The old Wezeer ceased not to superintend the rearing of the child, who was named Ḥasan, for many days, while Noor-ed-Deen was constantly occupied with the affairs of his office, so that he left not the Sulṭán by day nor by night; and the King increased his salaries and supplies until his circumstances became ample: he had ships which made voyages under his orders with merchandise and other things, and he founded numerous estates, and made water-wheels[25] and gardens. Thus did he until his son Ḥasan was four years of age, when the old Wezeer, the father of his wife, died; and he conveyed his corpse with great pomp, and decently deposited it in the earth. He then turned his thoughts towards the education of his son; and when the child had gained strength, he brought him a tutor to teach him in his own house, charging him to instruct him and educate him well; and the tutor did so, and taught him various useful sciences, after he had passed some years in learning the Ḳur-án. Ḥasan meanwhile increased in loveliness and beauty, and elegance of person. The tutor continued to educate him in his father's palace; and from the time that he arrived at adolescence he went not out of the Wezeer's palace, until his father took him one day, and, having clad him in one of the richest of his dresses, mounted him on one of his best mules, and conducted him to the Sulṭán, and introduced him. When the King beheld Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen,[26] the son of the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, he was astonished at his beauty; and the people, when he passed by them for the first time, going up with his father to the King, were amazed at his surpassing beauty and loveliness, and elegance of person. The Sulṭán, as soon as he saw him, loved him, and bestowed marks of favour upon him, and said to his father, O Wezeer, thou must bring him with thee every day. The Wezeer answered, I hear and obey;—and returned with his son to his abode; and he continued every day to go up with him to the Sulṭán until the youth attained the age of fifteen years.
His father, the Wezeer Noor-ed-Deen, then fell sick, and called him into his presence, and said to him, O my son, know that this world is a perishable abode, and the world to come is an everlasting abode. I wish to give thee some precepts, and do thou understand what I am about to say to thee, and incline thy heart to it.—And he began to counsel him respecting the proper mode of conducting himself in society, and the due management of his affairs; and when he had done so, he reflected upon his brother and his native place and country, and wept at the thought of his separation from those he loved; his tears flowing: and he said, O my son, hear my words. I have a brother[27] in Cairo, and I quitted him and departed against his will.—He then took a piece of paper,[28] and wrote upon it all that had happened to him from first to last, together with the date of his marriage and introduction to the daughter of the Wezeer, and the date of his arrival at El-Baṣrah and his interview with its Wezeer; and, having added some strict admonition, he said to his son, Keep this charge, for the paper on which it is written containeth an account of thine origin and thy rank and lineage; and if any evil accident befall thee, repair to Cairo, and inquire for thine uncle, and salute him, and inform him that I died in a strange land, ardently desiring that I could see him. Therefore Ḥasan Bedr-ed-Deen took the paper, and, having folded it, and wrapped it in a piece of waxed cloth,[29] sewed it between the lining and the outer cloth of his cap,[30] and wept for his father, that he should be parted from him in his youth.
Noor-ed-Deen then said to his son,[31] I charge thee that thou be not familiar with any one; for in retirement is security. Divinely gifted was the poet who said,—
There is none in thy time whose friendship thou shouldst covet; nor any intimate who, when fortune is treacherous, will be faithful. Live then apart, and rely upon no man: I have given thee, in these words, good advice, and sufficient.
Accustom thyself to taciturnity: occupy thyself with thine own affairs, and use not many words: for the poet saith,—
Taciturnity is an ornament, and in silence is security: therefore, when thou speakest, be not loquacious: For if thou repent once of thy silence, thou wilt assuredly repent many times of thy speech.
Beware of drinking wine; for it is the source of every kind of mischief. The poet[32] saith on this subject,—
I have abandoned wine and those who drink it; and have become the friend of such as condemn it. Wine leadeth astray from the path of rectitude, and openeth the doors to evil.