and confess that your eyes never beheld jewels so rich and beautiful
before. What sayest thou to such a present? Is it not worthy of the
princess, my daughter? Ought I not to bestow her on one who values her
at so great a price?"
"I cannot but own," replied the Grand Vizier, "that the present is
worthy of the princess. But wait for three months. Before that time I
hope my son, whom you regard with favor, will be able to make a nobler
present than this Aladdin, of whom your majesty knows nothing."
The Sultan granted this request, and said to Aladdin's mother,--
"Good woman, go home, and tell your son that I agree to what you have
proposed, but I cannot marry the princess, my daughter, for three
months. At the end of that time come again."
The news which Aladdin's mother brought home filled him and her with
joy. From that time forth he counted every week, day, and hour as they
passed. When two of the three months were gone, Aladdin's mother went
out one evening to buy some oil, and found the streets full of joyful
people, and officers busy with preparations for some festival.
"What does it mean?" she asked the oil merchant.
"Whence came you, good woman," said he, "that you do not know that the
Grand Vizier's son is to marry the Princess Buddir al Buddoor, the
Sultan's daughter, to-night?"
Home she ran to Aladdin and cried, "Child, you are undone! the
Sultan's fine promises will come to nought. This night the Grand
Vizier's son is to marry the Princess Buddir al Buddoor."
Aladdin was thunderstruck, but wasted no time in idle words against
the Sultan. He went at once to his chamber, took the lamp, rubbed it
in the same place as before, when instantly the genie appeared, and
said to him,--
"What wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave,--I and
the other slaves of the lamp."
"Hear me," said Aladdin; "thou hast hitherto obeyed me, but now I am
about to impose on thee a harder task. The Sultan's daughter, who was
promised me as my bride, will this night be wed to the son of the
Grand Vizier. Bring them both hither to me when they are married."
"Master," replied the genie, "I obey you."
Aladdin did not have to wait long after supping with his mother and
going to his chamber to be shown again that the genie was indeed his
faithful slave. On this night and the next the princess and the Grand
Vizier's son were borne away from the Sultan's palace in a manner
which none could understand, not even they themselves. The strange
event was told to few, but the Sultan was one of them. He consulted
with the Grand Vizier, and, as both of these parents feared to expose
the young couple to further dangers from unseen foes, the marriage was
canceled, and all the merrymaking in honor of it was stopped. None but
Aladdin knew the cause of all the trouble, and he kept his secret to
himself. Least of all did the Sultan and Grand Vizier, who had quite
forgotten Aladdin, suspect that he had a hand in the matter.
IV
Of course Aladdin had not forgotten the Sultan's promise, and on the
very day which ended the three months, his mother came again to the
divan, and stood in her old place. When the Sultan saw her she was
called forward, and, having bowed to the floor, she said,--
"Sire, I come at the end of three months to ask you to fulfill the
promise you made to my son."
The Sultan could hardly believe the request had been made in earnest,
and, after a few words with the Grand Vizier, decided to propose terms
which one of Aladdin's humble position could not possibly fulfill.
"Good woman," he said, "it is true that sultans ought to abide by
their word, and I am ready to keep mine. But as I cannot marry my
daughter without further proof that your son will be able to support
her in royal state, you may tell him that I will fulfill my promise so
soon as he shall send me forty trays of massy gold, full of the same
sort of jewels you have already given me, and carried by forty black
slaves, who shall be led by as many young and handsome white slaves,
all dressed magnificently. When this is done, I will bestow my
daughter, the princess, upon him. Go, good woman, and tell him so, and
I will wait till you bring me his answer."
As Aladdin's mother hurried home she laughed to think how far the
Sultan's demand would be beyond her son's power. "He awaits your
answer," she said to Aladdin when she had told him all, and added,
laughing, "I believe he may wait long."
"Not so long as you think," replied Aladdin. "This demand is a mere
trifle. I will prepare to answer it at once."
In his own chamber he summoned the genie of the lamp, who appeared
without delay, and promised to carry out Aladdin's commands. Within a
very short time, a train of forty black slaves, led by as many white
slaves, appeared opposite the house in which Aladdin lived. Each black
slave carried on his head a basin of massy gold, full of pearls,
diamonds, rubies, and emeralds. Aladdin then said to his mother,--
"Madam, pray lose no time. Go to the Sultan before he leaves the
divan, and make this gift to him, that he may see how ardently I
desire his daughter's hand."
With Aladdin's mother at its head, the procession began to move
through the streets, which were soon filled with people praising the
beauty and bearing of the slaves, splendidly dressed, and walking at
an equal distance from one another. At the palace nothing so brilliant
had ever been seen before. The richest robes of the court looked poor
beside the dresses of these slaves. When they had all entered they
formed a half-circle around the Sultan's throne; the black slaves laid
the golden trays on the carpet, touched it with their foreheads, and
at the same time the white slaves did likewise. When they rose the
black slaves uncovered the trays, and then all stood with their arms
crossed over their breasts.
This done, Aladdin's mother advanced to the throne, bowed to the
floor, and said,--
"Sire, my son knows that this present is much below the notice of the
Princess Buddir al Buddoor, but hopes that your majesty will accept of
it, and make it pleasing to the princess. His hope is the greater
because he has tried to carry out your own wish."
With delight the Sultan replied,--
"Go and tell your son that I wait with open arms to embrace him; and
the more haste he makes to come and receive the princess, my daughter,
from my hands, the greater pleasure he will give me."
While he showed the slaves and the jewels to the princess, Aladdin's
mother carried the good news to her son. "My son," she said, "you may
rejoice, for the Sultan has declared that you shall marry the Princess
Buddir al Buddoor. He waits for you with impatience."
Aladdin was overjoyed, but, saying little, retired to his chamber.
Here he rubbed the lamp, and when its slave appeared said,--
"Genie, convey me at once to a bath, and give me the richest robe ever
worn by a monarch."
This was soon done, and he found himself again in his own chamber,
where the genie asked if he had any other commands.
"Yes," answered Aladdin; "bring me a charger better than the best in
the Sultan's stables. Fit him with trappings worthy of his value.
Furnish twenty slaves, clothed as richly as those who carried the
presents to the Sultan, to walk by my side and follow me, and twenty
more to go before me in two ranks. Besides these, bring my mother six
women slaves, as richly dressed as any of the Princess Buddir al
Buddoor's, each carrying a complete dress fit for a Sultan's wife. I
want also ten thousand pieces of gold in ten purses: go, and make
haste."
The commands were instantly fulfilled, and Aladdin gave the six women
slaves to his mother, with the six dresses they had brought, wrapped
in silver tissue. Of the ten purses he gave four to his mother, and
the other six he left in the hands of the slaves who brought them,
saying that they must march before him and throw the money by handfuls
into the crowd as the procession moved to the Sultan's palace. Mounted
on his horse, Aladdin, though he had never ridden before, appeared
with a grace which the most practiced horseman might have envied. It
was no wonder that the people made the air echo with their shouts,
especially when the slaves threw out the handfuls of gold.
The Sultan met him at the palace with joy and surprise that the son of
so humble a mother as the woman he had seen should have such dignity
and good looks, and should be dressed more richly than he himself had
ever been. He embraced Aladdin, held him by the hand, and made him sit
near the throne. Then there was a great feast, and after it the
contract of marriage between the princess and Aladdin was drawn up.
When the Sultan asked him if he would stay in the palace and complete
the marriage that day, Aladdin answered,--
"Sire, though my impatience is great to enter on the honor your
majesty has granted, yet I beg first to be allowed to build a palace
worthy of the princess, your daughter. I pray you to give me ground
enough near your own, and I will have it finished with the utmost
speed."
The request was granted, and Aladdin took his leave with as much
politeness as if he had always lived at court. Again, as he passed
through the streets, the people shouted and wished him joy. In his own
chamber once more, he took the lamp, rubbed it, and there was the
genie.
"Genie," said Aladdin, "build me a palace fit to receive the Princess
Buddir al Buddoor. Let its materials be of the rarest. Let its walls
be of massive gold and silver bricks. Let each front contain six
windows, and let the lattices of these (except one, which must be left
unfinished) be enriched with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, beyond
anything of the kind ever seen in the world. Let there be courts and a
spacious garden, kitchens, storehouses, stables,--well
equipped,--offices, servants, and slaves. Above all, provide a safe
treasure-house, and fill it with gold and silver. Go, and fulfill my
wishes."
Early the next morning the genie returned, and bore Aladdin to the
place where the palace had been built. Everything was done as Aladdin
had commanded. The officers, slaves, and grooms were at their work in
hall and stable. The hall, with the twenty-four windows, was beyond
his fondest hopes.
"Genie," he said, "there is but one thing wanting,--a fine carpet for
the princess to walk upon from the Sultan's palace to mine. Lay one
down at once."
In an instant the desire was fulfilled. Then the genie carried Aladdin
to his own home.
When the Sultan looked out of his windows in the morning, he was
amazed to see a shining building where there had been but an empty
garden. "It must be Aladdin's palace," he said, "which I gave him
leave to build for my daughter. He has wished to surprise us, and let
us see what wonders can be done in a single night."
He was only a little less surprised when Aladdin's mother, dressed
more richly than ever his own daughter had been, appeared at the
palace. So good a son, he thought, must make a good husband. And soon
the son himself appeared; and when in royal pomp he left his humble
house for the last time, he did not fail to take with him the
wonderful lamp which had brought him all his good fortune, or to wear
the ring he had received as a talisman.
V
His marriage to the princess was performed with the utmost splendor.
There was feasting and music and dancing, and when the princess was
brought to her new palace she was so dazzled by its richness that she
said to Aladdin, "I thought, prince, there was nothing so beautiful in
the world as my father's palace, but now I know that I was deceived."
The next day Aladdin with a troop of slaves went himself to the Sultan
and asked him to come with the Grand Vizier and lords of the court to
a repast in the palace of the princess. The Sultan gladly consented,
and the nearer he came to the building the more he marveled at its
grandeur. When he entered the hall of the twenty-four windows he
exclaimed,--
"This palace is one of the wonders of the world. Where else shall we
find walls built of gold and silver, and windows of diamonds, rubies,
and emeralds? But tell me this. Why, in a hall of such beauty, was one
window left incomplete?"
"Sire," said Aladdin, "I left it so, that you should have the glory of
finishing this hall."
"I take your wish kindly," said the Sultan, "and will give orders
about it at once."
When the jewelers and goldsmiths were called they undertook to finish
the window, but needed all the jewels the Sultan could give and the
Grand Vizier lend for the work. Even the jewels of Aladdin's gift were
used, and after working for a month the window was not half finished.
Aladdin therefore dismissed them all one day, bade them undo what they
had done, and take the jewels back to the Sultan and Vizier. Then he
rubbed his lamp, and there was the genie.
"Genie," he said, "I ordered thee to leave one of the four and twenty
windows imperfect, and thou hast obeyed me. Now I would have thee make
it like the rest." And in a moment the work was done.
The Sultan was greatly surprised when the chief jeweler brought back
the stones and said that their work had been stopped, he could not
tell why. A horse was brought, and the Sultan rode at once to
Aladdin's palace to ask what it all meant. One of the first things he
saw there was the finished window. He could hardly believe it to be
true, and looked very closely at all the four and twenty to see if he
was deceived. When he was convinced he embraced Aladdin and kissed him
between the eyes and said,--
"My son, what a man you are to do such things in the twinkling of an
eye! there is not your fellow in the world; the more I know of you the
more I admire you."
Aladdin won not only the love of the Sultan, but also of the people.
As he went to one mosque or another to prayers, or paid visits to the
Grand Vizier and lords of the court, he caused two slaves who walked
by the side of his horse to throw handfuls of money to the people in
the streets. Thus he lived for several years, making himself dear to
all.
VI
About this time the African magician, who had supposed Aladdin to be
dead in the cave where he had left him, learned by magic art that he
had made his escape, and by the help of the genie of the wonderful
lamp was living in royal splendor.
On the very next day the magician set out for the capital of China,
where on his arrival he took up his lodging in an inn. There he
quickly learned about Aladdin's wealth and goodness and popularity. As
soon as he saw the palace he knew that none but genies, the slaves of
the lamp, could have built it, and he returned to his inn all the more
angry at Aladdin for having got what he wanted himself. When he
learned by his magic that Aladdin did not carry the lamp about with
him, but left it in the palace, he rubbed his hands with glee, and
said, "Well, I shall have it now, and I shall make Aladdin return to
his low estate."
The next morning he learned that Aladdin had gone with a hunting
party, to be absent eight days, three of which had passed. He needed
to know no more, and quickly formed his plans. He went to a shop and
asked for a dozen copper lamps. The master of the shop had not so many
then, but promised them the next day, and said he would have them, as
the magician wished, handsome and well polished.
When the magician came back and paid for them, he put them in a basket
and started directly for Aladdin's palace. As he drew near he began
crying, "Who will change old lamps for new ones?" The children and
people who crowded around hooted and scoffed at him as a madman or a
fool, but he heeded them not, and went on crying, "Who will change old
lamps for new ones?"
The princess was in the hall with the four and twenty windows, and,
seeing a crowd outside, sent one of her women slaves to find out what
the man was crying. The slave returned laughing, and told of the
foolish offer. Another slave, hearing it, said, "Now you speak of
lamps, I know not whether the princess may have observed it, but there
is an old one upon a shelf of the Prince Aladdin's robing room.
Whoever owns it will not be sorry to find a new one in its stead. If
the princess chooses, she may have the pleasure of seeing whether this
old man is silly enough to make the exchange."
The princess, who knew not the value of this lamp, thought it would be
a good joke to do as her slave suggested, and in a few moments it was
done. The magician did not stop to cry, "New lamps for old ones!"
again, but hurried to his inn and out of the town, setting down his
basket of new lamps where nobody saw him.
When he reached a lonely spot he pulled the old lamp out of his
breast, and, to make sure that it was the one he wanted, rubbed it.
Instantly the genie appeared and said, "What wouldst thou have? I am
ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all those who have
that lamp in their hands,--both I and the other slaves of the lamp."
"I command thee," replied the magician, "to bear me and the palace
which thou and the other slaves of the lamp have built in this city,
with all the people in it, at once to Africa."
The genie made no reply, but in a moment he and the other slaves of
the lamp had borne the magician and the palace entire to the spot
where he wished it to stand.
Early the next morning, when the Sultan went as usual to gaze upon
Aladdin's palace, it was nowhere to be seen. How so large a building
that had been standing for some years could disappear so completely,
and leave no trace behind, he could not understand. The Grand Vizier
was summoned to explain it. In secret be bore no good will to Aladdin,
and was glad to suggest that the very building of the palace had been
by magic, and that the hunting party had been merely an excuse for the
removal of the palace by the same means. The Sultan was persuaded,
therefore, to send a body of his guards to seize Aladdin as a prisoner
of state. When he appeared the Sultan would hear no word from him, but
ordered him put to death. This displeased the people so much that the
Sultan, fearing a riot, granted him his life and let him speak.
"Sire," said Aladdin, "I pray you to let me know the crime by which I
have lost thy favor?"
"Your crime!" answered the Sultan; "wretched man! do you not know it?
Follow me, and I will show you."
Then he led Aladdin to a window and said, "You ought to know where
your palace stood; look, and tell me what has become of it."
Aladdin was as much amazed as the Sultan had been. "True, it is
vanished," he said after a speechless pause, "but I have had no
concern in its removal. I beg you to give me forty days, and if in
that time I cannot restore it, I will offer my head to be disposed of
at your pleasure."
"I give you the time you ask," answered the Sultan, "but at the end of
forty days forget not to present yourself before me."
The lords, who had courted Aladdin in his better days, paid him no
heed as he left the palace in extreme shame. For three days he
wandered about the city, exciting the pity of all he met by asking if
they had seen his palace, or could tell where it was. On the third day
he wandered into the country. As he approached a river he slipped and
fell down a bank. Clutching at a rock to save himself, he rubbed his
ring, and instantly the genie whom he had seen in the cave appeared
before him. "What wouldst thou have?" said the genie. "I am ready to
obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all those that have that ring
on their finger,--both I and the other slaves of the ring."
Aladdin had never thought of help from this quarter, and said with
delight,--
"Genie, show me where the palace I caused to be built now stands, or
bring it back where it first stood."
"Your command," answered the genie, "is not wholly in my power; I am
only the slave of the ring, and not of the lamp."
"I command thee, then," replied Aladdin, "by the power of the ring, to
bear me to the spot where my palace stands, wherever it may be."
These words were no sooner out of his mouth than he found himself in
the midst of a large plain, where his palace stood, not far from a
city, and directly above him was the window of his wife's chamber.
Just then one of her household happened to look out and see him, and
told the good news to the Princess Buddir al Buddoor. She could not
believe it to be true, and hastening to the window opened it herself
with a noise which made Aladdin look up. Seeing the princess, he
saluted her with an air that expressed his joy, and in a moment he had
entered by a private door and was in her arms.
After shedding tears of joy, they sat down, and Aladdin said, "I beg
of you, princess, to tell me what is become of an old lamp which stood
upon a shelf in my robing chamber."
"Alas!" answered the princess, "I was afraid our misfortune might be
owing to that lamp; and what grieves me most is that I have been the
cause of it. I was foolish enough to change the old lamp for a new
one, and the next morning I found myself in this unknown country,
which I am told is Africa."
"Princess," said Aladdin, stopping her, "you have told me all by
telling me we are in Africa. Now, only tell me where the old lamp is."
"The African magician," answered the princess, "carries it carefully
wrapped up in his bosom. This I know, because one day he pulled it out
before me, and showed it to me in triumph."
Aladdin quickly formed and carried out a plan to leave the palace,
disguise himself, buy of a druggist a certain powder which he named,
and return to the princess. He told her what she must do to help his
purposes. When the magician should come to the palace, she must assume
a friendly manner and ask him to sup with her. "Before he leaves,"
said Aladdin, "ask him to exchange cups with you. This he will gladly
do, and you must give him the cup containing this powder. On drinking
it he will instantly fall asleep, and we shall obtain the lamp, whose
slaves will do our bidding, and bear us and the palace back to the
capital of China."
It was not long before the magician came to the palace, and the
princess did exactly as Aladdin had bidden her. When, at the end of
the evening, she offered her guest the drugged cup, he drank it, out
of honor to her, to the last drop, and fell back lifeless on the sofa.
Aladdin was quickly called and said, "Princess, retire, and let me be
left alone while I try to take you back to China as speedily as you
were brought thence." On the dead body of the magician he found the
lamp, carefully wrapped and hidden in his garments. Aladdin rubbed it,
and the genie stood before him.
"Genie," said Aladdin, "I command thee to bear this palace instantly
back to the place whence it was brought hither." The genie bowed his
head and departed. In a moment the palace was again in China, and its
removal was felt only by two little shocks, the one when it was lifted
up, the other when it was set down, and both in a very short space of
time.
Early the next day the Sultan was looking from his window and mourning
his daughter's fate. He could not believe his eyes when first he saw
her palace standing in its old place. But as he looked more closely he
was convinced, and joy came to his heart instead of the grief that had
filled it. At once he ordered a horse and was on his way, when
Aladdin, looking from the hall of twenty-four windows, saw him coming,
and hastened to help him dismount. He was brought at once to the
princess, and both wept tears of joy. When the strange events had been
partly explained, he said to Aladdin,--
"My son, be not displeased at the harshness I showed towards you. It
rose from a father's love, and therefore you will forgive it."
"Sire," said Aladdin, "I have not the least reason to complain of your
conduct, since you did nothing but what your duty required. This
wicked magician, the basest of men, was the sole cause of all."
VII
Only once again were Aladdin and his palace in danger from magic arts.
A younger brother of the African magician learned of what had
happened, and, in the guise of a holy woman, Fatima, whom he killed
that he might pretend to take her place, came to live in the palace.
The princess, thinking him really the holy woman, heeded all that he
said. One day, admiring the beauty of the hall, he told her that
nothing could surpass it if only a roc's egg were hung from the middle
of the dome. "A roc," he said, "is a bird of enormous size which lives
at the summit of Mount Caucasus. The architect who built your palace
can get you an egg."
When the princess told Aladdin of her desire, he summoned the genie of
the lamp and said to him,--
"Genie, I command thee in the name of this lamp, bring a roc's egg to
be hung in the middle of the dome of the hall of the palace."