TALE OF NUR AL-DIN ALI AND HIS SON BADR AL-DIN HASAN

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 Ulema 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 pleasingsemblance, 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 honor, 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 ceremonialmourning 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 bride nights 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
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

behooveth 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 of

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, in the name of Allah, I will do all what
thou requirest, but come tomorrow!' Whereupon the other replied in

this verse:
'When he who is asked a favor saith "Tomorrow,"

The wise man wots 'tis vain to beg or borrow.'
Quoth Shams al-Din: "Basta! 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 honor. But Allah doeth whatso He

willeth."
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 to Jizah 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 saddlebags, 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 honor wins, nor aught attains but want,

So leave thy place of birth 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 untraveled in the mine,

And aloes wood mere fuel is upon its native ground.
And gold shall win his highest worth when from his goal ungoaled,

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-gray,
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 Chosroes, 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
saddlebags. 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, and I shall be 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.

About noontide he entered Bilbays city, 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. Toward nightfall he

entered a town called Sa'adiyah, 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 saddlebags 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, Jerusalem,
and thence he made Aleppo, where he dismounted at one of the