Part 90

When he was sat down, the princess, to free him from his embarrassment, broke silence first, looking at him all the time in a manner sufficient to make him believe that he was not so odious to her as she had given him to understand before, said to him, You are doubtless amazed to find me so much altered to-day from what I used to be; but your surprise will not be so great when I acquaint you that I am naturally of a disposition so opposite to melancholy and grief, sorrow and uneasiness, that I always strive to put them as far away as possible when I find the subject of them is past. I have reflected on what you told me of Aladdin’s fate, and know the sultan my father’s temper so well, that I am persuaded, with you, that Aladdin could not escape the terrible effects of his rage; therefore, should I continue to lament him all my life --my tears cannot recall him. For this reason, after I have paid all the duties my love requires of me to his memory, now he is in the grave, I think I ought to endeavour to comfort myself. These are the motives of the change you see in me; and to begin to cast off all melancholy, I am resolved to banish it entirely; and persuaded you will bear me company to-night, I have ordered a supper to be prepared; but as I have no wines but of China, I have a great desire to taste of the product of Africa, where I now am, and doubt not you will get some of the best.

The African magician, who looked upon the happiness of coming so soon and so easily into the princess Badroulboudour’s good graces as impossible, could not think of words expressive enough to testify how sensible he was of her favours; but to put an end the sooner to a conversation which would have embarrassed him, if he had engaged farther in it, he turned it upon the wines of Africa, and said, of all the advantages Africa can boast, that of producing the most excellent wines is one of the principal. I have a vessel of seven years old, which has never been broached; and it is indeed not praising it too much to say it is the finest wine in the world. If my princess, added he, will give me leave, I will go and fetch two bottles, and return again immediately. I should be sorry to give you that trouble, replied the princess, you had better send for them. It is necessary I should go myself, answered the African magician; for nobody but myself knows where the key of the cellar is laid, or has the secret to unlock the door. If it be so, said the princess, make haste back again; for the longer you stay, the greater will be my impatience, and we shall sit down to supper as soon as you come back.

The African magician, full of hopes of his expected happiness, rather flew than ran, and returned quickly with the wine. --The princess not doubting in the least but he would make haste, put with her own hand the powder Aladdin gave her into the cup that was set apart for that purpose. They sat down at the table opposite to each other, the magician’s back towards the beaufet. The princess presented him with the best at the table, and said to him, If you please, I will entertain you with a concert of vocal and instrumental music; but as we are only two. I think conversation may be more agreeable. This the magician took as a new favour.

After they had eaten some time, the princess called for some wine, and drank the magician’s health; and afterwards said to him, Indeed you was in the right to commend your wine, since I never tasted of any so delicious in my life. Charming princess, said he, holding in his hand the cup which had been presented to him, my wine becomes more exquisite by your approbation of it. Then drink my health, replied the princess; you will find I understand wines. He drank the princess’s health, and returning the cup, said, I think myself happy, princess, that I reserved this wine for so good an occasion; and I own I never before drank any so excellent in every respect.

When they had drank two or three cups more a-piece, the princess, who had completely charmed the African magician by her civility and obliging behaviour, gave the signal to the slave who served them with wine, bidding her bring the cup which had been filled for herself, and at the same time bring the magician a full cup. When they both had their cups in their hands, she said to him, I know not how you here express your love when drinking together as we are: with us in China, the lover and his mistress reciprocally exchange cups, and drink each other’s health; at the same time she presented to him the cup which was in her hand, and held out her hand to receive his. He for his part hastened to make the exchange with the more pleasure, as he looked upon this favour as the most certain token of an entire conquest over the princess, which raised his happiness to its height. Before he drank, he said to her, with the cup in his hand, Indeed, princess, we Africans are not so refined in the art of love as you Chinese; and instructing me in a lesson I was ignorant of, informs me how sensible I ought to be of the favour done me. I shall never, lovely princess, forget my recovering, by drinking out of your cup, that life, which your cruelty, had it continued, would have made me despair of.

The princess Badroulboudour, who began to be tired with this barefaced declaration of the African magician, interrupted him, and said, Let us drink first, and then say what you will afterwards; and at the same time set the cup to her lips, while the African magician, who was eager to get his wine off first, drank up the very last drop. In finishing it, he had reclined his head back to show his eagerness, and remained some time in that state. The princess kept her cup at her lips, till she saw his eyes turn in his head, and he fell backwards lifeless.

The princess had no occasion to order the back-door to be opened to Aladdin; for her women were so disposed from the great hall to the foot of the staircase, that the word was no sooner given, that the African magician was fallen backwards, but the door opened that instant.

As soon as Aladdin entered the hall, he saw the magician stretched backwards on the sofa. The princess Badroulboudour rose from her seat and ran overjoyed to him to embrace him; but he stopped her, and said, Princess, it is not yet time; oblige me by retiring to your apartment, and let me be left alone a moment, while I endeavour to transport you back to China as soon as you were brought from thence.

When the princess, her women, and eunuchs, were gone out of the hall, Aladdin shut the door, and going directly to the dead body of the magician, opened his vest, and took out the lamp carefully wrapt up, as the princess told him, and unfolding and rubbing it, the genie immediately appeared. Genie, said Aladdin, I have called thee to command thee on the part of thy good mistress this lamp, to transport this palace presently into China, to the same place from whence it was brought hither. The genie bowed his head in token of obedience, and disappeared. Immediately the palace was transported into China, and its removal was only felt by two little shocks, the one when it was lifted up, the other when it was set down, and both in a very short interval of time.

Aladdin went down to the princess’s apartment, and embracing her, said, I can assure you, princess, that your joy and mine will be complete to-morrow morning. The princess, who had not quite supped, guessing that Aladdin might be hungry, ordered the meats that were served up in the hall, and were scarcely touched, to be brought down. The princess and Aladdin eat as much as they thought fit, and drank in like manner of the African magician’s old wine; during which time their discourse could not be any otherwise than satisfactory, and then they retired to their own chamber.

From the time of the transportation of Aladdin’s palace, and of the princes Badroulboudour in it, the sultan, that princess’s father, was inconsolable for the loss of her, as he considered it. He hardly slept night or day, and instead of taking measures to avoid every thing that could keep up his affliction, he, on the contrary, indulged it; for whereas before he used to go every morning into his closet to please himself with that agreeable prospect, he went now many times in the day to renew his tears, and plunge himself into the deepest melancholy, by the idea of no more seeing that which once gave him so much pleasure, and reflecting how he had lost what was the most dear to him in this world.

The very morning of the return of Aladdin’s palace, the sultan went, by 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 vacuum 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 Badroulboudour’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 resect 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 villanous 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 mean time 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 mean time 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 Badroulboudour, 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 as great a necromancer, and even surpassed him in villany, 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, [98] 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 every body’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 was 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; first, 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 head-ache, 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 shown 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 to open 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 any thing: 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 every body 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 head-ache 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 showing 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.