The door-keeper did so; and it happened that the Wezeer of El-Baṣrah, sitting at a window of his palace, saw the mule, and, observing her costly equipage, thought that she must belong to some Wezeer or King; and as he attentively regarded her he was surprised, and said to one of his pages, Bring before me that door-keeper. So the page went and brought him; and the door-keeper, approaching, kissed the ground before him. The Wezeer, who was an aged person, then said to this man, Who is the owner of this mule, and what is his appearance?—O my lord, answered the door-keeper, her owner is a young man of elegant person, of the sons of the merchants, and of a dignified and grave aspect. On hearing this, the Wezeer arose, and, mounting his horse,[20] went to the Khán, and introduced himself to the young man, who, as soon as he saw him approaching, rose to meet him, and embraced him. The Wezeer, after he had alighted from his horse, saluted him and welcomed him, and, seating him by his side, said to him, Whence, O my son, hast thou come; and for what purpose?—O my lord, answered Noor-ed-Deen, I have come from the city of Cairo: my father was Wezeer there; and he hath departed to receive the mercy of God;—and he informed him of all that had happened to him from first to last, adding, I have determined that I will not return until I shall have seen all the cities and countries of the world.—O my son, replied the Wezeer, obey not the suggestions of thy mind, lest thou expose thyself to destruction; for the countries are waste, and I fear on thy account the issues of fortune. So saying, he ordered that the saddle-bags should be placed again on the mule, together with the carpet of silk and the prayer-carpet, and took Noor-ed-Deen with him to his house, where he lodged him in an elegant apartment, and treated him with honour and kindness; and, conceiving a strong affection for him, said to him, O my son, I have become an old man, and I have no male child; God, however, hath blessed me with a daughter who resembleth thee in comeliness, and I have rejected many persons who have been her suitors: but now, love for thee hath entered my heart; wilt thou then take my daughter as thy hand-maid to serve thee, and be her husband? If thou consent to this, I will go up to the Sulṭán of El-Baṣrah, and will say to him, This is the son of my brother;—and I will introduce thee to him, that I may make thee Wezeer in my place, and I will remain in my house; for I am now aged.—Noor-ed-Deen, on hearing this proposal of the Wezeer of El-Baṣrah, hung down his head, and then answered, I hear and obey.
The Wezeer rejoiced at his assent, and ordered his servants to prepare for him a repast, and to decorate the great saloon[21] which was furnished for the reception of the chiefs of the Emeers. He then called together his friends, and invited the great officers of the state, and the merchants of El-Baṣrah; and when they had come into his presence, he said to them, I had a brother who was Wezeer in the land of Egypt, and God blessed him with two sons; and me, as ye know, He hath blessed with a daughter: now my brother enjoined me to marry my daughter to one of his sons, and I consented to do so; and when she attained a fit age for marriage, he sent to me one of his sons, who is this young man here present. As soon, therefore, as he had come, I desired to perform the marriage-contract between him and my daughter, and that he should introduce himself to her here in my house.—Excellently hast thou done! they replied. They then drank sherbet of sugar, and the pages sprinkled rose-water upon them, and they departed: after which, the Wezeer ordered his servants to conduct Noor-en-Deen to the bath, and gave him a suit of his best clothes,[22] and sent to him the napkins and cups and perfuming-vessels, and everything else that he required. So when he came out from the bath, he put on the suit of clothes, and appeared like the full moon; and he mounted his mule, and, returning to the palace, alighted and presented himself before the Wezeer, and kissed his hand: and the Wezeer welcomed him, saying, Arise, and introduce thyself this night to thy wife; and to-morrow I will go up with thee to the Sulṭán, and I pray that God may bless thee with every kind of happiness. Noor-ed-Deen therefore arose, and went to his wife, the daughter of the Wezeer.—Thus did it happen to Noor-ed-Deen.
As to his brother, he continued a while journeying with the Sulṭán, and when he returned, and found not his brother, he inquired of the servants respecting him, and they answered, On the day of thy departure with the Sulṭán, he mounted his mule, caparisoned as for a procession of state, and said, I am going towards the province of Ḳalyoob, and shall be absent a day or two days; for my heart is contracted; therefore let none of you follow me:—and from the day on which he went forth, to the present day, we have heard no tidings of him. Upon this the heart of Shems-ed-Deen was troubled at the separation of his brother, and he grieved excessively for his loss, saying within himself, The cause of this is nothing else than my having spoken harshly to him in my conversation on the night before my departure with the Sulṭán; and probably his mind was disturbed, and he went on a journey: I must therefore send after him. He then went up and related this event to the Sulṭán, who wrote letters and sent them to his vicegerents in all the provinces: but Noor-ed-Deen had traversed distant regions during the absence of his brother with the Sulṭán: therefore the messengers, when they had gone with the letters, returned without having obtained any information respecting him. So Shems-ed-Deen despaired of his brother, and said, I have enraged my brother by what I said to him concerning the marriage of the children. Would that I had not done so! This was not occasioned but by my want of sense and judgment!—And soon after this, he demanded in marriage the daughter of one of the merchants of Cairo, and performed the marriage-contract between himself and her, and introduced himself to her: and it happened that the night when this event took place was the same night on which Noor-ed-Deen introduced himself to his wife, the daughter of the Wezeer of El-Baṣrah: this being in accordance with the will of God, whose name be exalted, that He might execute his decree upon his creatures.
The event was as they both had said: for it came to pass that the two wives conceived by them: the wife of Shems-ed-Deen, the Wezeer, of Egypt, gave birth to a daughter, than whom there was not seen, in that country, one more beautiful; and the wife of Noor-ed-Deen gave birth to a son, one more beautiful than whom was not seen in his time: as the poet hath said:—
If beauty came to be compared with him, it would hang down its head in shame; Or if it were said, O beauty, hast thou seen the like?—it would answer, The equal of this I have not.
So they named him Ḥasan;[23] and on the seventh day after his birth, they made entertainments and spread repasts such as were fit for the sons of Kings[24] after which the Wezeer of El-Baṣrah took with him Noor-ed-Deen, and went up with him to the Sulṭán; and when he came into his presence he kissed the ground before him; and Noor-ed-Deen, being eloquent in tongue, and firm of heart, and comely in person and in actions, recited these words of the poet:—
This is he whose justice extendeth to all men, and who hath overrun and subdued every region. Be thankful for his benefits; for they are not mere benefits; but they are strings of jewels on the necks of his people; And kiss his fingers; for they are not mere fingers; but they are the keys of the supplies of Providence.
The Sulṭán treated them both with honour, and, having thanked Noor-ed-Deen for his address, said to his Wezeer, Who is this young man? The Wezeer therefore related to him his story from beginning to end, and added, This is the son of my brother.—How is it, said the Sulṭán, that he is the son of thy brother, and we have not before heard of him? The Wezeer answered, O our lord the Sulṭán, I had a brother who was Wezeer in the land of Egypt, and he died, leaving two sons: the elder succeeded to his father's office, as Wezeer, and this his younger son came to me; and I swore that I would not marry my daughter to any but him: so, when he came, I married him to her. He is a young man, and I am now aged; my hearing is impaired, and my judgment faileth: it is my wish, therefore, that our lord the Sulṭán would instate him in my office, seeing that he is the son of my brother and the husband of my daughter, and a person worthy of the dignity of Wezeer; for he is endowed with knowledge and judgment.—The Sulṭán, upon this, looked towards him, and, being pleased with him, approved of the advice of the Wezeer that he should promote him to that office; so he bestowed it upon him, and ordered that a magnificent dress of honour should be given to him, and one of the best of the mules upon which he was himself accustomed to ride, allotting him also supplies and salaries; and Noor-ed-Deen kissed the hand of the Sulṭán, and descended with his father-in-law to their house, both in high delight, and saying, Verily the birth of this child is fortunate. On the following day Noor-ed-Deen went again to the King, and kissed the ground, and the Sulṭán ordered him to sit in the place of the Wezeer: so he sat, and occupied himself with the affairs of his office, and examined the cases of the people, and their suits, according to the custom of Wezeers: and the Sulṭán, observing him, was surprised at his conduct, and the acuteness of his understanding, and his good judgment. He attentively considered his qualities, and loved him, and advanced him in his favour: and when the court was dissolved, Noor-ed-Deen returned to his house, and related what had passed to his father-in-law, who was rejoiced at hearing it.