THE STORY OF THE VIZIER NOUREDINE, HIS BROTHER THE VIZIER CHAMSEDDINE, AND HASSAN BADREDDINE
Harun al-Rashid
Source
Noureddine decides to travel and goes to Jerusalem, Aleppo, and Basra, where he meets the vizier.
ON THE FIRST NIGHT
Sheherazade continued the story:
So Noureddine went away, very distressed by the whole scene, and went to sleep alone, absorbed in his sad thoughts.
The next morning, the sultan, accompanied by the vizier Chamseddine, went out to make his journey, and headed for the side of the Nile, which he crossed in a boat to arrive at Gesirah; and from there he went towards the Pyramids.
As for Noureddine, after having spent that night in a very bad mood, because of his brother's behavior, he got up early in the morning, performed his ablutions, and said the first prayer of the morning; then he went to his cupboard, where he took a satchel which he filled with gold while continuing to think of his brother's scornful words towards him, and the humiliation suffered; and then he remembered these stanzas, which he recited:
“Leave, friend! leave everything and go! You will find many other friends than those you leave behind!
Go! Come out of the houses and pitch your tents! Live in the tent!*
It is there, and only there, that the delights of life dwell!
In stable and civilized dwellings, there is no fervor, there is no friendship!
Believe me! flee your homeland! uproot yourself from the soil of your homeland! and sink into foreign lands!
Listen! I have noticed that stagnant water rots!
It could still recover from her rot by starting to run again! But otherwise, it is incurable!
I also observed the moon in its fullness, and I learned the number of its eyes, of its eyes of light!
But if I hadn't taken the trouble to go around its revolutions in space,
Would I have known the eyes of each quarter, the eyes that looked at me?
And the lion? Could I have hunted the lion with hounds if I had not come out of the dense forest?...
And the arrow? Would it be murderous, the arrow, if it had not been detached with force from the bent bow?
And gold or silver? Would they not be like vile dust if they were not drawn from their deposits?
And as for the harmonious lute, you know it!
It would only be a log of wood if the workman had not uprooted it from the ground to shape it!
Expatriate yourself and you will be at the top!
But if you stay attached to your ground, you will never be able to reach the heights!
When he finished saying the verses, he ordered one of his young slaves to saddle him with a starling-colored mule, large and quick to walk. And the slave dressed the finest of mules saddled it with a saddle trimmed with brocade and gold, with Indian stirrups, a cover of Ispahan velvet, and he did so well that the mule looked like a new bride dressed in new and all shiny. Then Noureddine again ordered that a large silk rug and a small prayer rug be put on top of all this; and, that done, he put the satchel full of gold and jewels between the large and the small carpet.
That done, he said to the boy and to all the other slaves: "I am going to take a walk outside the city, near Qalyub, where I intend to sleep for three nights because I feel that I have a shrinking chest and I want to expand it over there breathing the fresh air. But I forbid anyone to follow me!"
Then, having taken a few more provisions on the way, he mounted the mule and rode off quickly. Once out of Cairo, he walked so well that at noon he arrived at Belbeis, where he stopped; he alighted from his mule, to rest and let her rest, ate a morsel, bought from Belbeis everything he could need, either for himself or for his mule's rations, and set off again. Two days later, at precisely noon, thanks to his good mule, he arrived in the holy city of Jerusalem. There he alighted from his mule, rested, let his mule rest, took something out of the shopping bag, and ate; this done, he put the satchel under his head on the ground, after having spread out the great silk carpet, and fell asleep, still thinking angrily of his brother's conduct towards him.
The next day, at dawn, he got back into the saddle, and this time continued to walk at a good pace until he arrived in the city of Aleppo. There he lodged in one of the khans of the city, and spent three days very quietly resting and letting his mule rest; then, when he had breathed in the good air of Aleppo, he thought of leaving again. To this end, he got back on his mule, having bought some of those good sweets which are made so well in Aleppo and which are all stuffed with pistachios and almonds with a crust of sugar, all things which he had greatly appreciated ever since his childhood.
And he let his mule go as he pleased, for he no longer knew where he was once he left Aleppo. And he walked day and night, so that one evening, after sunset, he came to the city of Basra; but he did not know at all that this city was Basra until he arrived at the khan, where he was informed of it. He then alighted from his mule, unloaded the mule of carpets, provisions, and satchel, and instructed the khan's porter to walk the mule a little, so that it would not catch cold when resting at once. And as for Noureddine himself, he spread his carpet and sat down to rest at the khan.
The khan's porter, therefore, took the mule by the bridle and began to lead it. Now, there was this coincidence that, just at that moment, the vizier of Basra was sitting in front of the window of his palace and looking out into the street. He, therefore, perceived the beautiful mule and saw its magnificent trappings of great value, and thought that this mule must necessarily belong to some vizier among foreign viziers, or even to some king among kings. So he began to look at her, and was in great perplexity; then he ordered one of his young slaves to bring at once the porter who was leading the mule. And the child ran for the porter and brought him before the vizier. Then the porter came forward and kissed the earth in the hands of the vizier, who was a very old and very respectable old man. And the vizier said to the porter: "Who is the master of this mule, and what is his condition?" The porter answered: “O my lord, the master of this mule is a very handsome young man indeed, full of charm, richly dressed like the son of some great merchant; his appearance commands respect and admiration."
At these words of the porter, the vizier arose on his feet and mounted his horse, went in haste to the khan, and entered the court. At the sight of the vizier, Noureddine rose to his feet and ran to meet him, and helped him to dismount. Then the vizier gave him the customary bow, and Noureddine returned it and received him very cordially; and the vizier sat down beside him and said to him: “My child, where do you come from and why are you in Basra?" And Noureddine said to him: “My lord, I come from Cairo, which is my city and where I was born. My father was the vizier of the sultan of Egypt, but he died to go to the mercy of Allah!" Then Noureddine told the vizier the story from beginning to end. And he added: “But I have taken the firm resolution never to return to Egypt again until I have first traveled everywhere and visited all the cities and all the countries!"
At this point in her narration, Sheherazade saw the morning appear and quietly fell silent.*