Chapter 24

Schemseddin rose very early next morning, and goes to the palace to attend the sultan, who went to hunt about Cairo, near the pyramids. As for Noureddin, he was very uneasy all night, and considering that it would not be possible for him to live longer with a brother who treated him with so much haughtiness, he provided a good mule, furnished himself with money, jewels, provisions, and victuals; and having told his people that he was going a private journey for two or three days, he departed. When he was out of Cairo, he rode by the desert toward Arabia; but his mule happening to tire by the way, he was forced to pursue his journey on foot. A courier that was going to Balsora, by good fortune overtaking him, took him up behind him. As soon as the courier came to Balsora, Noureddin alighted, and returned him thanks for his kindness. As he went about to seek for a lodging, he saw a person of quality, with a great retinue, coming along, to whom all the people showed a mighty respect, and stood still till he passed by, Noureddin stopping among the rest. This was the grand vizier to the sultan of Balsora, who walked through the city, to see that the inhabitants kept good order and discipline. This minister, casting his eye by chance on Noureddin, and finding something extraordinary in his aspect, looked very attentively upon him, and as he came near him, and saw him in a traveller's habit, he stood still, asked him who he was, and from whence he came? Sir, said Noureddin, I am an Egyptian, born at Cairo, and have left my country, because of the unkindness of a near relation, and am resolved to travel through the world, and rather to die than return home again. The grand vizier, who was a reverend old gentleman, after hearing those words, says to him, Son, beware, do not pursue your design; there is nothing but misery in the world; you are not sensible of the hardships you must endure; come follow me, I may perhaps make you forget the thing that has forced you to leave your own country. Noureddin followed the grand vizier, who soon perceived his good qualities, and fell so much in love with him, that one day he said to him in private, My son, I am, as you see, so far gone in years, that there is no likelihood I shall live much longer. Heaven has bestowed only one daughter upon me, who is beautiful as you are handsome, and now fit for marriage. Several people of the greatest quality at this court have desired her for their sons, but I could not grant their request. I have a love for you, and think you so worthy to be received into my family, that, preferring you before all those that have sought her, I am ready to accept you for my son-in-law. If you like the proposal, I will acquaint the sultan my master that I have adopted you by this marriage, and will pray him to grant you the reversion of my dignity of grand vizier in the kingdom, of Balsora. In the meantime, nothing being more requisite for me than ease in my old age, I will not put you in possession of my estate, but leave the administration of public affairs to your management. Having made an end of this kind and generous proposal, Noureddin fell at his feet, and expressing himself in terms that demonstrated his joy and gratitude, told the vizier that he was at his command in every thing. Upon this the vizier sent for his chief domestics, ordered them to furnish the great hall of his palace, and to prepare a great feast. He afterwards sent to invite the nobility of the court and city to honour him with their company, and when they were all met, (Noureddin having now told him who he was,) he said to those lords, for he thought it proper to speak thus on purpose to satisfy such of them to whom he had refused his alliance: I am now, my lords, to discover a thing to you which I have hitherto kept a secret. I have a brother who is grand vizier to the sultan of Egypt, as I am to the sultan of this kingdom. This brother has but one son, whom he would not marry in the court of Egypt, but sent him hither to marry my daughter, that both our branches may be reunited. His son, whom I knew to be my nephew as soon as I saw him, is the young gentleman whom I here present to you, and is to be my son-in-law. I hope you will do me the honour to be present at his wedding, which I am resolved to celebrate this day. The noblemen, who could not take it ill that he preferred his nephew before all the great matches that had been proposed to him, said, that he had very good reasons, for what he did, were willing to be witnesses to the ceremony, and wished that God might prolong his days to enjoy the satisfaction of the happy match.

The lords met at the vizier's, having testified their satisfaction at the marriage of his daughter with Noureddin, sat down to dinner, which lasted a good while; and the latter course was sweet-meats, of which every one, according to custom, took what he thought fit. The notaries came in with the marriage-contract, when the chief lords signed it; and, after the company departed, the grand vizier ordered his servants to prepare a bagnio, and have every thing else provided for Noureddin in the best manner: When he had washed and dried himself, he was going to put on his former apparel, but had an extraordinary rich suit brought him. Being dressed and perfumed with the most odoriferous essence, he went to see the grand vizier, his father-in-law, who was exceedingly well pleased with his genteel mien; and having made him sit down, My son, said he, you have declared unto me who you are, and the quality you had at the court of Egypt. You have also told me of a difference betwixt you and your brother, which occasioned you to leave your country. I desire you to make me your entire confident, and to acquaint me with the cause of your quarrel; for now you have no reason either to doubt me, or to conceal any thing from me. Noureddin accordingly gave him an account of every circumstance of the quarrel; at which the vizier burst out into a fit of laughter, and said, This is one of the oddest things that I ever heard: Is it possible, my son, that your quarrel should rise so high about an imaginary marriage? I am sorry you fell out with your elder brother upon such a frivolous matter; but I find he is in the wrong to be angry at what you only spoke in jest, and I ought to thank Heaven for that difference which has procured me such a son-in-law. But, said the old gentleman, it is late, and time for you to retire; go to your bride, my son; she expects you; to-morrow I will present you to the sultan, and hope he will receive you in such a manner as shall satisfy us both. Noureddin took leave of his father-in-law, and went to his spouse's apartment. It is remarkable, continued Giafar, that Schemseddin happened also to marry at Cairo the very same day that this marriage was solemnized at Balsora; the particulars are as follow. After Noureddin left Cairo, with an intention never to return, Schemseddin, who was gone a hunting with the sultan of Egypt, did not come back in a month; for the Sultan loved the game extremely, and continued the sport all that while. Schemseddin, on his return, ran to Noureddin's apartment, but was much surprised when he understood, that, under pretence of taking a journey of two or three days, he had gone away on a mule the same day that the sultan went a hunting, and never appeared since. This circumstance vexed him so much the more, beeause he did not doubt that the hard words he had used were the cause of his going away. He sent a messenger in search of him, who went to Damascus, and as far as Aleppo, but Noureddin was then at Balsora. When the courier returned, and brought word that he heard no news of him, Schemseddin intended to make further inquiry after him in other parts; but in the mean time had a fancy to marry, and obtained the daughter of one of the greatest lords in Cairo upon the same day that his brother married the daughter of the grand vizier of Balsora.

But this is not all, said Giafar; at the end of nine months, Schemseddin's wife was delivered of a daughter at Cairo, and on the same day Noureddin's wife had a son at Balsora, who was named Bedreddin Hassan. The grand vizier of Balsora testified his joy for the birth of his grandson by great gifts and public entertainments; and, to show his son-in-law the great esteem he had for him, he went to the palace, and begged the sultan to grant Noureddin his office, that he might have the comfort, before his death, to see his son-in-law made grand vizier his stead. The sultan, who had taken a great liking to Noureddin when his father presented him after his marriage, and had ever since heard every body speak well of him, readily granted his father-in-law's request, and caused Noureddin immediately to put on the robe of a grand vizier. The next day, when the father saw his son-in-law preside in council as he himself had done, and perform all the offices of grand vizier, his joy was complete. Noureddin behaved himself so well in every thing, that one would have thought he had been all his lifetime employed in such affairs. He continued afterwards to assist in council every time when the infirmities of age would not permit his father-in-law to appear. The old gentleman died about four years after, and Noureddin performed the last duties to him with all possible love and gratitude. As soon as his son Bedreddin had attained to seven years of age, he provided him a most excellent tutor, who taught him as became his birth. The child had a ready wit, a genius capable of receiving all the instructions that could be given, and, after having been two years under the tuition of his master, learned the alcoran by heart. His father Noureddin put him afterwards to other tutors, by whom his mind was cultivated to such a degree, that, when he was twelve years of age, he had no more occasion for them; and then, as his physiognomy promised wonders, he was admired by all.

Noureddin had hitherto kept him to his studies, and had not yet brought him into public; but now he carried him to the palace, on purpose to have the honour of kissing the hand of the sultan, who received him very graciously. The people who saw him in the streets were charmed with his genteel mien, and gave him a thousand blessings. His father, purposing to make him capable of supplying his place, spared no cost for that end, brought him up to business of the greatest moment, and in short omitted nothing to advance a son he loved so well. But as he began to enjoy the fruits of his labour, he was all of a sudden taken with a violent fit of sickness; and, finding himself past recovery, disposed himself to die like a good Mussulman. In his last moments he forgot not his son Bedreddin, but called for him, and said, My son, you see this world is transitory; there is nothing durable but that to which I shall speedily go. You must therefore from henceforth begin to fit yourself for this change, as I have done; you must prepare for it without murmuring, so as to have no trouble of conscience for not acting the part of a really honest man. As for your religion, you are sufficiently instructed in it by what you have learned from your tutors, and by your own study. As to what belongs to an honest man, I shall give you some instructions, of which I hope you will make good use; and as it is a necessary thing to know one's self, and you cannot come to that knowledge unless you first understand who I am, I shall now tell you. I am a native of Egypt; my father, your grandfather, was first minister to the sultan of that kingdom. I myself had the honour to be vizier to that same sultan, and so has my brother, your uncle, who, I suppose, is yet alive; his name is Schemseddin. I was obliged to leave him, and come into this country, where I have raised myself to the high dignity which I now enjoy. But you will understand all these matters more fully by a manuscript which I shall leave you. Noureddin pulled out his pocket-book, which he had written with his own hand, and carried always about him, and giving it to Bedreddin, Take it, says he, and read it at your leisure; you will find, among other things, the day of my marriage, and that of your birth; these are such circumstances as perhaps you may hereafter have occasion to know; therefore you must keep it very carefully. Bedreddin, being most afflicted to see his father in that condition, and sensibly touched with his discourse, could not but weep when he received the pocket-book, and promised never to part with it.

That very moment Noureddin fainted, so that it was thought he would have expired; but he came to himself again, and uttered these words: My son, the first instruction I give you is, not to make yourself familiar with all sorts of people. The way to live happy is to keep your mind to yourself, and not tell your thoughts too freely. Secondly, Not to do violence to any body whatever, for in that case you will draw every body's hatred upon you. You ought to consider the world as a creditor, to whom you owe moderation, compassion, and forbearance. Thirdly, Not to say a word when you are reproached; for, as the proverb says, he that keeps silence is out of danger. In this case particularly you ought to practise it. You also know what one of our poets says upon this subject, That silence is the ornament and safeguard of life; and that our speech ought not to be like a storm of rain that spoils all. Never did any man yet repent of having spoken too little, though many have been sorry that they spoke too much. Fourthly, To drink no wine, for that is the source of all vices. Fifthly, To be frugal in your way of living; if you do not squander your estate away, it will maintain you in time of necessity. I do not mean you should be either too liberal or too niggardly; for though you have but little, if you husband it well, and lay it out upon proper occasions, you will have many friends; but if, on the contrary, you have great riches, and make a bad use of them, the world will forsake you, and leave you to yourself.

In short, Noureddin Ali continued, till the last moment of his breath, to give good advice to his son, by whom he was magnificently interred.

Bedreddin Hassan of Balsora, for so he was called because born in that town, was so overwhelmed with grief for the death of his father, that instead of a month's time to mourn, according to custom, he kept himself closely shut up in tears and solitude about two months without seeing any body, or so much as going abroad to pay his duty to the sultan of Balsora, who, being displeased at his neglect, and regarding it as a slight put upon his court and person, suffered his passion to prevail, and in his fury called for the new grand vizier, (for he had created a new one as soon as Noureddin died,) commanded him to go to the house of the deceased, and seize upon it, with all his other houses, lands, and effects, without leaving any thing for Bedreddin Hassan, and to bring him prisoner along with him. The new grand vizier, accompanied by a great many messengers belonging to the palace, justices and other officers, went immediately to execute his commission; but one of Bedreddin's slaves, happening accidentally to come into the crowd, no sooner understood the vizier's errand, than he ran in all haste to give his master warning. He found him sitting in the porch of his house, as melancholy as if his father had been but newly dead. He fell down at his feet quite out of breath; and, after he had kissed the hem of his garment, cried out, My lord, save yourself immediately. Bedreddin, lifting up his head, said, What is the matter? what news dost thou bring? My lord, said he, there is no time to be lost; the sultan, horribly incensed against you, has sent people to take all you have, and to seize your person.

The words of this faithful and affectionate slave put Bedreddin into great confusion. May not I have so much time, said he, as to take some money and jewels along with me? No, sir, replied the slave; the grand vizier will be here this moment. Begone immediately; save yourself. Bedreddin rose up from the sofa in haste, put his feet in his sandals, and, after covering his head with the tail of his gown, that his face might not be known, he fled, without knowing what way to go, in order to avoid the impending danger.

The first thought that came into his head was to get out at the next gate with all speed. He ran without stopping till he came to the public church-yard; and, as it was growing dark, he resolved to pass the night on his father's tomb. It was a large edifice in the form of a dome, which Noureddin Ali built when he was alive. Bedreddin met by the way a very rich Jew, who was a banker and merchant, and was returning to the city from a place where his affairs had called him. The Jew, knowing Bedreddin, halted, and saluted him very courteously.

The caliph was very attentive to the discourse of the grand vizier, who went on after this manner. Isaac the Jew, after he had paid his respects to Bedreddin Hassan by kissing his hand, says, My lord, dare I be so bold as to ask whither you are going at this time of night alone, and so much troubled? Has any thing disquieted you? Yes, said Bedreddin, a while ago I was asleep, and my father appeared to me in a dream, looking fiercely upon me, as if he were very angry; I started out of my sleep very much frightened, and came out immediately to go and pray upon his tomb. My lord, said the Jew, who did not know the true reason why Bedreddin left the town, your father of happy memory, and my good lord, had store of merchandise in several vessels which are yet at sea, and belong to you; I beg the favour of you to grant me the first refusal of them before any other merchant. I am able to lay down ready money for all the goods that are in your ships; and to begin, if you will give me those that happen to come in the first ship that arrives in safety, I will pay you down, in part payment, a thousand sequins. Drawing out a bag from under his gown, he showed it him sealed up with one seal.

Bedreddin, banished from home, and dispossessed of all he had in the world, looked upon this proposal of the Jew as a favour from Heaven, and therefore accepted it with a great deal of joy. My lord, said the Jew, then you sell unto me, for a thousand sequins, the lading of the first of your ships that shall arrive in port? Yes, answered Bedreddin, I sell it to you for a thousand sequins; it is done. Upon this, the Jew delivered him the bag of a thousand sequins, and offered to count them; but Bedreddin saved him the trouble, and said, he would trust his word. Since it is so, my lord, be pleased to favour me with a small note, in writing, of the bargain we have made. Having said this, he pulled his ink-horn from his girdle, and taking a small reed out of it, neatly cut for writing, he presented it to him, with a piece of paper he took out of his letter-case, and, whilst he held the ink-horn, Bedreddin Hassan wrote these words: 'This writing is to testify, that Bedreddin Hassan of Balsora has sold to Isaac the Jew, for the sum of one thousand sequins, received in hand, the lading of the first of his ships that shall arrive in this port.' This note he delivered to the Jew, who put it in his letter-case, and then took leave of him.

While Isaac pursued his journey to the city, Bedreddin made the best of his way to his father's tomb. When he came to it, he bowed his face to the ground, and, with his eyes full of tears, deplored his miserable condition. Alas! said he, unfortunate Bedreddin, what will become of thee? Whither canst thou fly for refuge against the unjust prince who persecutes thee? Was it not enough to be afflicted for the death of so dear a father? Must fate add new misfortunes to just complaints? He continued a long time in this posture; but at last rose up again, and, leaning his head upon his father's sepulchre, his sorrows returned more violently than before; so that he sighed and mourned, till, overcome with heaviness, he stretched himself upon the floor, and fell asleep. He had not slept long when a genius, who had retired to the church-yard during the day, and was intending, according to custom, to range about the world at night, espying this young man in Noureddin's tomb, entered, and finding Bedreddin lying on his back, was surprised at his beauty. When he had attentively considered Bedreddin, he said to himself, To judge of this creature by his good mien, he seems to be an angel of the terrestrial paradise, whom God has sent to put the world in a flame with his beauty. At last, after he had satisfied himself with looking upon him, he took a flight into the air, where meeting by chance with a fairy, they saluted each other; after which he said to her, Descend with me into the church-yard where I stay, and I will show you a prodigious beauty, who is worthy of your admiration as well as mine. The fairy consented, and both descended in an instant; they came into the tomb: Look ye, said the genius to the fairy, showing him Bedreddin, did you ever see a young man of a better shape, and more beautiful than this? The fairy, having attentively observed Bedreddin, answered, I must confess that he is a very handsome man, but I am just come from seeing an object at Cairo still more admirable; and if you hear me, I will tell you a strange story concerning her. You will very much oblige me by so doing, answered the genius. You must know then, said the fairy, that the sultan of Egypt has a vizier called Schemseddin Mohammed, who has a daughter of about twenty years of age, the most beautiful and complete person that ever was known. The sultan having heard of this young lady's beauty, sent the other day for her father, and said, I understand you have a daughter; I have a mind to marry her; will you consent to it? The vizer, who did not expect this proposal, was troubled at it; and, instead of accepting it joyfully, which another in his place would certainly have done, he answered the sultan, May it please your majesty, I am not worthy of the honour you confer upon me, and I most humbly beseech you to pardon me if I do not agree to your request. You know I had a brother called Noureddin Ali, who had the honour, as well as myself, to be one of your viziers: We had some difference together, which was the cause of his leaving me on a sudden, and since that time I have had no account of him till within these four days, when I heard he died at Balsora, being grand vizier to the sultan of that kingdom. He has left a son behind him; and there having been an agreement between us to match our children together, should we have any, I am persuaded he intended the match when he died. Being desirous to fulfil the promise on my part, I conjure your majesty to grant me leave; you have in your court many other lords who have daughters on whom you may please to bestow that honour.