Know, O Commander of the Faithful, that in times of yore the land of
Egypt was ruled by a Sultan endowed with justice and generosity, one
who loved the pious poor and companied with the Olema and learned men;
and he had a Wazir, a wise and an experienced, well versed in affairs
and in the art of government. This Minister, who was a very old man,
had two sons, as they were two moons; never man saw the like of them
for beauty and grace, the elder called Shams al-Din Mohammed and the
younger Nur al-Din Ali; but the younger excelled the elder in
seemliness and pleasing semblance, so that folk heard his fame in far
countries and men flocked to Egypt for the purpose of seeing him. In
course of time their father, the Wazir, died and was deeply regretted
and mourned by the Sultan, who sent for his two sons and, investing
them with dresses of honour, [FN#363] said to them, "Let not your
hearts be troubled, for ye shall stand in your father's stead and be
joint Ministers of Egypt." At this they rejoiced and kissed the ground
before him and performed the ceremonial mourning [FN#364] for their
father during a full month; after which time they entered upon the
Wazirate, and the power passed into their hands as it had been in the
hands of their father, each doing duty for a week at a time. They lived
under the same roof and their word was one; and whenever the Sultan
desired to travel they took it by turns to be in attendance on him. It
fortuned one night that the Sultan purposed setting out on a journey
next morning, and the elder, whose turn it was to accompany him, was
sitting conversing with his brother and said to him, "O my brother, it
is my wish that we both marry, I and thou, two sisters; and go in to
our wives on one and the same night." "Do, O my brother, as thou
desirest," the younger replied, "for right is thy recking and surely I
will comply with thee in whatso thou sayest." So they agreed upon this
and quoth Shams al-Din, "If Allah decree that we marry two damsels and
go in to them on the same night, and they shall conceive on their
bridenights and bear children to us on the same day, and by Allah's
will thy wife bear thee a son and my wife bear me a daughter, let us
wed them either to other, for they will be cousins." Quoth Nur al-Din,
"O my brother, Shams al-Din, what dower [FN#365] wilt thou require from
my son for thy daughter?" Quoth Shams al-Din, "I will take three
thousand dinars and three pleasure gardens and three farms; and it
would not be seemly that the youth make contract for less than this."
When Nur al-Din heard such demand he said, "What manner of dower is
this thou wouldest impose upon my son? Wottest thou not that we are
brothers and both by Allah's grace Wazirs and equal in office? It
behoveth thee to offer thy daughter to my son without marriage
settlement; or if one need be, it should represent a mere nominal value
by way of show to the world: for thou knowest that the masculine is
worthier than the feminine, and my son is a male and our memory will be
preserved by him, not by thy daughter." "But what," said Shams al-Din,
"is she to have?"; and Nur al-Din continued, "Through her we shall not
be remembered among the Emirs of the earth; but I see thou wouldest do
with me according to the saying:—An thou wouldst bluff off a buyer, ask
him high price and higher; or as did a man who, they say, went to a
friend and asked something of him being in necessity and was answered,
'Bismillah, [FN#366] in the name of Allah, I will do all what thou
requirest but come to-morrow!' Whereupon the other replied in this
verse:—
'When he who is asked a favour saith "To-morrow," * The wise man wots
'tis vain to beg or borrow.'"
Quoth Shams al-Din, "Basta! [FN#367] I see thee fail in respect to me
by making thy son of more account than my daughter; and 'tis plain that
thine understanding is of the meanest and that thou lackest manners.
Thou remindest me of thy partnership in the Wazirate, when I admitted
thee to share with me only in pity for thee, and not wishing to mortify
thee; and that thou mightest help me as a manner of assistant. But
since thou talkest on this wise, by Allah, I will never marry my
daughter to thy son; no, not for her weight in gold!" When Nur al-Din
heard his brother's words he waxed wroth and said, "And I too, I will
never, never marry my son to thy daughter; no, not to keep from my lips
the cup of death." Shams al-Din replied, "I would not accept him as a
husband for her, and he is not worth a paring of her nail. Were I not
about to travel I would make an example of thee; however when I return
thou shalt see, and I will show thee, how I can assert my dignity and
vindicate my honour. But Allah doeth whatso He willeth."[FN#368] When
Nur al-Din heard this speech from his brother, he was filled with fury
and lost his wits for rage; but he hid what he felt and held his peace;
and each of the brothers passed the night in a place far apart, wild
with wrath against the other. As soon as morning dawned the Sultan
fared forth in state and crossed over from Cairo [FN#369] to Jizah
[FN#370] and made for the pyramids, accompanied by the Wazir Shams
al-Din, whose turn of duty it was, whilst his brother Nur al-din, who
passed the night in sore rage, rose with the light and prayed the
dawn-prayer. Then he betook himself to his treasury and, taking a small
pair of saddle-bags, filled them with gold; and he called to mind his
brother's threats and the contempt wherewith he had treated him, and he
repeated these couplets:—
"Travel! and thou shalt find new friends for old ones left behind; *
Toil! for the sweets of human life by toil and moil are found:
The stay-at-home no honour wins nor aught attains but want; * So leave
thy place of birth [FN#371] and wander all the world around!
I've seen, and very oft I've seen, how standing water stinks, * And
only flowing sweetens it and trotting makes it sound:
And were the moon forever full and ne'er to wax or wane, * Man would
not strain his watchful eyes to see its gladsome round:
Except the lion leave his lair he ne'er would fell his game, * Except
the arrow leave the bow ne'er had it reached its bound:
Gold-dust is dust the while it lies untravelled in the mine, * And
aloes-wood mere fuel is upon its native ground:
And gold shall win his highest worth when from his goal ungoal'd; * And
aloes sent to foreign parts grows costlier than gold."
When he ended his verse he bade one of his pages saddle him his Nubian
mare-mule with her padded selle. Now she was a dapple-grey, [FN#372]
with ears like reed-pens and legs like columns and a back high and
strong as a dome builded on pillars; her saddle was of gold-cloth and
her stirrups of Indian steel, and her housing of Ispahan velvet; she
had trappings which would serve the Chosroës, and she was like a bride
adorned for her wedding night. Moreover he bade lay on her back a piece
of silk for a seat, and a prayer-carpet under which were his
saddle-bags. When this was done he said to his pages and slaves, "I
purpose going forth a-pleasuring outside the city on the road to
Kalyub-town, [FN#373] and I shall lie three nights abroad; so let none
of you follow me, for there is something straiteneth my breast." Then
he mounted the mule in haste; and, taking with him some provaunt for
the way, set out from Cairo and faced the open and uncultivated country
lying around it. [FN#374] About noontide he entered Bilbays-city,
[FN#375] where he dismounted and stayed awhile to rest himself and his
mule and ate some of his victual. He bought at Bilbays all he wanted
for himself and forage for his mule and then fared on the way of the
waste. Towards night-fall he entered a town called Sa'adiyah [FN#376]
where he alighted and took out somewhat of his viaticum and ate; then
he spread his strip of silk on the sand and set the saddle-bags under
his head and slept in the open air; for he was still overcome with
anger. When morning dawned he mounted and rode onward till he reached
the Holy City, [FN#377] Jerusalem, and thence he made Aleppo, where he
dismounted at one of the caravanserais and abode three days to rest
himself and the mule and to smell the air. [FN#378] Then, being
determined to travel afar and Allah having written safety in his fate,
he set out again, wending without wotting whither he was going; and,
having fallen in with certain couriers, he stinted not travelling till
he had reached Bassorah-city albeit he knew not what the place was. It
was dark night when he alighted at the Khan, so he spread out his
prayer-carpet and took down the saddle-bags from the back of the mule
and gave her with her furniture in charge of the door-keeper that he
might walk her about. The man took her and did as he was bid. Now it so
happened that the Wazir of Bassorah, a man shot in years, was sitting
at the lattice-window of his palace opposite the Khan and he saw the
porter walking the mule up and down. He was struck by her trappings of
price and thought her a nice beast fit for the riding of Wazirs or even
of royalties; and the more he looked the more was he perplexed till at
last he said to one of his pages, "Bring hither yon door-keeper," The
page went and returned to the Wazir with the porter who kissed the
ground between his hands, and the Minister asked him, "Who is the owner
of yonder mule and what manner of man is he?"; and he answered, "O my
lord, the owner of this mule is a comely young man of pleasant manners,
withal grave and dignified, and doubtless one of the sons of the
merchants." When the Wazir heard the door-keeper's words he arose
forthright; and, mounting his horse, rode to the Khan [FN#379] and went
in to Nur al-Din who, seeing the minister making towards him, rose to
his feet and advanced to meet him and saluted him. The Wazir welcomed
him to Bassorah and dismounting, embraced him and made him sit down by
his side and said, "O my son, whence comest thou and what dost thou
seek?" "O my lord," Nur al-Din replied, "I have come from Cairo-city of
which my father was whilome Wazir; but he hath been removed to the
grace of Allah;" and he informed him of all that had befallen him from
beginning to end, adding, "I am resolved never to return home before I
have seen all the cities and countries of the world." When the Wazir
heard this, he said to him, "O my son, hearken not to the voice of
passion lest it cast thee into the pit; for indeed many regions be
waste places and I fear for thee the turns of Time." Then he let load
the saddle-bags and the silk and prayer-carpets on the mule and carried
Nur al-Din to his own house, where he lodged him in a pleasant place
and entreated him honourably and made much of him, for he inclined to
love him with exceeding love. After a while he said to him, "O my son,
here am I left a man in years and have no male children, but Allah hath
blessed me with a daughter who eventh thee in beauty; and I have
rejected all her many suitors, men of rank and substance. But affection
for thee hath entered into my heart; say me, then, wilt thou be to her
a husband? If thou accept this, I will go up with thee to the Sultan of
Bassorah [FN#380] and will tell him that thou art my nephew, the son of
my brother, and bring thee to be appointed Wazir in my place that I may
keep the house for, by Allah, O my son, I am stricken in years and
aweary." When Nur al-Din heard the Wazir's words, he bowed his head in
modesty and said, "To hear is to obey!" At this the Wazir rejoiced and
bade his servants prepare a feast and decorate the great assembly-hall,
wherein they were wont to celebrate the marriages of Emirs and
Grandees. Then he assembled his friends and the notables of the reign
and the merchants of Bassorah and when all stood before him he said to
them, "I had a brother who was Wazir in the land of Egypt, and Allah
Almighty blessed him with two sons, whilst to me, as well ye wot, He
hath given a daughter. My brother charged me to marry my daughter to
one of his sons, whereto I assented; and, when my daughter was of age
to marry, he sent me one of his sons, the young man now present, to
whom I purpose marrying her, drawing up the contract and celebrating
the night of unveiling with due ceremony; for he is nearer and dearer
to me than a stranger and, after the wedding, if he please he shall
abide with me, or if he desire to travel I will forward him and his
wife to his father's home." Hereat one and all replied, "Right is thy
recking;" and they all looked at the bridegroom and were pleased with
him. So the Wazir sent for the Kazi and legal witnesses and they wrote
out the marriage-contract, after which the slaves perfumed the guests
with incense, [FN#381] and served them with sherbet of sugar and
sprinkled rose-water on them and all went their ways. Then the Wazir
bade his servants take Nur al-Din to the Hammam-baths and sent him a
suit of the best of his own especial raiment, and napkins and towelry
and bowls and perfume-burners and all else that was required. After the
bath, when he came out and donned the dress, he was even as the full
moon on the fourteenth night; and he mounted his mule and stayed not
till he reached the Wazir's palace. There he dismounted and went in to
the Minister and kissed his hands, and the Wazir bade him welcome.—And
Shahrazad perceived the dawn of day and ceased to say her permitted
say.
When it was the Twenty-first Night,
She said, It hath reached me, O auspicious King, that the Wazir stood
up to him and welcoming him said, "Arise and go in to thy wife this
night, and on the morrow I will carry thee to the Sultan, and pray
Allah bless thee with all manner of weal." So Nur al-Din left him and
went in to his wife the Wazir's daughter. Thus far concerning him, but
as regards his elder brother, Shams al-Din, he was absent with the
Sultan a long time and when he returned from his journey he found not
his brother; and he asked of his servants and slaves who answered, "On
the day of thy departure with the Sultan, thy brother mounted his mule
fully caparisoned as for state procession saying, 'I am going towards
Kalyub-town and I shall be absent one day or at most two days; for my
breast is straitened, and let none of you follow me.' Then he fared
forth and from that time to this we have heard no tidings of him."
Shams al-Din was greatly troubled at the sudden disappearance of his
brother and grieved with exceeding grief at the loss and said to
himself, "This is only because I chided and upbraided him the night
before my departure with the Sultan; haply his feelings were hurt and
he fared forth a-travelling; but I must send after him." Then he went
in to the Sultan and acquainted him with what had happened and wrote
letters and dispatches, which he sent by running footmen to his
deputies in every province. But during the twenty days of his brother's
absence Nur al-Din had travelled far and had reached Bassorah; so after
diligent search the messengers failed to come at any news of him and
returned. Thereupon Shams al-Din despaired of finding his brother and
said, "Indeed I went beyond all bounds in what I said to him with
reference to the marriage of our children. Would that I had not done
so! This all cometh of my lack of wit and want of caution." Soon after
this he sought in marriage the daughter of a Cairene merchant, [FN#382]
and drew up the marriage contract and went in to her. And it so chanced
that, on the very same night when Shams al-Din went in to his wife, Nur
al-Din also went in to his wife the daughter of the Wazir of Bassorah;
this being in accordance with the will of Almighty Allah, that He might
deal the decrees of Destiny to His creatures. Furthermore, it was as
the two brothers had said; for their two wives became pregnant by them
on the same night and both were brought to bed on the same day; the
wife of Shams al-Din, Wazir of Egypt, of a daughter, never in Cairo was
seen a fairer; and the wife of Nur al-Din of a son, none more beautiful
was ever seen in his time, as one of the poets said concerning the like
of him:—
That jetty hair, that glossy brow,
My slender-waisted youth, of thine,
Can darkness round creation throw,
Or make it brightly shine.
The dusky mole that faintly shows
Upon his cheek, ah! blame it not:
The tulip-flower never blows
Undarkened by its spot [FN#383]