Chapter 20

One day, as Aladdin was walking about the town, he heard an order proclaimed that the people should close their shops and houses and keep within doors while the Princess Buddir al Buddoor, the Sultan's daughter, should go to the bath and return. Aladdin was filled with an eager desire to see the face of the princess, and contrived to place himself behind the door of the bath. When she was a few paces away from it she removed her veil, and Aladdin saw for a moment one of the most beautiful faces in the world. When she passed by him he quitted his hiding-place, and went home thoughtful and grave.

"Are you ill?" asked his mother.

"No," he answered, "but I love the princess more than I can express, and am resolved that I will ask her in marriage of the Sultan."

His mother thought him mad, but Aladdin said, "I have the slaves of the lamp and the ring to help me," and then told her for the first time what riches he possessed in the jewels brought from the underground palace. "These," he said, "will secure the favor of the Sultan. You have a large porcelain dish fit to hold them; fetch it, and let us see how they will look when we have arranged them according to their different colors."

Their eyes were dazzled by the splendor of the jewels when they were arranged in the dish, and Aladdin's mother consented at once to take them to the Sultan, and ask his daughter's hand for her son.

Early the next morning she wrapped the dish in two fine napkins and set out for the palace. Though the crowd was great, she made her way into the divan, or audience hall, and placed herself just before the Sultan, the Grand Vizier, and other lords who sat beside him. But there were many cases for him to hear and judge, and her turn did not come that day. She told Aladdin that she was sure the Sultan saw her, and that she would try again.

For six days more she carried the jewels to the divan, and stood in the same place. On the sixth the Sultan, as he was leaving the hall, said to the Grand Vizier, "For some time I have observed a certain woman standing near me every day with something wrapped in a napkin. If she comes again, do not fail to call her, that I may hear what she has to say."

On the next day, therefore, she was called forward. She bowed her head till it touched the carpet on the platform of the throne. Then the Sultan bade her rise and said,--

"Good woman, I have observed you many days. What business brings you here?"

"Monarch of monarchs," she replied, "I beg you to pardon the boldness of my petition."

"Well," said the Sultan, "I will forgive you, be it what it may, and no hurt shall come to you. Speak boldly."

This gave her heart to tell the errand on which her son had sent her. The Sultan listened without anger till she was done, and then asked what she had brought tied up in the napkin. She took the china dish, which she had set down at the foot of the throne, untied it, and presented it to the Sultan.

His wonder knew no bounds when he looked upon the jewels. Not until he received the gift from the woman's hands could he find words to say, "How rich! how beautiful!"

Then he turned to the Grand Vizier and said, "Behold, admire, wonder! 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."