He snatched it and bade the slave take her choice, amid the jeers of
the crowd. Little he cared, but left off crying his lamps, and went
out of the city gates to a lonely place, where he remained till
nightfall, when he pulled out the lamp and rubbed it. The genie
appeared, and at the magician's command carried him, together with the
palace and the princess in it, to a lonely place in Africa.
Next morning the Sultan looked out of the window towards Aladdin's
palace and rubbed his eyes, for it was gone. He sent for the vizir,
and asked what had become of the palace. The vizir looked out too, and
was lost in astonishment. He again put it down to enchantment, and
this time the Sultan believed him, and sent thirty men on horseback to
fetch Aladdin in chains. They met him riding home, bound him, and
forced him to go with them on foot. The people, however, who loved
him, followed, armed, to see that he came to no harm. He was carried
before the Sultan, who ordered the executioner to cut off his head.
The executioner made Aladdin kneel down, bandaged his eyes, and raised
his scimitar to strike.
At that instant the vizir, who saw that the crowd had forced their way
into the courtyard and were scaling the walls to rescue Aladdin, called
to the executioner to stay his hand. The people, indeed, looked so
threatening that the Sultan gave way and ordered Aladdin to be unbound,
and pardoned him in the sight of the crowd.
Aladdin now begged to know what he had done.
"False wretch!" said the Sultan, "come hither," and showed him from the
window the place where his palace had stood.
Aladdin was so amazed that he could not say a word.
"Where is my palace and my daughter?" demanded the Sultan. "For the
first I am not so deeply concerned, but my daughter I must have, and
you must find her or lose your head."
Aladdin begged for forty days in which to find her, promising if he
failed to return and suffer death at the Sultan's pleasure. His prayer
was granted, and he went forth sadly from the Sultan's presence. For
three days he wandered about like a madman, asking everyone what had
become of his palace, but they only laughed and pitied him. He came to
the banks of a river, and knelt down to say his prayers before throwing
himself in. In so doing he rubbed the magic ring he still wore.
The genie he had seen in the cave appeared, and asked his will.
"Save my life, genie," said Aladdin, "and bring my palace back."
"That is not in my power," said the genie; "I am only the slave of the
ring; you must ask the slave of the lamp."
"Even so," said Aladdin "but thou canst take me to the palace, and set
me down under my dear wife's window." He at once found himself in
Africa, under the window of the princess, and fell asleep out of sheer
weariness.
He was awakened by the singing of the birds, and his heart was lighter.
He saw plainly that all his misfortunes were owing to the loss of the
lamp, and vainly wondered who had robbed him of it.
That morning the princess rose earlier than she had done since she had
been carried into Africa by the magician, whose company she was forced
to endure once a day. She, however, treated him so harshly that he
dared not live there altogether. As she was dressing, one of her women
looked out and saw Aladdin. The princess ran and opened the window,
and at the noise she made Aladdin looked up. She called to him to come
to her, and great was the joy of these lovers at seeing each other
again.
After he had kissed her Aladdin said: "I beg of you, Princess, in
God's name, before we speak of anything else, for your own sake and
mine, tell me what has become of an old lamp I left on the cornice in
the hall of four-and-twenty windows, when I went a-hunting."
"Alas!" she said "I am the innocent cause of our sorrows," and told him
of the exchange of the lamp.
"Now I know," cried Aladdin, "that we have to thank the African
magician for this! Where is the lamp?"
"He carries it about with him," said the princess, "I know, for he
pulled it out of his breast to show me. He wishes me to break my faith
with you and marry him, saying that you were beheaded by my father's
command. He is forever speaking ill of you, but I only reply by my
tears. If I persist, I doubt not that he will use violence."
Aladdin comforted her, and left her for a while. He changed clothes
with the first person he met in the town, and having bought a certain
powder returned to the princess, who let him in by a little side door.
"Put on your most beautiful dress," he said to her, "and receive the
magician with smiles, leading him to believe that you have forgotten
me. Invite him to sup with you, and say you wish to taste the wine of
his country. He will go for some, and while he is gone I will tell you
what to do."
She listened carefully to Aladdin, and when he left her arrayed herself
gaily for the first time since she left China. She put on a girdle and
head-dress of diamonds, and seeing in a glass that she looked more
beautiful than ever, received the magician, saying to his great
amazement: "I have made up my mind that Aladdin is dead, and that all
my tears will not bring him back to me, so I am resolved to mourn no
more, and have therefore invited you to sup with me; but I am tired of
the wines of China, and would fain taste those of Africa."
The magician flew to his cellar, and the princess put the powder
Aladdin had given her in her cup. When he returned she asked him to
drink her health in the wine of Africa, handing him her cup in exchange
for his as a sign she was reconciled to him.
Before drinking the magician made her a speech in praise of her beauty,
but the princess cut him short saying:
"Let me drink first, and you shall say what you will afterwards." She
set her cup to her lips and kept it there, while the magician drained
his to the dregs and fell back lifeless.
The princess then opened the door to Aladdin, and flung her arms round
his neck, but Aladdin put her away, bidding her to leave him, as he had
more to do. He then went to the dead magician, took the lamp out of
his vest, and bade the genie carry the palace and all in it back to
China. This was done, and the princess in her chamber only felt two
little shocks, and little thought she was at home again.
The Sultan, who was sitting in his closet, mourning for his lost
daughter, happened to look up, and rubbed his eyes, for there stood the
palace as before! He hastened thither, and Aladdin received him in the
hall of the four-and-twenty windows, with the princess at his side.
Aladdin told him what had happened, and showed him the dead body of the
magician, that he might believe. A ten days' feast was proclaimed, and
it seemed as if Aladdin might now live the rest of his life in peace;
but it was not to be.
The African magician had a younger brother, who was, if possible, more
wicked and more cunning than himself. He travelled to China to avenge
his brother's death, and went to visit a pious woman called Fatima,
thinking she might be of use to him. He entered her cell and clapped a
dagger to her breast, telling her to rise and do his bidding on pain of
death. He changed clothes with her, coloured his face like hers, put
on her veil and murdered her, that she might tell no tales. Then he
went towards the palace of Aladdin, and all the people thinking he was
the holy woman, gathered round him, kissing his hands and begging his
blessing. When he got to the palace there was such a noise going on
round him that the princess bade her slave look out of the window and
ask what was the matter. The slave said it was the holy woman, curing
people by her touch of their ailments, whereupon the princess, who had
long desired to see Fatima, sent for her. On coming to the princess
the magician offered up a prayer for her health and prosperity. When
he had done the princess made him sit by her, and begged him to stay
with her always. The false Fatima, who wished for nothing better,
consented, but kept his veil down for fear of discovery. The princess
showed him the hall, and asked him what he thought of it.
"It is truly beautiful," said the false Fatima. "In my mind it wants
but one thing."
"And what is that?" said the princess.
"If only a roc's egg," replied he, "were hung up from the middle of
this dome, it would be the wonder of the world."
After this the princess could think of nothing but a roc's egg, and
when Aladdin returned from hunting he found her in a very ill humour.
He begged to know what was amiss, and she told him that all her
pleasure in the hall was spoilt for the want of a roc's egg hanging
from the dome.
"It that is all," replied Aladdin, "you shall soon be happy."
He left her and rubbed the lamp, and when the genie appeared commanded
him to bring a roc's egg. The genie gave such a loud and terrible
shriek that the hall shook.
"Wretch!" he cried, "is it not enough that I have done everything for
you, but you must command me to bring my master and hang him up in the
midst of this dome? You and your wife and your palace deserve to be
burnt to ashes; but this request does not come from you, but from the
brother of the African magician whom you destroyed. He is now in your
palace disguised as the holy woman--whom he murdered. He it was who
put that wish into your wife's head. Take care of yourself, for he
means to kill you." So saying the genie disappeared.
Aladdin went back to the princess, saying his head ached, and
requesting that the holy Fatima should be fetched to lay her hands on
it. But when the magician came near, Aladdin, seizing his dagger,
pierced him to the heart.
"What have you done?" cried the princess. "You have killed the holy
woman!"
"Not so," replied Aladdin, "but a wicked magician," and told her of how
she had been deceived.
After this Aladdin and his wife lived in peace. He succeeded the
Sultan when he died, and reigned for many years, leaving behind him a
long line of kings.