The Story of the Two Viziers

Notable Characters

  • Nur al-Din
  • Shams al-Din
  • Badr al-Din
  • Sit al-Husn
  • ‘Ajib

Plot Summary

Nur al-Din and Shams al-Din are brothers, and both become viziers. They make an agreement that if they each have a child, one boy and one girl, their children will get married when they come of age. The get into an argument over whose child will be more deserving of the other, and they split ways, never to see each other again.

Like a self-fulfilling prophecy, Nur al-Din and his wife have a son called Badr al-Din, and Shams al-Din and his wife have a daughter called Sit al-Husn. Both of the children are incredibly beautiful.

One day, when they are older, two demons meet up and try to convince each other that one of these people is more beautiful than the other. They take Badr al-Din and have him stand in place for Sit al-Husn’s groom in her wedding. She believes that she is marrying Badr, when she is actually meant to marry a hunchback.

The demons interfere with the wedding night as well, dumping the hunchback in the toilet and bringing Badr to Sit’s room. Before they wake up, the demons transport Badr away from her room, but they are struck from the sky and do not reach their destination. Sit tries to explain to her father that she didn’t spend the night with the hunchback, and Badr tries to explain to the people of Basra that he was in Egypt getting married the night before.

Sit gives birth to a boy, ‘Ajib, who is said to also be very beautiful. Badr believes that he is alone in the world, so he sets up a shop and sells food. One day, about a decade later, ‘Ajib is traveling with his bodyguard, and they stop at Badr’s shop to eat. Part of Badr al-Din knew that he was connected to ‘Ajib in some way, but he did not know it was his son.

‘Ajib behaves horribly to Badr al-Din, and later he tells his mother and Badr’s mother that he found a place with the best pomegranate dish. When she hears this, Badr’s mother is sure that it is her son. At last, Sit al-Husn has found Badr al-Din.

Instead of reuniting normally, Badr al-Din is tricked into believing he will be punished for his food, but actually he is taken to Sit al-Husn’s bedchamber with everything set up the way he left it on the wedding night, and he reacts as though he had been dreaming and now was awake, proving that he is Badr al-Din. At last they are reunited!