Thousand & One Nights: 87th Night

Eighty Seventh Night. Shahrazad said:

It is related, O king, Ja'far said to the Caliph: 

O commander of the Faithful!
When the vizier Shams al Din Muhammad came to himself and recalled what he had discovered, he was amazed, and when he opened the sealed cover, and saw that it was his brother's handwriting, he was even more amazed and said, "Daughter, do you know who the man who entered you really was? By God, he is none other than your cousin, and these thousand dinars are your dowry. Glory be to the omnipotent God who controls everything, for He has turned the cause of my quarrel with my brother Nur al Din Ali into a just resolution. I wonder how all this came about?" He looked at the letter again, and when he saw the date in his brother's handwriting, he kissed it many times, and as he kept looking at the handwriting, he wept.

He read the letter again, and found the date of his brother's arrival in Basra, the marriage contract, consummation of the marriage, the birth of his son Badr al-Din Hasan and the year of his death. When the vizier realised what these dates meant, he shook with amazement and delight, for when he compared the events of his life with those of his brother's, he found them parallel, and when he compared the dates of his brother's marriage in Basra, the consummation of that marriage, and the birth of his son, he found them to be identical with his own in Cairo, and when he pondered how shortly thereafter his nephew had arrived and consummated the marriage with his daughter, he concluded that all this was planned by Providence. Then he took the letter and the piece of paper that he had found inside the purse, and went at once to the king, and told him the whole story. The king was very much amazed and ordered that the events be dated and recorded.

The vizier went home and waited for his nephew all day long, but he did not show up, and when he waited a second and third day, and kept waiting until the seventh day, without any news or any trace of his nephew, he said,  "By God, I will do what he has never been done before." He took an inkwell and a sheet of paper and wrote down a description of the entire wedding chamber and its contents. Then he ordered everything put aside, including the turban, the trousers, and the purse.

Morning overtook Shahrazad and she stopped the story telling.




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