Two brother Viziers of Cairo, Shemseddin and Noureddin Ali, quarrel one night over the dowry of children not yet born — and by morning the younger has ridden out of Egypt with saddle-bags of gold and no thought of return. In Bassora the old Vizier takes him into his house, gives him his daughter, and in time lays the vizierate itself at his feet. On the same night, in Cairo and in Bassora, the two brothers wed; on the same day their wives bear a daughter and a son — the very cousins of the quarrel. Young Bedreddin Hassan grows up in his father's palace, the marvel of Bassora, and at fifteen receives from his dying father the written secret of his birth and five behests for his life. Part One of Five.
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
A note on what is not read here. In Payne's book this tale is told by the Vizier Jaafer inside "The Three Apples". That frame tale is not read in this programme: a husband's murder of his wife is its plot engine, and it is excluded whole under this shelf's rule that violent tales are excluded, never softened. No completeness is claimed for that stretch of the book. The tale of Bedreddin Hassan itself is read whole in five parts, in Payne's order; Part One is read entire, with no passage cut.
Chapters:
00:35 Introduction
01:21 Noureddin Ali of Cairo and His Son Bedreddin Hassan — Part One
Fresh in-house rendering from John Payne's translation, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night (1882–84).
Music: "Avian Impressions" (instrumental) — opening and closing theme, with a short excerpt at the tale's scene break.
KacheliTV — world classics, read aloud.
