Yusuf felt sad saying goodbye to his mother and sisters before
he left Damascus with his father. At first he was excited to be
starting a new life, but after four days of hard travel on hot dry
roads, he was worried. He asked himself over and over again,
‘Will I be a good soldier?’
‘Yusuf, look! That’s where you’ll live,’ his father said while
they rode through some small villages just outside Aleppo.
On a high hill in the middle of the town, the boy saw the tall
walls of the castle climb up towards the sky. They made Yusuf
feel very small and unimportant. The building looked like it was
growing even taller while he rode through the town towards it.
Yusuf wanted to go back home, but he knew that he couldn’t say
anything to his father. Ayyub rode up into the castle and Yusuf
followed silently. They found the general talking to his men in a
large room full of swords. Shirkuh was an ugly man, with only
one eye. No one could say that he looked like a general, but he
was brave and he knew everything about the best ways to fight
and win.
After the soldiers left, the general turned to the boy.
‘Well, Yusuf, are you sure that you want to be a soldier?’
‘I’ll do my best, Uncle.’
‘If you want to be one of my soldiers, you’ll do what I tell you.
Do you understand?’
‘Yes, Uncle.’
Shirkuh now turned to his brother.
‘Ayyub, I’ll take the boy, but only because you and I are
brothers. I don’t think that he’ll be a good fighter or a soldier,
but we’ll see. If he’s any trouble, he goes home – at once!’
Yusuf wanted to do well, but it was difficult. He tried hard to
learn. But he was still
small and weak and he
found the fighting hard.
His sword was heavy.
The other soldiers were
fast and strong. His uncle
was often angry.
‘Hey, Yusuf! You’ll
never be a soldier if you
fight like that! I can’t
use you as you are. Go
and try to understand
how the law works from
Governor Nuradin. I
don’t want to see you
here again until you can
do something better than
this! Work hard or you’ll
go back home.’
Yusuf did what his
uncle said. He thought,
‘I’ll never be a soldier.
What will my father say
if I have to go home? Learning the law is so boring, but Uncle
Shirkuh thinks I can’t do anything else. Oh, I want to be strong
like other boys!’
Now he stood for long hours in the governor’s rooms in
the castle watching people asking Nuradin for help. At first
everything was hard to understand, but soon Yusuf saw that
Nuradin was a great man. The governor always listened to
everybody – poor people, and women and children, too – not just rich and strong men. The governor studied the law and
talked about difficult problems with wise men. He thought
about their words and took time to find the right answer.
After three months, the governor saw that Yusuf learned
quickly. People liked the boy because he was friendly to
everyone. His thin face usually looked sad when he was alone,
but when he spoke to people, he had a kind and happy smile.
He also always tried to help anyone with troubles. Nuradin
began to talk to the boy about the problems of the castle, the
town and the army. The governor also talked to Yusuf about
his great hope:
'One day soon I want to make all the Muslim people stop
fighting each other. We must work together to take Jerusalem
back from the Franks. Palestine isn’t their land after all.
Nothing is more important than this, and we must all fight to
make it happen!'
Now Yusuf wanted to fight the Franks too. It was wrong
that they held the holy places. He also understood that Franks
sometimes made friends with some Muslims and together they
fought against other Muslims and took their houses, land and
animals. Nothing was safe. It was also very hard for Muslims to
go on pilgrimage to the holy city of Makkah. The road was too
dangerous because of all the Frankish castles near it.
‘I must get into Nuradin’s army! But how can I do it when
Uncle Shirkuh thinks that I’m too weak? I’ll have to learn clever
ways to win against stronger men. I know that the Franks are
good fighters. Their horses are bigger, their soldiers wear a lot of
armour, and they have many castles. But I know that we’ll win
if we work together and make good plans.’
From that day, he borrowed a horse and learned to use his
sword day and night when he wasn’t working for Nuradin. He wanted to show his uncle that he wasn’t just a good student of
law, but also a real soldier.
One day, Nuradin asked Yusuf to play polo with him. The
boy ran to find a horse. He was so excited, and he forgot about
everything – his uncle, the law, and even fighting the Franks!
They played inside the castle walls. Everyone watched Yusuf
and his horse following the ball closely, without a mistake.
Polo was like a battle, fast and dangerous. Many horses
fell, men were hurt, and one died when a horse ran over
him, but Yusuf rode wonderfully. He stayed out of trouble
and, by hitting clever shots, he helped Nuradin and his
players to win.
‘How can you play polo so well?’ the governor asked the boy.
‘I learned it in Damascus, sir. I have a wonderful horse there.
My father says that he’ll send him to me when General Shirkuh
says that I can fight with the army.’
‘Tell your father to send the horse now. You’re small and not
very strong, but you’re a clever fighter. You think before you do
things, and you want to win. There’s nothing more important in
a soldier. The general will be happy to have another good man in
his army. Go to him now and tell him what I said.’
The general looked up when he heard the news. He wasn’t
smiling. ‘Very well. You can come back, but don’t think that
you’ll be fighting. Polo and war are different. You’ll work in my
office and learn how to move fighting men and horses quickly
and to find food, weapons, and a safe place for them to sleep.
Remember that brave soldiers and fast horses are only half the
story. We only win wars when strong men are ready to fight in
the right place at the right time.’
Yusuf was in the army now, but life wasn’t easier. Every day
he made sure that the soldiers and their horses had good food to
eat. He counted weapons and made sure that they were strong
and clean. He paid soldiers and kept the army’s money safe.
He found answers to all kinds of problems from morning until
night, but sometimes he felt sad because he never knew if his
uncle was happy with his hard work. There was no fighting for
Yusuf, but sometimes Nuradin asked him to play polo and on
Aneed’s back he forgot his troubles.
Yusuf was twenty-five, and still working for his uncle, when
news came of trouble in Egypt. Vizier Shawar wanted Nuradin’s
help to keep the country out of the hands of his enemies. He
promised to give a lot of money to the Syrians to make them
come, but it was only when Amalric, the Frankish King of
Jerusalem, decided to move into Egypt that Nuradin began to
think about sending his army. ‘The Franks mustn’t get to Cairo
and use the money that they find there to make their armies in
the Holy Land stronger,’ he said.
Yusuf worked hard for months to get the soldiers ready for
the long journey to Egypt. There was a lot to do and General
Shirkuh was always busy. He spoke to Yusuf only to give him
more work and more difficult problems to put right. The young
man worried that he couldn’t go on the campaign, but he
worked as hard as possible to make ready all that the army
needed. The days went by and still Yusuf heard nothing about
going. He knew that the army was leaving in less than a week.
‘My uncle will leave me behind, and I’ll spend the rest of my
life counting swords and paying soldiers!’ he thought sadly.