enough to repeat what had been said to him, and occasioned his sorrow.

When he came to himself, Mother, said he, for the love of God be pleased to tell me who is my father. My son, said she, Schemseddin Mohammed, that every day makes so much of you, is your father. You do not tell me truth, said he; he is your father, and none of mine. But whose son am I? At this question, the lady of beauty calling to mind her wedding-night, which had been succeeded by a long widowhood, began to shed tears, repining bitterly at the loss of so lovely a husband as Bedreddin.

Whilst the lady of beauty and Agib were both weeping, in comes the vizier, who demanded the reason of their sorrow. The lady told him the shame Agib had undergone at school, which so much affected the vizier, that he joined his tears with theirs, and judging from this, that the misfortune which had happened to his daughter was the common discourse of the town, he was quite out of patience.

Being thus afflicted, he went to the sultan’s palace, and falling prostrate at his feet, most humbly prayed him to give him leave to make a journey into the provinces of the Levant, and particularly to Balsora, in search of his nephew Bedreddin Hassan. For he could not bear any longer that the people of the city should believe a genie had got his daughter with child.

The sultan was much concerned at the vizier’s affliction, approved his resolution, and gave him leave to go. He caused a passport also to be written for him, praying, in the most obliging terms that could be, all kings and princes, in whose dominions the said Bedreddin might sojourn, to grant that the vizier might bring him along with him.

Schemseddin Mohammed, not knowing how to express his thankfulness to the sultan for this favour, thought it his duty to fall down before him a second time, and the floods of tears he shed gave him sufficient testimony of his gratitude. At last, having wished the sultan all manner of prosperity, he took his leave, and went home to his house, where he disposed every thing for his journey; and the preparations for it were carried on with so much diligence, that in four days after he left the city, accompanied by his daughter the lady of beauty, and his grandson, Agib.

They travelled nineteen days without stopping any where; but on the twentieth, arriving in a very pleasant mead, at a small distance from the gate of Damascus, they stopped there, and pitched their tents upon the banks of a river, that runs through the town, and gives a very agreeable prospect to its neighbourhood.

The vizier Schemseddin Mohammed declared he would stay in that pleasant place two days, and pursue his journey on the third. In the mean time he gave leave to his retinue to go to Damascus: and almost all of them made use of it: some influenced by curiosity to see a city they had heard so much of, and others by the opportunity of vending there the Egyptian goods they had brought with them, or buying stuffs, and the rarities of the country. The beautiful lady desiring her son Agib might share in the satisfaction of viewing that celebrated city, ordered the black eunuch that acted in quality of his governor, to conduct him thither, and take care he came to no harm.

Agib, in magnificent apparel, went along with the eunuch, who had a large cane in his hand. They had no sooner entered the city, than Agib, fair and glorious as the day, attracted the eyes of the people. Some got out of their houses to gain a nearer and narrower view of him; others put their heads out of the windows, and those who passed along the street were not satisfied in stopping to look upon him; but kept pace with him, to prolong the pleasure of the agreeable sight: in fine, there was nobody that did not admire him, and bestow a thousand benedictions on the father and mother that had given being to so fine a child. By chance the eunuch and he passed by the shop where Bedreddin Hassan was, and there the crowd was so great, that they were forced to halt.

The pastrycook, that had adopted Bedreddin Hassan, had died some years before, and left him his shop and all his estates. So Bedreddin became master of the shop, and managed the pastry trade so dexterously, that he gained great reputation in Damascus. Bedreddin seeing so great a crowd before his door, that were gazing so attentively upon Agib, and the black eunuch, stepped out to see them himself; and having cast his eyes particularly upon Agib, presently found himself moved, he knew not how, nor why. He was not struck, like the people, with the brilliant beauty of the boy: another cause, unknown to him, gave rise to the uneasiness and emotion he felt. It was the force of blood that wrought in this tender father; who laying aside his business, made up to Agib, and with an engaging air, said to him: My little lord, who hast won my soul, be so kind as to come into my shop, and eat a bit of such fare as I have; that I may have the pleasure of admiring you at my ease. These words he pronounced with such tenderness, that tears trickled from his eyes. Little Agib was moved when he saw it, and turning to the eunuch, This honest man, said he, has a face that pleases me; he speaks in such an affectionate manner, that I cannot avoid complying with his request; let us step into his house and taste his pastry. It would be a fine thing truly, replied the slave, to see the son of a vizier, like you, go into a pastrycook’s shop to eat; do not imagine that I will suffer any such thing. --Alas! my little lord, cried Bedreddin, it is a great piece of cruelty to trust the conduct of you in the hands of a person who treats you so harshly. Then applying himself to the eunuch, My good friend, continued he, pray do not hinder this young lord from granting me the favour I ask; do not put that piece of mortification upon me: rather do me the honour to walk in along with him, and by so doing, you will let the world know, that, though your outside is brown like a chestnut, your inside is as white. Do you know, continued he, that I am master of the secret to make you white, instead of being black as you are? This set the eunuch a laughing, and then he asked Bedreddin what that secret was. I will tell you, replied Bedreddin, and so he repeated some verses in praise of black eunuchs, implying, that it was by their ministry that the honour of princes and of all great men was secured. The eunuch was so charmed with these verses, that, without further hesitation, he suffered Agib to go into the shop, and went in with him himself.

Bedreddin Hassan was overjoyed in having obtained what he had so passionately desired, and falling again to the work he had thus discontinued, I was making, said he, cream-tarts; and you must, with submission, eat of them. I am persuaded you will find them very good; for my own mother, who makes them incomparably well, taught me to make them, and the people send to buy them of me from all quarters of the town. This said, he took a cream tart out of the oven, and after strewing upon it some pomegranate kernels and sugar, set it before Agib, who found it very delicious.

Another was served up to the eunuch, and he gave the same judgment.

While they were both eating, Bedreddin Hassan minded Agib very attentively; and after looking upon him again and again, it came into his mind, that for any thing he knew, he might have such a son by his charming wife, from whom he had been so soon and so cruelly separated; and the very thought drew tears from his eyes. He was thinking to have put some question to little Agib about his journey to Damascus; but the child had no time to gratify his curiosity, for the eunuch pressing him to return to his grandfather’s tents, took him away as soon as he had done eating. Bedreddin Hassan, not contented with looking after him, shut up his shop immediately, and went after him.

Bedreddin Hassan ran after Agib and the eunuch, and overtook them before they were got to the gate of the city. The eunuch perceiving he followed them was extremely surprised. You impertinent fellow, you, said he, with an angry tone, what do you want? My dear friend, replied Bedreddin, do not you trouble yourself. I have a little business out of town, that is just come into my head, and I must needs go and look after it. This answer, however, did not at all satisfy the eunuch, who, turning to Agib, said, This is all owing to you; I foresaw I should repent of my complaisance; you would needs go into the man’s shop --it was not wisely done in me to give you leave. Perhaps, replied Agib, he has real business out of town, and the road is free to every body. While this passed, they kept walking together, without looking behind them, till they came near the vizier’s tents, upon which they turned about to see if Bedreddin followed them. Agib, perceiving he was within two paces of him, reddened and whitened alternately, according to the different emotions that affected him. He was afraid the grand vizier, his grandfather, should come to know he had been in the pastry shop, and had eaten there. In this dread, he took up a pretty large stone that lay at his foot, and throwing it at Bedreddin Hassan, hit him in the forehead, which gave him such a wound, that his face was covered with blood. Then he took to his heels, and ran under the eunuch’s tent. The eunuch gave Bedreddin to understand, he had no reason to complain of a mischance that he had merited and brought upon himself.

Bedreddin turned towards the city, stanching the blood of this wound with his apron, which he had not put off. I was a fool, said he within himself, for leaving my house, to take so much pains about this brat; for doubtless he would never have used me after this manner, if he had not thought I had some ill design against him. When he got home, he had his wound dressed, and softened the sense of his mischance by the reflection, that there was an infinite number of people upon the earth that were yet more unfortunate than he.

Bedreddin kept on the pastry trade at Damascus, and his uncle, Schemseddin Mohammed, went from thence three days after his arrival. He went by way of Emaus, Hanah, and Halep; then crossed the Euphrates, and, after passing through Mardin, Moussoul, Singier, Diarbeker, and several other towns, arrived at last at Balsora; and immediately after his arrival, desired audience of the sultan, who was no sooner informed of Schemseddin’s quality than he gave him audience, received him very favourably, and asked him the occasion of his journey to Balsora. Sir, replied the vizier Schemseddin Mohammed, I come to know what is become of the son of Nourreddin Ali, my brother, who has had the honour to serve your majesty. Nourreddin Ali, said the sultan, has been dead a long while; as for his son, all I can tell you of him is, that he disappeared all on a sudden, about two months after his father’s death, and nobody has seen him since, notwithstanding all the inquiry I ordered to be made. But his mother, who is daughter of one of my vizier’s, is still alive. Schemseddin Mohammed desired leave of the sultan to see her, and carry her to Egypt; and having obtained his request, without tarrying till the next day for the satisfaction of seeing her, inquired after her place of abode, and that very hour went to her house, accompanied with his daughter and his grandson.

The widow of Nourreddin Ali lived still in the same place where her husband had lived. It was a fine stately house, adorned with marble pillars; but Schemseddin did not stop to view it. At his entry, he kissed the gate, and the piece of marble upon which his brother’s name was written in letters of gold. He asked to speak with his sister-in-law, and was told by her servants that she was in a small building in form of a dome, which they showed to him, in the middle of a very spacious court. This tender mother used to spend the greatest part of the day and night in that room, which she had built for a representation of the tomb of Bedreddin Hassan, whom she took to be dead after so long absence. At that very minute she was pouring tears over the thoughts of that dear child, and Schemseddin Mohammed entering, found her buried in the deepest affliction.

He made his compliment, and after beseeching her to suspend her tears and sighs, informed her, he had the honour to be her brother-in-law, and acquainted her with the reason of his journey from Cairo to Balsora. He also acquainted his sister-in-law with all that had passed at Cairo on his daughter’s wedding night, and after informing her of the surprise occasioned by the discovery of the paper sewed up in Bedreddin’s turban, presented to her Agib and the beautiful Lady.

The widow of Nourreddin Ali, who had still continued sitting like a woman dejected and weaned from the affairs of this world, no sooner understood by his discourse that her dear son, whom she lamented so bitterly, might still be alive, than she arose, and repeatedly embraced the beautiful lady and her grandchild, Agib, and perceiving in the youth the features of Bedreddin, shed tears of a quite different stamp from what she had been so long accustomed to shed. She could not forbear kissing the youth, who, for his part, received her embraces with all the demonstrations of joy he was capable of. Madam, said Schemseddin Mohammed, it is time to wipe off your tears, and cease your groans; you must think of going along with us to Egypt. The sultan of Balsora gives me leave to carry you thither, and I doubt not you will agree to it. I am in hopes we shall at last find out your son, my nephew; and if that comes to pass, the history of him, of you, of my own daughter, and of my own adventures, will deserve to be committed to writing, and transmitted to posterity.

The widow of Nourreddin Ali heard this proposal with pleasure, and from that minute, ordered preparations to be made for her departure. While that was doing, Schemseddin Mohammed desired a second audience; and after taking leave of the sultan, who dismissed him with ample marks of respect, and gave him a considerable present for himself and another of great value for the sultan of Egypt, set out from Balsora for the city of Damascus.

When he arrived in the neighbourhood of Damascus, he ordered his tents to be pitched without the gate, at which he designed to enter the city; and gave out he would tarry there three days, to give his suite rest, and buy up the best curiosities he could meet with, and such as were worthy of being presented to the sultan of Egypt.

While he was employed in looking upon and picking out the finest stuffs that the principal merchants had brought to his tents, Agib begged the black eunuch, his governor, to carry him through the city, in order to see what he had not leisure to view as he passed before, and to know what was become of the pastry cook that he had wounded with a stone. The eunuch complying with his request, went along with him towards the city, after leave obtained of the beautiful lady his mother.

They entered Damascus by the Paradise gate, which lay next to the tents of the vizier Schemseddin Mohammed. --They walked through the great squares and the public places where the richest goods were sold, and took a view of the ancient mosque of the Ommiadæ, [63] at the hour of prayer, between noon and sunset. [64] After that they passed by the shop of Bedreddin Hassan, whom they found still employed in making cream tarts. I salute you, sir, said Agib. Do you know me? do you remember you ever saw me before? Bedreddin, hearing these words, cast his eyes upon him, and knowing him, (such was the surprising effect of paternal love!) felt the same emotion as when he saw him first of all. He was confused, and, instead of making an answer, continued a long time without uttering one word. But after all, recovering himself, My little lord, said he, be so kind as to come once more with your governor into my house, and taste a cream tart, I beg your lordship’s pardon for the trouble I gave you in following you out of town; I was at that time not myself, I did not know what I did. You drew me after you, and the violence of the attraction was so strong, that I could not withstand it.