break of day into his closet, to indulge his sorrows. Collected in
himself, and in a pensive mood, he cast his eyes in a melancholy manner
towards the place where he remembered the palace once stood, expecting
only to see an open space; but perceiving that vacancy filled up, he at
first imagined it to be the effect of a fog; but looking more
attentively, he was convinced beyond the power of doubt that it was his
son-in-law’s palace. Then joy and gladness succeeded to sorrow and
grief. He returned immediately into his apartment, and ordered a horse
to be saddled and brought to him in all haste, which he mounted that
instant, thinking he could not make haste enough to get to Aladdin’s
palace.
Aladdin, who foresaw what would happen, rose that morning by daybreak,
put on one of the most magnificent habits his wardrobe afforded, and
went up into the hall of twenty-four windows, from whence he perceived
the sultan coming, and got down soon enough to receive him at the foot
of the great staircase, and to help him to dismount. “Aladdin,” said the
sultan, “I cannot speak to you till I have seen and embraced my
daughter.”
He led the sultan into the princess Badr-oul-boudour’s apartment, who,
having been told by him, when he rose, that she was no longer in Africa,
but in China, and in the capital of the sultan her father, had just done
dressing herself. The sultan embraced her with his face bathed in tears
of joy; and the princess, on her side, gave him all the testimonies of
the extreme pleasure the sight of him gave her.
The sultan was some time before he could open his lips, so great was his
surprise and joy to find his daughter again, after he had given her up
for lost; and the princess, after seeing her father, let fall tears of
joy.
At last the sultan broke silence, and said, “I would believe, daughter,
your joy to see me makes you seem so little changed, as if no misfortune
had befallen you; for a large palace cannot be so suddenly transported
as yours has been, without great fright and terrible anguish. I would
have you tell me all that has happened, and conceal nothing from me.”
The princess, who took great pleasure in giving the sultan the
satisfaction he demanded, said, “Sir, if I appear so little altered, I
beg of your majesty to consider that I received new life yesterday
morning by the presence of my dear husband and deliverer Aladdin, whom I
looked upon and bewailed as lost to me; and the happiness of seeing and
embracing whom has almost recovered me to my former state of health. But
my greatest trouble was only to find myself forced from your majesty and
my dear husband; not only in respect to the inclination I bore to my
husband, but from the uneasiness I laboured under besides, for fear that
he, though innocent, should feel the effects of your anger, to which I
knew he was left exposed. I suffered but little from the insolence of
the wretch who had carried me off; for having secured the ascendant over
him, I always put a stop to his disagreeable discourse, and was as
little constrained as I am at present.
“As to what relates to my transportation, Aladdin had no hand in it; I
myself am the innocent cause of it.” To persuade the sultan of the truth
of what she said, she gave him a full account how the African magician
disguised himself like a seller of lamps, and offered to change new
lamps for old ones; and how she amused herself in making that exchange,
being entirely ignorant of the secret and importance of that lamp; how
the palace and herself were carried away and transported into Africa
with the African magician, who was recollected by two of her women and
the eunuch who made the exchange of the lamp, when he had the boldness
to pay her the first visit, after the success of his audacious
enterprise, to propose himself for her husband; how he persecuted her
till Aladdin’s arrival; how he and she concerted measures together to
get the lamp from him again, which he carried about him; and the success
they had; and particularly by her dissimulation, inviting him to supper
and giving him the cup with the powder prepared for him. “For the rest,”
added she, “I leave it to Aladdin to give you an account.”
Aladdin had not much to tell the sultan, but only said, “When the
private door was opened, I went up into the great hall, where I found
the magician lying dead on the sofa; as I thought it not proper for the
princess to stay there any longer, I desired her to go down into her own
apartment, with her women and eunuchs. As soon as I was alone, and had
taken the lamp out of the magician’s breast, I made use of the same
secret he had done to remove the palace, and carry off the princess; and
by that means the palace was brought into the same place where it stood
before; and I have the happiness to bring back the princess to your
majesty, as you commanded me. But that your majesty may not think that I
impose upon you, if you will give yourself the trouble to go up into the
hall, you shall see the magician punished as he deserved.”
The sultan, to be assured of the truth, rose up instantly, and went up
into the hall, where, when he saw the African magician dead, and his
face already livid by the strength of the poison, he embraced Aladdin
with great tenderness, and said, “My son, be not displeased at my
proceedings against you; they arose from my paternal love, and therefore
you ought to forgive the excesses to which it hurried me.” “Sir,”
replied Aladdin, “I have not the least reason to complain of your
majesty’s conduct, since you did nothing but what your duty required of
you. This infamous magician, the basest of men, was the sole cause of my
misfortune. When your majesty has leisure, I will give you an account of
another villainous action he was guilty of to me, which was no less
black and base than this, from which I was preserved by the grace of God
in a very particular manner.” “I will take an opportunity, and that very
shortly,” replied the sultan, “to hear it; but in the meantime let us
think only of rejoicing, and the removal of this odious object.”
Aladdin ordered the magician’s dead carcass to be removed and thrown on
the dunghill, for the birds and beasts to prey upon. In the meantime the
sultan commanded the drums, trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of
music, to announce the public joy, and a feast of ten days to be
proclaimed for joy of the return of the princess Badr-oul-boudour, and
Aladdin with his palace.
Thus Aladdin escaped a second time the almost inevitable danger of
losing his life: but this was not the last, since he ran as great a
hazard a third time, the circumstances of which I shall relate.
The African magician had a younger brother, who was a great necromancer,
and even surpassed him in villainy and pernicious designs. As they did
not live together, or in the same city, but oftentimes when one was in
the east the other was in the west, they failed not every year to inform
themselves, by their art of necromancy, where each other was, how they
did, and whether they stood in need of each other’s assistance.
Some time after the African magician had failed in his enterprise
against Aladdin’s happiness, his younger brother, who had not heard any
tidings of him for a year, and was not in Africa, but in a distant
country, had the curiosity to know in what part of the world he was, how
he did, and what he was doing; and as he, as well as his brother, always
carried a geomantic square instrument about him, he prepared the sand,
cast the points, and drew the figures. On examining the houses, he found
that his brother was no longer living; by another house, that he had
been poisoned, and died suddenly; and by another, that it was in the
capital of the kingdom of China; and that the person who poisoned him
was of mean birth, and married to a princess, a sultan’s daughter.
When the magician had after this manner informed himself of his
brother’s fate, he lost no time in useless regret, which could not
restore him to life again; but resolving immediately to revenge his
death, he took horse, and set forwards for China: where, after crossing
plains, rivers, mountains, deserts, and a long tract of country without
stopping, he arrived after incredible fatigues.
When he came to the capital of China, which his knowledge of geomancy
pointed out to him, and being certain he had not mistaken any other
kingdom for it, he took a lodging. The next day he went out, and walked
through the town, not so much to observe the beauties, which were
indifferent to him, but with an intention to take proper measures to
execute his pernicious designs. He introduced himself into the most
frequented places, where he listened to everybody’s discourse. In a
place where people resorted to divert themselves with all sorts of
games, and where some are conversing while others play, he heard some
persons talk of the virtue and piety of a woman called Fatima, who had
retired from the world, and of the miracles she performed. As he fancied
that this woman might be serviceable to him in the project he had in his
head, he took one of the company aside, and desired him to tell him more
particularly who that holy woman was, and what sort of miracles she
performed.
“What!” said the person to whom he addressed himself, “have you never
seen or heard talk of her? She is the admiration of the whole town, for
her fasting, her austerities, and her exemplary life. Except Mondays and
Fridays, she never stirs out of her little cell; and on those days on
which she comes into the town, she does an infinite deal of good; for
there is not a person who has the headache, but is cured by her laying
her hand upon them.”
The magician wanted no further information. He only asked the person in
what part of the town this holy woman’s cell was. After he had shewn him
it, and he had concluded and determined on the detestable design he had
in his head, and that he might know the way again, and be fully
informed, he watched all her steps the first day she went out after he
had made this inquiry, without losing sight of her till evening, when he
saw her re-enter her cell. When he had fully observed the place, he went
to one of those houses where they sell a certain hot liquor, and where
any person may pass the night, particularly in the great heats, when the
people of that country prefer lying on a mat to a bed. About midnight,
after the magician had satisfied the master of the house for what little
he had called for, he went out, and proceeded directly to the cell of
Fatima, the holy woman, the name she was known by throughout the town.
He had no difficulty in opening the door, which was only fastened with a
latch, and he shut it again after he had got in, without any noise; and
when he entered the cell, perceived Fatima by moonlight lying in the air
on a sofa, covered only by an old mat, with her head leaning against the
wall. He awakened her and clapped a dagger to her breast.
Poor Fatima, opening her eyes, was very much surprised to see a man with
a dagger at her breast ready to stab her, and who said to her, “If you
cry out, or make the least noise, I will kill you: but get up and do as
I bid you.”
Fatima, who had lain down in her clothes, got up trembling with fear.
“Do not be so much frightened,” said the magician, “I only want your
habit: give it me presently, and take mine.” Accordingly Fatima and he
changed clothes. Then he said, “Colour my face as yours is, that I may
be like you;” but perceiving that the poor creature could not help
trembling, to encourage her, he said, “I tell you again you need not
fear anything: I swear by the name of God I will not take away your
life.” Fatima lighted her lamp, made him come into the cell, and taking
a pencil and dipping it into a certain liquor, rubbed it over his face,
and assured him the colour would not change, and that his face was of
the same dye as her own: after which she put her own head-dress on his
head, with a veil, with which she showed him how to hide his face as he
passed through the town. After this, she put a long string of beads
about his neck which hung down to the middle of his body, and giving him
the stick she used to walk with, in his hand, brought him a
looking-glass, and bid him look if he was not as like her as possible.
The magician found himself disguised as he wished to be; but he did not
keep the oath he so solemnly swore to the good Fatima; but instead of
stabbing her, for fear the blood might discover him, he strangled her;
and when he found she was dead, threw her body into a cistern just by
the cell.
The magician, thus disguised like the holy woman Fatima, spent the
remainder of the night in the cell, after he had committed so horrid a
murder. The next morning, two hours after sunrise, though it was not a
day the holy woman used to go out on, he crept out of the cell, being
well persuaded that nobody would ask him any questions about it; or, if
they should, he had an answer ready for them. As one of the first things
he did after his arrival was to find out Aladdin’s palace, where he was
to execute his designs, he went directly thither.
As soon as the people saw the holy woman, as they imagined him to be,
they presently gathered about him in a great crowd. Some begged his
blessing, others kissed his hand, and others, more reserved, only the
hem of his garment: while others, whether their heads ached, or they had
a mind to be preserved against that distemper, stooped for him to lay
his hands upon them; which he did, muttering some words in form of
prayer, and, in short, counterfeited so well, that everybody took him
for the holy woman.
After frequently stopping to satisfy these kind of people, who received
neither good nor harm from this imposition of hands, he came at last to
the square before Aladdin’s palace. The crowd was so great that the
eagerness to get at him increased in proportion. Those who were the most
zealous and strong, forced their way through the crowd to get room.
There were such quarrels, and so great a noise, that the princess, who
was in the hall of four-and-twenty windows, heard it, and asked what was
the matter; but nobody being able to give her an account, she ordered
them to go and see, and inform her. One of her women looked out of a
window, and then told her it was a great crowd of people that were
gathering about the holy woman, to be cured of the headache by the
imposition of her hands.
The princess, who had for a long time heard a great deal of this holy
woman, but had never seen her, conceived a great curiosity to have some
conversation with her, which the chief of the eunuchs perceiving, told
her it was an easy matter to bring her to her, if she desired and
commanded it; and the princess shewing a desire, he immediately sent
four eunuchs for the pretended holy woman.
As soon as the crowd saw the eunuchs coming, they made way, and the
magician perceiving also that they were coming for him, advanced to meet
them, overjoyed to find his plot took so well. “Holy woman,” said one of
the eunuchs, “the princess wants to see you, and has sent us for you.”
“The princess does me too great an honour,” replied the false Fatima; “I
am ready to obey her command,” and at the same time followed the eunuchs
to the palace.
When the magician, who under a holy garment disguised a wicked heart,
was introduced into the great hall, and perceived the princess, he began
a prayer, which contained a long enumeration of vows and good wishes for
the princess’s health and prosperity, and that she might have everything
she desired. Then he displayed all his deceitful, hypocritical rhetoric,
to insinuate himself into the princess’s favour under the cloak of
piety, which it was no hard matter for him to do; for as the princess
herself was naturally good she was easily persuaded that all the world
was like her, especially those who made profession of serving God in
solitary retreat.
When the pretended-Fatima had made an end of his long harangue, the
princess said to him, “I thank you, good mother, for your prayers; I
have great confidence in them, and hope God will hear them. Come and sit
by me.” The false Fatima sat down with affected modesty: then the
princess, resuming her discourse, said, “My good mother, I have one
thing to ask you, which you must not refuse me; which is, to stay with
me, that you may entertain me with your way of living; and that I may
learn from your good example how to serve God.” “Princess,” said the
counterfeit Fatima, “I beg of you not to ask what I cannot consent to,
without neglecting my prayers and devotions.” “That shall be no
hindrance to you,” answered the princess; “I have a great many
apartments unoccupied; you shall choose which you like best, and shall
have as much liberty to perform your devotions as if you were in your
own cell.”
The magician, who wanted nothing more than to introduce himself into
Aladdin’s palace, where it would be a much easier matter for him to
execute his pernicious designs, under the favour and protection of the
princess, than if he had been forced to come and go from the cell to the
palace, did not urge much to excuse himself from accepting the obliging
offer the princess made him. “Princess,” said he, “whatever resolution a
poor wretched woman, as I am, may have made to renounce the pomp and
grandeur of this world, I dare not presume to oppose the will and
commands of so pious and charitable a princess.”
Upon this the princess, rising up, said, “Come along with me, I will
shew you what empty apartments I have, that you may make choice of which
you like best.” The magician followed the princess Badr-oul-boudour, and
of all the apartments she shewed him, made choice of that which was the
worse furnished, saying it was too good for him, and that he only
accepted of it to please her.
Afterwards the princess would have brought him back again into the great
hall to make him dine with her: but he considering that then he should
be obliged to show his face, which he had always taken care to hide; and
fearing that the princess should find out that he was not Fatima, he
begged of her earnestly to dispense with him, telling her that he never
ate anything but bread and dried fruits, and desiring to eat that slight
repast in his own apartment; that the princess granted him, saying, “You
may be as free here, good mother, as if you were in your own cell: I
will order you a dinner, but remember I expect you as soon as you have
finished your repast.”
After the princess had dined, and the false Fatima had been informed by
one of the eunuchs that she had risen from the table, he failed not to
wait upon her. “My good mother,” said the princess, “I am overjoyed to
have the company of so holy a woman as yourself, who will confer a
blessing upon this palace. But now I am speaking of this palace, pray
how do you like it? And before I shew you it all, tell me first what you
think of this hall.”
Upon this question, the counterfeit Fatima, who, to act his part the
better, affected to hang down his head, without so much as ever once
lifting it up, at last looked up, and surveying the hall from one end to
the other, when he had examined it well, said to the princess, “As far
as such a solitary being as I can judge, who am unacquainted with what
the world calls beautiful; this hall is truly admirable and most
beautiful: there wants but one thing.” “What is that, good mother?”
answered the princess Badr-oul-boudour; “tell me, I conjure you. For my
part I always believed, and have heard say, it wanted nothing; but if it
does, it shall be supplied.”
“Princess,” said the false Fatima, with great dissimulation, “forgive me
for the liberty I have taken; but my opinion is, if it can be of any
importance, that if a roc’s egg was hung up in the middle of this dome,
this hall would have no parallel in the four quarters of the world, and
your palace would be the wonder of the universe.”
“My good mother,” said the princess, “what bird is a roc, and where may
one get an egg?” “Princess,” replied the pretended Fatima, “it is a bird
of prodigious size, which inhabits the top of mount Caucasus; the
architect who built your palace can get you one.”
After the princess Badr-oul-boudour had thanked the false Fatima for
what she believed her good advice, she conversed with her upon other
matters; but could not forget the roc’s egg, which she made account to
tell Aladdin of when he returned from hunting. He had been gone six
days, which the magician knew and therefore took advantage of his
absence; but he returned that evening after the false Fatima had taken
leave of the princess, and retired to his apartment. As soon as he
arrived, he went directly up to the princess’s apartment, saluted and
embraced her, but she seemed to receive him coldly. “My princess,” said
he, “I think you are not so cheerful as you used to be. Has anything
happened during my absence which has displeased you, or given you any
trouble or dissatisfaction? In the name of God do not conceal it from
me. I will leave nothing undone that is in my power to please you.” “It
is a trifling matter,” replied the princess, “which gives me so little
concern that I could not have thought you could have perceived it in my
countenance; but since you have unexpectedly discovered some alteration,
I will no longer disguise a matter of so little consequence from you.
“I always believed, as well as you,” continued the princess
Badr-oul-boudour, “that our palace was the most superb, magnificent, and
complete in the world; but I will tell you now what I find fault with,
upon examining the hall of four-and-twenty windows. Do not you think
with me, that it would be complete if a roc’s egg was hung up in the
midst of the dome?” “Princess,” replied Aladdin, “it is enough that you
think there wants such a thing. You shall see by the diligence used to
repair that deficiency, that there is nothing which I would not do for
your sake.”
Aladdin left the princess Badr-oul-boudour that moment, and went up into
the hall of four-and-twenty windows, where pulling out of his bosom the
lamp, which after the danger he had been exposed to, he always carried
about him, he rubbed it; upon which the genie immediately appeared.
“Genie,” said Aladdin, “there wants a roc’s egg to be hung up in the
midst of the dome. I command thee, in the name of this lamp, to repair
the deficiency.” Aladdin had no sooner pronounced these words, but the
genie gave so loud and terrible a cry, that the hall shook, and Aladdin
could scarce stand upright. “What! wretch,” said the genie, in a voice
that would have made the most undaunted man tremble, “is it not enough
that I and my companions have done everything for you, but you, by an
unheard-of ingratitude, must command me to bring my master, and hang him
up in the midst of this dome? This attempt deserves that you, your wife,
and your palace, should be immediately reduced to ashes; but you are
happy in not being the author of this request, and that it does not come
from yourself. Know, then, that the true author is the brother of the
African magician, your enemy, whom you have destroyed as he deserved. He
is now in your palace, disguised in the clothes of the holy woman
Fatima, whom he murdered: and it is he who has suggested to your wife to
make this pernicious demand. His design is to kill you, therefore take
care of yourself.” After these words, the genie disappeared.
Aladdin lost not a word of what the genie had said. He had heard talk of
the holy woman Fatima, and how she pretended to cure the headache. He
returned to the princess’s apartment, and without mentioning a word of
what had happened, he sat down, and complained of a great pain which had
suddenly seized his head; upon which the princess ordered the holy woman
to be presently fetched, and then told him how that holy woman came to
the palace, and that she had appointed her an apartment.
When the pretended Fatima came, Aladdin said, “Come hither, good mother,
I am glad to see you here at so fortunate a time: I am tormented with a
violent pain in my head, and request your assistance, by the confidence
I have in your good prayers, and hope you will not refuse me that favour
which you do to so many persons afflicted with this distemper.” So
saying, he rose up, but held down his head. The counterfeit Fatima
advanced towards him, with his hand all the time on a dagger concealed
in his girdle under his gown; which Aladdin observing, he seized his
hand before he had drawn it, pierced him to the heart with his own
dagger, and then threw him down on the floor dead.