Schemseddin Mohammed returned to his daughter’s chamber more
astonished than before. Well, then, my abused daughter, said he, can
you give me no farther light into this matter? --Sir, said she, I
can give you no other account than what I have done already. Here
are my husband’s clothes, which he left upon the chair; perhaps
you may find somewhat there, that may solve your doubt. Then she
showed him Bedreddin’s turban, which he took and examined narrowly
on all sides. I should take this to be a vizier’s turban, if it
were not made after the Moussoul [61] fashion. But perceiving
somewhat to be sewed between the stuff and the lining, he called for
scissors, and having unript it, found the paper which Nourreddin Ali
gave Bedreddin, his son, as he was dying, and which he had put into
his turban for more security.
Schemseddin Mohammed having opened the paper, knew his brother
Nourreddin’s hand, and found this superscription, ‘For my son,
Bedreddin Hassan.’ Before he could make any reflections upon it,
his daughter delivered him the bag that lay under his clothes, which
he likewise opened, and found it full of sequins; for, as I told you
before, notwithstanding all the liberality of Bedreddin, it was
still kept full by the genie and fairy. He read these following
words upon a note in the bag: ‘A thousand sequins belonging to
Isaac the Jew.’ And these lines underneath, which the Jew wrote
before he parted from Bedreddin Hassan. ‘Delivered to Bedreddin
Hassan, for the cargo of the first of those ships that formerly
belonged to Nourreddin Ali, his father, of worthy memory, sold unto
me upon its arrival in this place.’ He had scarce read these
words, when he gave a shout, and fainted away.
The vizier, Schemseddin Mohammed, being recovered from his fit by
the help of his daughter, and the woman she called to her
assistance. Daughter, said he, do not frighten yourself at this
accident; the reason of it is such as you can scarcely believe. Your
bridegroom is your cousin, the son of Nourreddin Ali. The thousand
sequins in the bag puts me in mind of a quarrel I had with my dear
brother; it is, without doubt, the dowry he gives you. God be
praised for all things, and particularly for this miraculous
adventure, which demonstrates his almighty power. Then looking again
upon his brother’s writing, he kissed it several times, shedding
abundance of tears.
He looked over the book from one end to the other, where he found
the date of his brother’s arrival at Balsora, of his marriage, and
of the birth of Bedreddin Hassan; and when he compared the same with
the day of his own marriage, and the birth of his daughter at Cairo,
he admired how every thing did agree so exactly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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