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74-5-4 - The
Three Apples:
Noor al-Deen Alee and His son:
Shams al-Deen Finds His Brother
Thus
Badar al-Deen Hasan set himself to sell on his shop. The Vazeer, his
uncle, halted in Damascus only for three days and went to other places - Hamaah,
Aleppo, Mosul etc, till he arrived at Basaraa. After making the
arrangements of his lodging, he went to the Sultaan. The Sultaan honored
him and asked the reason for his coming. He told him the history, and said
that the Minister Noor al-Deen was his brother. The Sultaan said - "Allaah,
Have mercy upon him. He was my Vazeer for 15 years and I loved him
exceedingly. He died leaving one son who lived here only for one month
after his father's death. Then he disappeared. But his mother, who is the
daughter of my former Minister, is still among us." When the Vazeer
Shams al-Deen heard that his nephew's mother was alive, he got very happy
and expressed his desire to meet her. He also told him how his brother got
separated from him.
He
came to the mansion of his brother where he saw his name engraved in gold.
Then he came to the mother of Badar al-Deen. She never seized
weeping since her husband's death. Shams heard her wailings and presented
himself as her husband's brother and told her the whole story. He also
said - "Ten years ago your son spent a night with my daughter but
then disappeared next morning. My daughter had conceived by your son and
now has a male child who is with me. He is your son's son by my
daughter."
When
she heard all this, that her son Badar al-Deen Hasan was still alive, she
fell on her brother-in-law's feet. Shams sent for Ajeeb and his
grandmother kissed him. Shams said - "This is no time for weeping.
Let us go to Egypt, maybe that Allaah reunites us with Hasan." She
immediately got ready to go, Shams took permission from the Sultaan of
Basaraa who sent many presents and rarities for the Sultaan of Egypt. They
set for homeward journey and came to Damascus city and pitched his tents
at the same place where he stayed before. He said to his servants -
"We will halt here to buy some presents for the Sultaan of
Egypt."
Now
Ajeeb remembered the past incident so he said to his eunuch - "Let us
go to the same Bazaar to eat the sweets of the same cook." The tie of
blood was taking Ajeeb to his father. They came to the same shop and Lo,
Hasan was standing at the door. It was near the time of the afternoon prayer. Ajeeb said to him - "Peace be on you. Know my heart is with
you." He got so happy to see him again that he asked him to eat his
sweets again to please him. Ajeeb said - "We will eat only one
condition that you will not follow us like before. Otherwise we will not
visit you again, as we are going to stay here for a week as my grandfather
is going to buy presents for the Sultaan of Egypt." Hasan of Basaraa
said - "I promise." So they sat and ate sweets at Hasan's shop.
Hasan continued keep morsels in Ajeeb's mouth. Till Ajeeb ate Hasan kept staring at
him. When he had eaten full, he washed his hands and brought cold rose
Sherbat to drink. After that Ajeeb returned to his tents.
Ajeeb
went to his grandmother, she asked him where he had been and he told her
that he had been to the city. She brought some bread and pomegranate dish
and kept before her grandson and asked the eunuch also to sit down with
his master, but he did not want to eat, because he was full, still he sat
down and both ate a bread piece dipped in pomegranate dish. This dish was
too little sweetened so Ajeeb said - "What is this stuff?" His
grandmother said - "You are finding fault in my cookery? I have
cooked this myself. None can cook it as nicely as I can, except your father
Badar al-Deen Hasan." Ajeeb also cried - "By Allaah, This dish
is nasty stuff, because we have seen a cook who cooked this dish so tasty
that one could eat it as long as he is more than satisfied, in Basaraa
city. This is not worth either much or little."
Hearing
this the grandmother got very angry, and scolded the servant to take her
grandson to an ordinary shop. Then she called her brother-in-law and told
him everything. Shams also scolded the eunuch. The eunuch told him the truth and
added - "I have never eaten nor tasted its like or nastier than this
stuff in my life." At this the grandmother got severely angry, gave
him half a Deenaar and asked him to bring some of that stuff from that cook. The eunuch
ran away to the cook's shop and said - "We praised your cookery in
our Lord's house, so give me some of that dish for half a Deenaar." Hasan laughed
and said - "By Allaah, None can cook this dish better than me and my
mother." Then he ladled out a saucer-full stuff finishing off with musk (Kastooree)
and rose water, put it in a cloth and sealed it." The eunuch again
ran away to his tents. No sooner than the grandmother tasted the stuff,
she fainted. When she came into senses, she said - "If my son is
alive, nobody else but he can cook it like this, for I taught him this
dish."
The
Vazeer Shams rose immediately and asked his people to go to the cook's
shop and demolish it. Then he rode to the Vicerooy of Damsacus, and showed
him the Sultaan's orders. He asked him, "Who is this offender of
yours?" "A cook." The Viceroy immediately sent his people
to cook's shop which they found already demolished. Hasan of Basaraa was
imprisoned. He kept saying, "I don't know what did they find in my
pomegranate dish which brought them here?"
In the
meantime Hasan's uncle Shams came there and Hasan wept bitterly seeing him
and asked him, "What is my offence?" He asked - "Are you
the man who cooked that pomegranate dish?" "Yes. Did you find
anything in it to cut off my head?" The Vazeer said to his people -
"Bring the camels." They brought the camels and shut Hasan in a
chest, locked it, loaded it on a camel and set on journey till midnight.
Then they took out Hasan, ate something, gave him something to eat, locked him
again and set off for further journey. Then they came to Kimraah. They
again took out Hasan, took him to the Vazeer who again asked him -
"Did you cook that pomegranate dish?" "Yes, My Lord."
"Tie his feet with chains." They did so and shut him again. They
set on their journey again till they reached Cairo.
They
came to the house of al-Raidaaniyaa. The Vazeer ordered to take Hasan out
of the chest and sent for a carpenter to make a cross of wood. Hasan
asked, "What will you do of this?" "I will you crucify you
and give a round of the city." "And why will you do this to
me?" "Because of your pomegranate dish. How do you sell it
without pepper?" "And because of this only you will do this to
me? Is it not enough that you broke my shop, locked me in a box and fed me
only once a day?" "Too little pepper. Explain it only on cross.
It is our duty to punish you lest you do this again."
The
Vazeer said to him - "The carpenter will take the whole night to make
the cross, till then you can sleep." So the Vazeer shut him again and
set off for his journey till he came to his own city and said to his
daughter, Sitt al-Husn - "Praise be Allaah who has reunited you with
your lost husband. Get up and order to decorate your palace like it was on
your bridal night." He ask his people to put Hasan's turban, bag and
trousers at the same place where he left it on his wedding night.
He
asked his daughter to go to her chamber and said to her to say to him when
he arrives in the chamber - "You have loitered
around a lot." and talk to him till morning then we will tell him the
whole thing." Then he asked to bring Hasan, leaving only blue shirt
on his body, as he wore on that night. All this was done while he was
sleeping. When he woke up he found himself in the same chamber in which he
was on his wedding night. He was thinking whether it was a dream or
reality, that Sitt al-Husn entered the room and said - "Won't you
come in? You have loitered a long." When he saw her, he burst out
laughing and said - "This is a very same nightmare among
dreams." Then he found his bag and trousers at the very same place he
kept that night.
The
lady said - "Why are you so puzzled? You were so different on the
first night." He laughed and asked her - "For how long I was
away from you?" "You just went out for an hour and have come
back." "You are right. When I had gone from here, I dreamed that I
was a cook at Damascus for 10 years. There came a boy with an
eunuch." He felt the scar on his eyebrow and resumed - "He
struck my forehead with a stone, see here is the mark, it means I must
have been awake at that time. I cooked pomegranate, and I put too little
pepper in it." And then he related all events to her. He further said
- "And for the same crime they demolished my shop, put me in a box,
then they would have crucified me, had I not awaken up. But thanks to Allaah,
all had happened in dreams not in wake." Then they embraced each
other talked the whole night.
When,
in the morning, his uncle Shams came and saluted him. Hasan cried seeing
him - "Are you not the same who smashed my shop, and nailed me to a
cross on a trivial matter of pomegranate just because it had only too little
pepper?" The Vazeer said - "O Son, The Truth will comfort you.
You are the son of my brother and I did all this to certify myself that you
are the one who came to my daughter on that day. I could not have done
this until I made sure that you recognized your chamber, turban, trousers
and gold; because I had never seen you before and I did not know
you." He embraced him and wept with joy. Then he sent for Ajeeb, as Hasan
saw him, he cried - "This is the boy who threw stone on me." The
Vazeer said - "He is your son." Hasan also cried with joy and
embraced him.
The
Vazeer went to the Sultaan and told him everything. The Sultaan
congratulated him on his success and expressed his desire to see his
nephew. Shams brought Hasan to the presence of the Sultaan. The Sultaan
thought to test his learning, so he asked - "Do you remember any
verses in praise of the mole on the cheek?" "Yes." and he
recited some. The Sultaan got very pleased hearing them. Then he asked -
"Now tell me, how many meanings are there in Arabic language for the word Khel
or Mole?" "Allaah keep the King, 57 or 50 meanings." Then
he asked - "Do you know the points of excellence in
beauty?" "Beauty consists in brightness of face, clearness of
complexion, shapeliness of nose, gentleness of eyes, sweetness of tongue,
cleverness of speech, slenderness of shape and seemliness of all
attributes. But the acme of the beauty is in the hair and indeed al-Shihaab
has presented them in his verses." And he recited his verses. The
Sultaan got extremely pleased and captivated by the verses.
He
again asked - "What is the meaning of "Shooraih is foxier than
the fox." He replied - "That Shooraihwas a lawyer. During the
days of plague, he used to make visitations to al-Nazaf, and whenever he
stood up to pray, there came a fox which would plant himself facing him,
and by mimicking his movements distracted him from his devotions. One day
he took his shirt and set it upon a cane and shook out the sleeves,
then placing his turban on the top, he stuck it at the place where he
prayed. The fox came and thought it was he, so he stood over the figure,
and Shooraih came and caught him. That is why it is said "Shooraih is
foxier than the fox."
When
the Sultaan heard all this he said to Shams - "Truly he is your
brother's son. And I do not think we can find anybody like him in Cairo."
The Sultaan presented him the robe of honor and promoted him to an office.
They came back home. When Badar went to his wife's chamber after eating
food, his ife told her own story to him. Then he wrote some verses in
praise of the Sultaan, engraved them on a hard surface and sent them to
the Sultaan. The Sultaan got very pleased with this and he had appointed
him as his personal secretary on a salary of 1,000 Dirhams addition to
that what he gave him before."
Conclusion
of the Story of The Three Apples
When the Caliph
Haaroon al-Rasheed heard this story from his Vazeer Zaafar, he praised him
and asked him to write it in golden ink. He freed his slave and assigned
to the youth who had slain his wife, such a monthly stipend which made his
life easy and the young man became one of his cup-companions.
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