Part 91

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 every thing 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 devotion. 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 show you what empty apartments I have, that you may make choice of which you like best. The magician followed the princess Badroulboudour, and of all the apartments she showed him, made choice of that which was the worst furnished, saying, That 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 eat any thing 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 was 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 show 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 Badroulboudour; 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 Badroulboudour 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 any thing 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 Badroulboudour, 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 Badroulboudour 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 every thing 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 head-ache. 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.

My dear husband, what have you done? cried the princess in surprise. You have killed the holy woman. No, my princess, answered Aladdin, without emotion, I have not killed Fatima, but a wicked wretch, that would have assassinated me, if I had not prevented him. This wicked man, added he, uncovering his face, has strangled Fatima, whom you accused me of killing, and disguised himself in her clothes, to come and murder me: but that you may know him better, he is brother to the African magician. Then Aladdin told her how he came to know those particulars, and afterwards ordered the dead body to be taken away.

Thus was Aladdin delivered from the persecution of two brothers, who were magicians. Within a few years afterwards the sultan died in a good old age, and as he left no male children, the princess Badroulboudour, as lawful heir of the crown, succeeded him, and communicating the power to Aladdin, they reigned together many years, and left a numerous and illustrious posterity behind them.

Sir, said the sultaness Scheherazade, after she had finished the story of the Wonderful Lamp, your majesty without doubt has observed in the person of the African magician a man abandoned to the unbounded passion for possessing immense treasures by the most unworthy means. On the contrary, your majesty sees in Aladdin, a person of mean birth raised to the regal dignity by making use of the same treasures, which came to him without his seeking, but just as he had an occasion for them to compass the end proposed; and in the sultan you will have learnt what dangers a just and equitable monarch runs, even to the risk of being dethroned, when, by crying injustice, and against all the rules of equity, he dares, by an unreasonable precipitation, condemn an innocent person to death, without giving him leave to justify himself. In short, you must abhor those two wicked magicians, one of whom sacrificed his life to attain great riches, the other his life and religion to revenge him, and both received the chastisements they deserved.

The sultan of the Indies signified to his spouse the sultaness Scheherazade, that he was very much delighted with the prodigies he had heard of the Wonderful Lamp, and that the stories which she told him every night gave him a great deal of pleasure. Indeed they were all diverting, and for the most part seasoned with a good moral. He found that the sultaness knew how to introduce them, and was not sorry that she gave him an opportunity of suspending, by this means, the execution of a vow he had made, never to keep a woman above one night, and put her to death next day. His only thought was to see if he could exhaust her store.

With this intention, the next morning he prevented Dinarzade, and awakened the sultaness himself, asking her if she was at the end of all her stories. --At the end of my stories, sir! replied the sultaness, surprised at the question, I am far from that and the number of them is so great, that I cannot tell your majesty how many I have yet left; but am afraid you will be sooner tired with hearing, than I with telling them.

Do not let that fear disturb you, answered the sultan; but let us hear what you have now to tell me.

The sultaness Scheherazade, encouraged with these words, said, I have often entertained your majesty with the adventures of the famous caliph Haroun Alraschid, who had a great many in his time; but, among the rest, I think none more worthy of your hearing than the following:

The Adventures of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid.

Your majesty cannot be insensible, but must have experienced, that we are sometimes in such extraordinary transports of joy, that we presently communicate that passion to those about us, or easily partake of theirs; and sometimes our melancholy is so great, that we are insupportable to ourselves, and are so incapable of giving any one a reason, that should ask it, that we cannot account for it ourselves.

The caliph was one day in one of these latter fits, when his faithful and favourite grand vizier Giafar came to him. That minister finding him alone, which was seldom the case, and perceiving as he came nearer to him, that he was in a very melancholy humour, and never lifted up his eyes, he stopt till he would vouchsafe to look at him.

At last the caliph cast his eyes upon Giafar, but presently turned them away again, and remained in the same posture, motionless as before.

The grand vizier observing nothing in the caliph’s eyes which regarded him personally, took the liberty to speak to him, and said, Commander of the faithful, will your majesty give me leave to ask whence proceeds this melancholy, of which you always seemed to me so little susceptible?

Indeed, vizier, answered the caliph, clearing up his countenance, I am very little subject to it, and had not perceived it but for you, and will remain no longer in it. If no new affair brought you hither, you will do me a pleasure by inventing something to dispel it.

Commander of the faithful, replied the grand vizier, my duty obliged me to wait on you, and I take the liberty to remind your majesty, that this is the day which you have appointed to inform yourself of the good government of your capital and its environs; and this occasion very opportunely presents itself to dispel those clouds which obscure your natural gaiety.

You do well to remind me, replied the caliph, for I had entirely forgotten it: go and change your dress, while I do the same.

They each put on the habit of a foreign merchant, and under that disguise went out by a private door of the palace-garden, which led into the fields. After they had gone round the outside of the city to the banks of the Euphrates, at a sufficient distance from the city gate, on that side, without having observed any thing disorderly, they crossed the river in the first boat they met with, and making another tour on the other side, came over the bridge, which formed the communication betwixt the two parts of the town.

At the foot of the bridge they met with an old blind man, who asked alms of them; the caliph turned about, and put a piece of gold into his hand. The blind man presently caught hold of his hand, and stopped him. Charitable person, said he, whoever you are, whom God hath inspired to bestow alms on me, do not refuse the favour I ask you, to give me a box on the ear, for I deserve that and a greater punishment. After these words, he let the caliph’s hand go, that he might strike, but, for fear he should pass on without doing it, held him fast by his clothes.

The caliph, surprised both at the request and action of the blind man, said, I cannot acquiesce with your request. I will not lessen the merit of my charity, by treating you as you would have me. After these words, he endeavoured to get away from the blind man.

The blind man, who expected this reluctance of his benefactor, by the long experience he had, exerted himself to hold him. Sir, said he, forgive my boldness and importunity; I desire you would either give me a box on the ear, or take your alms back again, for I cannot receive it but on that condition, without breaking a solemn oath which I have sworn to God; and if you knew the reason, you would agree with me, that the punishment is very slight.

The caliph, not caring to be detained any longer, yielding to the importunity of the blind man, gave him a very slight blow: whereupon he immediately let him go, and thanked and blessed him. When the caliph and vizier had got some small distance from the blind man, the caliph said to the vizier, This blind man must certainly have some very substantial reasons, which make him behave himself in this manner to all who give him alms. I should be glad to know them; therefore return and tell him who I am, and bid him not fail to come to my palace about prayer-time in the afternoon, that I may have some talk with him.

The grand vizier went back, bestowed his alms on the blind man, and after he had given him a box on the ear, told him the caliph’s order, and then returned again to the caliph.

When they came into the town, they found in a square a great concourse of spectators, looking at a handsome well-shaped young man, who was mounted on a mare, which he rode full speed round the place, spurring and whipping the poor creature so barbarously, that she was all over sweat and blood.

The caliph, amazed at the inhumanity of the young man, stopped to ask the people if they knew why he used the mare so ill; but could learn nothing, except that for some time past he had every day, at the same hour, treated her after the same manner.

As they went along, the caliph bid the grand vizier take particular notice of the place, and not fail to order the young man to come the next day, at the hour appointed to the blind man. But before the caliph got to his palace, he observed in a street, which he had not passed through a long time before, an edifice newly built, which seemed to him to be the palace of some of the great lords of the court. He asked the grand vizier if he knew to whom it belonged; who answered he did not, but would inquire; and thereupon asked a neighbour, who told him that the house was one Cogia Hassan’s, surnamed Alhabbal, upon account of his profession of rope-making, which he had seen him work at himself, when poor, and that without knowing how fortune had favoured him, he had got such great wealth, that he defrayed honourably and splendidly the expenses he had been at in building.

The grand vizier rejoined the caliph, and gave him a full account of what he had heard. I must see this Cogia Hassan Alhabbal, said the caliph, therefore go and tell him, vizier, to come to my palace, at the same hour you have ordered the other two. Accordingly the vizier obeyed.

The next day, after afternoon prayers, the caliph retired to his own apartment, and the grand vizier introduced the three persons we have been speaking of, and presented them to the caliph.

They all three prostrated themselves before the caliph, and when they rose up again, the caliph asked the blind man his name, who answered, it was Baba Abdalla.

Baba Abdalla, replied the caliph, your manner of asking alms seemed so strange to me yesterday, that if it had not been for some certain considerations, I should not have complied with your request, but should have prevented you from giving any more offence to the public. I ordered you to come hither, to know from yourself what induced you to make that indiscreet oath you have told me of, that I may judge whether you have done well, and if I ought to suffer you to continue a practice that appears to me to set so ill an example. Tell me freely how so extravagant a thought came into your head, and do not disguise any thing from me, for I will absolutely know the truth.

Baba Abdalla, intimidated by this reprimand, cast himself a second time at the foot of the caliph’s throne, with his face to the ground, and when he rose up again, said, Commander of the faithful, I most humbly ask your majesty’s pardon for my boldness, in daring to require, and almost force you to do a thing which indeed appears so contrary to reason. I acknowledge my crime; but as I did not then know your majesty, I implore your clemency, and hope you will consider my ignorance.

As to the extravagance of my action, I own it, and that it must seem strange to mankind; but in the eye of God it is a very slight penance I have enjoined myself, for an enormous crime I am guilty of, and for which, if all the people in the world were each to give me a box on the ear, it would not be a sufficient atonement. Your majesty will judge of it yourself, when, in telling my story, in obedience to your commands, I shall let you know what that heinous crime was.

The Story of the Blind Man Baba Abdalla.

Commander of the faithful, continued Baba Abdalla, I was born at Bagdad, and had a pretty fortune left me by my father and mother, who died a few days after each other. Though I was then but very young, I did not squander away my fortune as most young men do, in idle expenses and debauchery; on the contrary, I neglected no opportunity to increase it by my industry. At last I became rich enough to purchase fourscore camels, which I let out to merchants for caravans, who paid me well for every journey I went with them throughout the extent of your majesty’s dominions.

In the midst of this happiness, and with an ardent desire of growing much richer, as I was returning one day with my camels unloaded from Balsora, whither I had carried some merchandises that were to be embarked for the Indies, I met with good pasturage, at some distance from any habitation; made a halt there, and let them graze for some time. While I was seated, a dervise, who was walking to Balsora, came and sat down by me to rest himself. I asked him from whence he came, and where he was going, and he put the same questions to me; and when we had satisfied each other’s curiosity, we produced our provisions and eat together.

During our repast, after we had talked of many indifferent things, the dervise told me that he knew of a treasure a small distance from thence, where there were such immense riches, that if all my fourscore camels were loaded with gold and jewels that might be taken from it, it would not seem as if any thing had been taken away.

This good news surprised and charmed me at the same time; and I was so overjoyed, that I could scarce contain myself. I could not believe that the dervise was capable of telling me a falsity; therefore I fell upon his neck, and said, Good dervise, I know you value not the riches of this world, therefore what service can the knowledge of this treasure be to you? You are alone, and cannot carry much of it away with you; show me where it is; I will load all my camels, and as an acknowledgement of the favour done me, will present you with one of them.

Indeed I offered very little, but after he had communicated that secret to me, my desire of riches was become so violent, that I thought it a great deal, and looked upon the seventy-nine camel loads which I reserved for myself, as nothing in comparison of what I allowed him.