More Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights.
First Series.
Edited by E. Dixon

Illustrations by Mr. J. D. Batten.

J. M. Dent & Co.
London
1893

Note.
The text of the present selection from the Arabian Nights is that of Galland, 1821, somewhat abridged and edited. The edition is designed virginibus puerisque.
E. DIXON.
London,
Xmas, 1895.
THE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HORSE


he Nevrouz, or New Year's Day, is an ancient and solemn feast, which has been continued from the time of idolatry throughout all Persia, and celebrated with extraordinary rejoicings not only in the great cities, but in every little town, village, and hamlet. But the rejoicings are the most extraordinary at the court, owing to the variety of new and surprising sights; insomuch that strangers are invited from the neighbouring states and the most remote parts, and by the liberality of the king rewards are given to those who most excel in their inventions.
On one of these feast days, after the most skilful inventors of the country had repaired to Schiraz, where the court then resided, had entertained the king and all the court with their shows, and had been bountifully and liberally rewarded according to their merit by the king, just as the assembly was breaking up, an Indian appeared at the foot of the throne, with an artificial horse richly bridled and saddled, and so well made that at first sight he looked like a living horse.
The Indian prostrated himself before the throne; and, pointing to the horse, said to the king, 'Though, sir, I present myself last before your majesty, yet I can assure you that nothing that has been shown to-day is so wonderful as this horse, on which I beg your majesty will be pleased to cast your eyes.'
'I see nothing more in the horse,' said the king, 'than the natural appearance the workman has given him; which the skill of another workman may do as well or better.'
'Sir,' replied the Indian, 'it is not for his outward form and appearance that I recommend my horse to your majesty, but for the use I know how to make of him, and what any other person, when I have communicated the secret to him, may do as well. Whenever I mount him, be it where it will, if I wish to transport myself through the air to the most distant part of the world, I can do it in a very short time. This, sir, is the wonder of my horse; a wonder which nobody ever heard of, and which I offer to show your majesty, if you command me.'
The King of Persia, who was fond of everything that was curious, and, after the many wonderful things he had seen and desired to see, had never seen or heard of anything that came up to this, told the Indian that nothing but personal experience should convince him; and that he was ready to see him perform what he promised.
The Indian immediately put his foot into the stirrup, and mounted his horse with activity; and when he had got the other foot into the stirrup, and had fixed himself in the saddle, he asked the King of Persia where he was pleased to send him.
About three leagues from Schiraz there was a high mountain visible from the large square before the palace, where the king and his court, and a great concourse of people, then were.
'Do you see that mountain?' said the king, pointing to the hill: 'Go to it; it is not a great way off, but it is far enough for me to judge of the haste you can make in going and coming. But because it is not possible for the eye to follow you so far, for a certain sign that you have been there I expect you to bring me a branch of a palm tree that grows at the bottom of the hill.
The King of Persia had no sooner declared his will, than the Indian turned a peg which was in the hollow of the horse's neck just by the pummel of the saddle: and in an instant the horse rose off the ground and carried his rider into the air like lightning, to such a height that those who had the strongest sight could not discern him, to the wonder of the king and all the spectators. In less than a quarter of an hour they saw him come back with a palm branch in his hand: but, before he came quite down, he took two or three turns in the air, amid the acclamations of all the people: then descended upon the same spot of ground whence he had set off, without receiving the least shock from the horse to disorder him. He dismounted; and, going up to the throne, prostrated himself, and laid the branch of the palm tree at the king's feet.
The King of Persia, who was an eye-witness, with admiration and astonishment, of this unheard-of feat which the Indian had exhibited, conceived a great desire to have the horse, and persuaded himself that he should not find it a difficult matter to treat with the Indian for whatever sum of money he should value it at. 'To judge of thy horse by his outward appearance,' said he to the Indian, 'I did not think him so much worth my consideration. As you have showed me his merits, I am obliged to you for undeceiving me; and, to show you how much I esteem him, I will buy him of you, if he is to be sold.'
'Sir,' replied the Indian, 'I never doubted that your majesty, who has the character of being the most judicious prince on earth, would set a just value on my work as soon as I had shown you why he was worthy of your attention. I also foresaw that you would not only admire and commend him, but would desire to have him. For my part, sir, though I know the true value of him, and that my being master of him will render my name immortal in the world, yet I am not so fond of him that I could not resign him to gratify that noble desire of your majesty; but in making this declaration, I have a request to add, without which I cannot resolve to part with him, and perhaps you may not approve of it.'
'Your majesty will not be displeased,' continued the Indian, ' if I tell you that I did not buy this horse, but obtained him of the inventor and maker by giving him my only daughter in marriage, and promising at the same time never to sell him; but, if I parted with him, to exchange him for something that I should like.'
The Indian would have gone on; but at the word 'exchange,' the King of Persia interrupted him. 'I am willing,' said he, 'to give you what you will ask in exchange. You know my kingdom is large, and contains many great, rich, and populous cities; I will give you the choice of whichever you like best, in full sovereignty for the rest of your life.'
This exchange seemed royal and noble to the whole court, but was much below what the Indian proposed to himself. 'I am infinitely obliged to your majesty for the offer you make me, answered he, 'and cannot thank you enough for your generosity; yet I must beg of you not to be angry with me if I have the boldness to tell you that I cannot resign to you my horse, except on receiving the hand of the princess, your daughter, as my wife; this is the only price at which I can give him up.'
The courtiers could not forbear laughing aloud at this extravagant demand of the Indian; but Prince Firouz Schah, the king's eldest son and presumptive heir to the crown, could not hear it without indignation. The king was of a very different opinion, and thought he might sacrifice the Princess of Persia to the Indian, to satisfy his curiosity. He remained, however, undetermined, considering what he should do.
Prince Firouz Schah, who saw his father hesitate as to what answer he should make, began to fear lest he should comply with the Indian's demand, and looked upon it as injurious not only to the royal dignity and to his sister, but also to himself; therefore, to anticipate his father, he said, 'Sir, I hope your majesty will forgive me for daring to ask you if it is possible that your majesty should hesitate a moment about denying so insolent a demand from such an insignificant fellow and scandalous juggler, and that you should give him reason to flatter himself for a moment on being allied to one of the most powerful monarchs in the world? I beg of you to consider what you owe to yourself, and to your own flesh and blood, and the high rank of your ancestors.'
'Son,' replied the King of Persia, 'I very much approve of your remonstrance, and your zeal for preserving the lustre of your noble birth, but you do not enough consider the excellence of this horse, nor that the Indian, if I should refuse him, may make the offer somewhere else, where this nice point of honour may be waived. I shall be in the utmost despair if another prince should boast of having exceeded me in generosity, and deprived me of the glory of possessing a horse which I esteem as the most singular and wonderful thing in the world. I will not say I consent to grant him what he asks. Perhaps he has not made up his mind about this exorbitant demand; and, putting my daughter the princess out of the question, I may make another agreement with him that will answer his purpose as well. But before I strike the bargain with him, I should be glad if you would examine the horse, try him yourself, and give me your opinion. I doubt not he will allow it.'
As it is natural for us to flatter ourselves over what we desire, the Indian fancied, by what he heard the King of Persia say, that he was not entirely averse to the alliance by taking the horse at his price, and that the prince, instead of being against it, might become more favourable to him, and not oppose the desire the king seemed to have. So, to show that he consented to it with pleasure, he expressed much joy, ran before the prince to help him to mount, and showed him how to guide and manage the horse.
The prince mounted the horse with wonderful skill, without the Indian assisting him, and no sooner had he got his feet in both stirrups than, without waiting for the Indian's advice, he turned the peg he had seen him use, and mounted into the air as quick as an arrow shot out of a bow by the stoutest and most adroit archer, and in a few moments the king, court, and the numerous assembly lost sight of him. Neither horse nor prince was to be seen, and the King of Persia made vain efforts to discern them. The Indian, alarmed at what had happened, prostrated himself before the throne, and forced the king to pay attention to what he said. 'Sir,' said he, 'your majesty yourself saw that the prince was so hasty that he would not permit me to give him the necessary instructions how to govern my horse. From what he saw me do, he would show that he wanted not my advice. He was too willing to show his cleverness, but knows not how to turn the horse round and bring him back again. Therefore, sir, the favour I ask of your majesty is not to make me accountable for whatever accidents may befall him.'
This discourse of the Indian very much surprised and afflicted the King of Persia, who saw the danger his son was in if, as the Indian said, there was another secret to bring him back again different from that which carried him away, and asked, in a passion, why he did not call him back the moment he went.
'Sir,' answered the Indian, 'your majesty saw as well as I with what swiftness the horse and the prince flew away. The surprise in which I then was, and still am, deprived me of the use of my speech, and, if I could have spoken, he had got too far to hear me. If he had heard me, he knew not the secret to bring him back, which, through his impatience, he would not wait to learn. But, sir,' added he, 'there is room for hope that the prince, when he finds himself at a loss, will perceive another peg; and, as soon as he turns that, the horse will cease to rise, and will descend to the ground, and he may turn him to whatever place he pleases by guiding him with the bridle.'
Notwithstanding all these arguments of the Indian, the King of Persia was terribly frightened at the evident danger of his son. 'I suppose,' replied he, 'it is very uncertain whether my son perceives the other peg and makes a right use of it; may not the horse, instead of lighting on the ground, fall upon some rock, or tumble into the sea with him?'
'Sir,' replied the Indian, 'I can deliver your majesty from this fear by assuring you that the horse crosses seas without ever falling into them, and always carries his rider wherever he has a mind to go. And your majesty may assure yourself that, if the prince does but find out the other peg which I mention, the horse will carry him where he pleases to go. It is not to be supposed that he will go anywhere but where he can find assistance, and make himself known.
'Be it as it will,' replied the King of Persia, 'as I cannot depend upon the assurance you give me, your head shall answer for my son's life, if he does not return safe and sound in three days' time, or I hear certainly that he is alive.' Then he ordered his officers to secure the Indian, and keep him a close prisoner; after which he retired to his palace, extremely grieved that the feast of Nevrouz should afford him and his court so much sorrow.
In the mean time Prince Firouz Schah was carried through the air with prodigious swiftness, and in less than an hour's time he had got so high that he could not distinguish any thing on the earth; mountains and plains seemed confused together. It was then he began to think of returning from whence he came, and thought to do it by turning the same peg the contrary way, and pulling the bridle at the same time. But when he found that the horse still rose with the same swiftness, his astonishment was extreme. He turned the peg several times, one way and the other, but all in vain. It was then that he grew aware of his fault, in not taking the necessary precautions to guide the horse before he mounted him. He immediately apprehended the great danger he was in, but it did not deprive him of his reason. He examined the horse's head and neck with great attention, and perceived behind the horse's right ear another peg, smaller and less discernible than the other. He turned that peg, and immediately perceived that he descended in the same oblique manner as he mounted, but not so swiftly.
Night had overshadowed that part of the earth over which the prince then was for almost half an hour, when he found out and turned the small peg; and, as the horse descended, he lost sight of the sun by degrees, till it grew quite dark, insomuch that, instead of choosing what place he would go to, he was forced to let the bridle lie upon the horse's neck and wait patiently till he alighted, though not without dread lest it should be in the desert, a river, or the sea.
At last, after midnight, the horse alighted and stopped, and Prince Firouz Schah dismounted very faint and hungry, having eaten nothing since the morning, when he came out of the palace with his father to assist at the festival. The first thing he had to do in this darkness of the night was to endeavour to find out where he was. He found himself to be on the terrace of a magnificent palace, surrounded with a balustrade of white marble breast high, and groping about, found a flight of stairs, which led down into the palace, the door, of which was half open.
None but Prince Firouz Schah would have ventured to go down those stairs, dark as it was, and exposed to danger from friends or foes. But no consideration could stop him. 'I do not come,' said he to himself, 'to do anybody any harm, and certainly, whoever meets or sees me first, and finds that I have no arms in my hands, will not attempt anything against my life, before they hear what I have to say for myself.' After this reflection, he opened the door wider, without making any noise, and went softly down the stairs, that he might not wake anybody, and, when he came to a landing place on the staircase, he found the door open of a great hall, that had a light in it.
The prince stopped at the door, and listening, heard no other noise than the snoring of some people who were fast asleep. He advanced a little into the room, and, by the light of a lantern, saw that the persons whom he heard snore were black chamberlains, with naked sabres laid by them, which was enough to inform him that this was the guardchamber of some queen or princess; which latter it proved to be.
In the next room to this was the princess, as appeared by the light he saw, the door being open, and a thin silken curtain hanging before the doorway. Prince Firouz Schah advanced on tip-toe, without waking the chamberlains. He put by the curtain and looked in. The princess lay asleep on a sofa, and her women on the floor.
The prince immediately fell in love with her. He gently woke her, and the princess at once opened her eyes without fear. Seeing the prince on his knees as a suppliant, she asked him what was the matter.
The prince made use of this favourable moment, bowed his head down to the ground, and rising, said, 'Most noble princess, by the most extraordinary and wonderful adventure imaginable you see here at your feet a suppliant prince, the son of the King of Persia, who was yesterday morning with his father at his court, at the celebration of a solemn feast, and is now in a strange country, in danger of his life, if you have not the goodness and generosity to give him your assistance and protection. These I implore, adorable princess, with confidence that you will not refuse me. So much beauty and majesty cannot entertain the least inhumanity.'
This princess, to whom Prince Firouz Schah so fortunately addressed himself, was the Princess of Bengal, eldest daughter of the king of that kingdom, who had built this palace at a small distance from his capital, whither she went to enjoy the country. After she had heard the prince, she replied with kindness: 'Prince, you are not in a barbarous country; take courage; hospitality, humanity, and politeness are to be met with in the kingdom of Bengal, as well as in that of Persia. It is not I who grant you the protection you ask; you may find it not only in my palace, but throughout the whole kingdom; you may believe me, and depend upon what I say.'
The Prince of Persia would have thanked the Princess of Bengal for her kindness, and the favour she did him, and had already bowed down his head, but she would not give him leave to speak. 'Notwithstanding my desire,' said she, 'to know by what miracle you have come hither from the capital of Persia in so short a time, and by what enchantment you have been able to come to my apartment, and to have escaped the vigilance of my guards; as you must want some refreshment I will waive my curiosity, and give orders to my women to regale you, and show you to a room where you may rest after your fatigue.'
The princess's women each took a wax candle, of which there were numbers in the room, and after the prince had taken leave very respectfully, they went before him, and conducted him into a handsome chamber, where, notwithstanding that it was so unseasonable an hour, they did not make Prince Firouz Schah wait long, but brought him all sorts of meat; and when he had eaten, they removed the table, and left him to repose.
In the meantime the Princess of Bengal was so struck with the intelligence, politeness, and other good qualities which she had discovered in that short conversation with the prince, that she could not sleep, but, when her women came into her room again, she asked them if they had taken care of him, and if he wanted anything, and particularly what they thought of him.
The women answered: 'We do not know what you may think of him, but, for our part, we think you would be very happy if the king your father would marry you to so amiable a prince, for there is not a prince in all the kingdom of Bengal to be compared to him, nor can we hear that any of the neighbouring princes are worthy of you.'
This flattering discourse was not displeasing to the Princess of Bengal, but she imposed silence upon them, telling them they talked without reflection.
Next day, the princess dressed herself very carefully, and sent to know if the Prince of Persia was awake, and charged the messenger to tell him she would pay him a visit.
The Prince of Persia by his night's rest had recovered from the fatigue he had undergone the day before, and when the lady-in-waiting had acquitted herself of her errand, he replied: 'It shall be as the princess thinks fit; I came here to be solely at her pleasure.'
As soon as the Princess of Bengal understood that the Prince of Persia waited for her, she immediately went to pay him a visit. After mutual compliments on both sides, the princess said: 'Through my impatience to hear the surprising adventure which procures me the happiness of seeing you, I chose to come hither that we may not be interrupted; therefore, I beg of you to oblige me.'
Prince Firouz Schah began his discourse with the solemn and annual feast of the Nevrouz, relating all the sights worthy of her curiosity which had amazed the court of Persia and the whole town of Schiraz. Afterwards he came to the enchanted horse; the description of which, with the account of the wonders which the Indian had performed on him before so august an assembly, and of what had happened to himself, convinced the princess that nothing of the kind could be imagined more surprising in all the world.
For two whole months Prince Firouz Schah remained the guest of the Princess of Bengal, taking part in all the amusements she arranged for him, as if he had nothing else to do but to pass his whole life in this manner. But after that time he declared seriously that he could not stay any longer, and begged her to give him leave to return to his father; repeating a promise he had made her to return soon in a style worthy of her and of himself, and to demand her in marriage of the King of Bengal.
'And, princess,' replied the Prince of Persia, 'that you may not doubt the truth of what I say, and that you may not ram: me among those false lovers who forget the object of their love as soon as they are absent from them; but to show that it is real, and that life cannot be pleasant to me when absent from so lovely a princess, I would presume, if I were not afraid you would be offended at my request, to ask the favour of taking you along with me to visit the king my father.'
The Princess of Bengal consented. The only difficulty was that the prince knew not very well how to manage the horse, and she was apprehensive of being involved with him in the same hind of perilous adventure as when he made the experiment. But the prince soon removed her fear, by assuring her that she might trust herself with him, for after the experience he had had, he defied the Indian himself to manage him better.
The next morning, a little before daybreak, they went out on the terrace of the palace. The prince turned the horse towards Persia, and placed him where the princess could easily get up behind him; which she had no sooner done, and was well settled with her arms round his waist, for better security, than he turned the peg, and the horse mounted into the air, and making his usual haste, under the guidance of the prince, in two hours' time the prince discovered the capital of Persia.
He would not alight at the great square from whence he had set out, nor in the sultan's palace, but directed his course towards a palace at a little distance from the town. He led the princess into a handsome apartment, where he told her that, to do her all the honour that was due, he would go and inform his father of their arrival, and return to her immediately. He ordered the housekeeper of the palace, who was then present, to provide the princess with whatever she had occasion for.
After the prince had taken his leave of the princess, he ordered a horse to be saddled, and after sending back the housekeeper to the princess with orders to provide her breakfast immediately, he set out for the palace. As he passed through the streets, he was received with acclamations by the people, who were overjoyed to see him again. The sultan his father was giving audience, when he appeared before him in the midst of his council, all of whom, as well as the sultan and the whole court, had been in mourning ever since he had been absent. The sultan received him, and embracing him with tears of joy and tenderness, asked him what had become of the Indian's horse.
This question gave the prince an opportunity to tell him of the embarrassment and danger he was in when the horse mounted into the air with him, and how he arrived at last at the Princess of Bengal's palace, and the kind reception he met with there: and how after promising to marry her, he had persuaded her to come with him to Persia. 'But, sir,' added the prince, 'I have promised that you would not refuse your consent, and have brought her with me on the Indian's horse, to a palace where your majesty often goes; and have left her there, till I could return and assure her that my promise was not in vain.'
After these words the prince prostrated himself before the sultan to gain his consent, but his father raised him up, embraced him a second time, and said: 'Son, I not only consent to your marriage with the Princess of Bengal, but will go and meet her myself, and thank her for the obligation I am under to her, and will bring her to my palace, and celebrate your wedding this day.'
Then the sultan gave orders for his court to go out of mourning, and make preparations for the princess's entry; that the rejoicings should begin with a grand concert of military music, and that the Indian should be fetched out of prison. When the Indian was brought before the sultan, he said to him, 'I secured thy person, that thy life might answer for that of the prince my son, whom, thank Heaven! I have found again; go, take your horse, and never let me see your face more.'
As the Indian had learned of those who fetched him out of prison that Prince Firouz Schah had returned, and had brought a princess behind him on his horse, and was also informed of the place where he had alighted and left her, and that the sultan was making preparations to go and bring her to his palace; as soon as he got out of the sultan's presence, he bethought himself of being beforehand with him and the prince, and, without losing any time, went direct to the palace, and addressing himself to the housekeeper told him that he came from the Sultan and Prince of Persia, to fetch the Princess of Bengal, and to carry her behind him through the air to the sultan, who waited in the great square of his palace to gratify the whole court and city of Schiraz with that wonderful sight.
The housekeeper, who knew the Indian, and knew that the sultan had imprisoned him, gave the more credit to what he said. because he saw that he was at liberty. He presented him to the Princess of Bengal, who no sooner understood that he came from the Prince of Persia, than she consented to what the prince, as she thought, desired of her.
The Indian, overjoyed at his success, and the ease with which he had accomplished his villainy, mounted his horse, took the princess behind him with the assistance of the housekeeper, turned the peg, and presently the horse mounted into the air with him and the princess.
At the same time the Sultan of Persia, followed by his court, was on the way from his own palace to the palace where the Princess of Bengal was left, and the Prince of Persia had ridden on before to prepare the Princess of Bengal to receive him, when the Indian, to defy them both and revenge himself for the ill-treatment he had received, passed over their heads with his prize.
When the Sultan of Persia saw this, he stopped. His surprise and affliction were the more keen because it was not in his power to make him repent of so outrageous an affront. He loaded him with a thousand imprecations, as also did all the courtiers, who were witnesses of so signal a piece of insolence and unparalleled villainy.
The Indian, little moved by their curses, which just reached his ears, continued his way, while the sultan, extremely mortified to find that he could not punish its author, returned to his palace.
But what was Prince Firouz Schah's grief to see the Indian carry away the Princess of Bengal, whom he loved so dearly that he could not live without her! At so unexpected a sight he was thunderstruck, and before he could make up his mind whether he should let fly all the reproaches his rage could invent against the Indian, or bewail the deplorable fate of the princess, or ask her pardon for not taking better care of her, the horse was out of sight. He could not resolve what to do, and so continued his way to the palace where he had left his princess.
When he came there, the housekeeper, who was by this time convinced that he had been deceived by the Indian, threw himself at his feet with tears in his eyes, and accused himself of the crime which he thought he had committed, and condemned himself to die.
'Rise up,' said the prince to him, 'I do not impute the loss of my princess to thee, but to my own folly. But do not lose time, fetch me a dervish's robe, and take care you do not give the least hint that it is for me.'
Not far from this palace there stood a convent of dervishes, the sheik or superior of which was the palace-keeper's particular friend. He went to this sheik, and telling him that it was for an officer at court, a man to whom he had been much obliged and wished to favour by giving him an opportunity to withdraw from the sultan's rage, he easily got a complete dervish's suit of clothes, and carried it to Prince Firouz Schah. The prince immediately pulled off his own clothes, and put them on; and being so disguised, and provided with a box of jewels, which he had brought as a present to the princess, he left the palace in the evening, uncertain which way to go, but resolved not to return till he had found out his princess, and brought her back again.
But to return to the Indian: he managed his enchanted horse so well that day, that he arrived early in the evening at a wood near the capital of the kingdom of Cashmire. Being hungry, and inferring that the princess was hungry also, he alighted in an open part of the wood, and left the princess on a grassy spot, by a rivulet of clear fresh water.
During the Indian's absence, the Princess of Bengal, who knew that she was in the power of a base deceiver, whose violence she dreaded, thought of getting away from him, and seeking a sanctuary. But as she had eaten scarcely anything on her arrival at the palace in the morning, she was so faint that she was forced to abandon her plan, and to stay where she was, without any other resource than her courage, and a firm resolution to suffer death rather than be unfaithful to the Prince of Persia. When the Indian returned, she did not wait to be asked twice, but ate with him, and recovered herself enough to reply with courage to the insolent language he began to use to her when they had done. After a great many threats, as she saw that the Indian was preparing to use violence, she rose up to make resistance, and, by her cries and shrieks, drew about them a company of horsemen, who happened to be the Sultan of Cashmire and his attendants, returning from hunting.
The sultan addressed himself to the Indian, and asked him who he was, and what he presumed to do to the lady? The Indian, with great impudence, replied that she was his wife; and what had anyone to do with his quarrel with her?
The princess, who knew neither the rank nor the quality of the person who came so seasonably to her relief, told the Indian he was a liar; and said to the sultan, 'Sir, whoever you are that Heaven has sent to my assistance, have compassion on a princess, and give no credit to that impostor. Heaven forbid that I should be the wife of so vile and despicable an Indian! a wicked magician, who has taken me away from the Prince of Persia, to whom I was going to be married, and has brought me hither on the enchanted horse you see.'
The Princess of Bengal had no occasion to say any more to persuade the Sultan of Cashmire that she told him the truth. Her beauty, majestic air, and tears spoke sufficiently for her. Justly enraged at the insolence of the Indian, the Sultan of Cashmire ordered his guards to surround him, and cut off his head: which sentence was immediately executed, as the Indian, just released from prison, was unprovided with any weapon to defend himself.
The princess, thus delivered from the persecution of the Indian, fell into another no less afflicting to her. The sultan, after he had ordered her a horse, carried her with him to his palace, where he lodged her in the most magnificent apartment, next his own, and gave her a great number of women-slaves to attend her, and a guard. He showed her himself into the apartment he assigned her; where, without giving her time to thank him, he said, 'As I am certain, princess, that you must want rest, I will here take my leave of you till to-morrow, when you will be better able to give me all the circumstances of this strange adventure;' and then left her.
The Princess of Bengal's joy was inexpressible, to find that she was so soon freed from the violence of a man she could not look upon without horror. She flattered herself that the Sultan of Cashmire would complete his generosity by sending her back to the Prince of Persia when she told him her story, and asked that favour of him; but she was very much deceived in these hopes, for the Sultan of Cashmire resolved to marry her the next day; and to that end had ordered rejoicings to be made by daybreak, by beating of drums and sounding of trumpets and other instruments; which echoed not only through the palace, but throughout the city.
The Princess of Bengal was awakened by these tumultuous concerts; but attributed them to a very different cause from the true one. When the Sultan of Cashmire, who had given orders that he should be informed when the princess was ready to receive a visit, came to enquire after her health, he told her that all those rejoicings were to render their wedding more solemn; and at the same time desired her to approve. This discourse put her into such consternation that she fainted away.
The women-slaves, who were present, ran to her assistance; and the sultan did all he could to bring her to herself again, though it was a long time before they could. But when she recovered, rather than break the promise she had made to Prince Firouz Schah, by consenting to marry the Sultan of Cashmire, who had proclaimed their wedding before he had asked her consent, she resolved to feign madness. She began to say the most extravagant things before the sultan, and even rose off her seat to fly at him; insomuch that the sultan was very much surprised and afflicted that he should have made such a proposal so unseasonably.
When he found that her frenzy rather increased than abated, he left her with her women, charging them never to leave her alone, but to take great care of her. He sent often that day to know how she was; but received no other answer than that she was rather worse than better. In short, at night she seemed much worse than she had been all day.
The Princess of Bengal continued to talk wildly, and show other marks of a disordered mind, next day and the following ones; so that the sultan was obliged to send for all the physicians belonging to his court, to consult them about her disease, and to ask them if they could cure her.
The physicians all agreed that there were several sorts and degrees of this distemper, some curable and others not; and told the sultan that they could not judge of the Princess of Bengal's malady unless they saw her: upon which the sultan ordered the chamberlain to introduce them into the princess's chamber, one after another, according to their rank.
The princess, who foresaw what would happen, and feared that, if she let the physicians come near her to feel her pulse, the least experienced of them would soon know that she was in a good state of health, and that her madness was only feigned, flew into such a rage and passion that she was ready to tear out their eyes if they came near her; so none of them dared approach her.
Some of them, who pretended to be more skilful than the rest, and boasted of judging of diseases only by sight, ordered her some medicines, which she made less objection to take, well knowing she could be ill or well at pleasure, and that they could do her no harm.
When the Sultan of Cashmire saw that his court physicians could not cure her, he called in the most noted and experienced in the city, who had no better success. Afterwards he sent for the most famous in the kingdom, who met with no better reception than the others from the princess, and what they ordered had no better effect. Afterwards he despatched messengers to the courts of neighbouring princes, with a description of the princess's case, to be distributed among the most famous physicians, with a promise of a handsome reward, besides travelling expenses, to any who should come and cure the Princess of Bengal.
A great many physicians came from all parts, and undertook the cure; but none of them could boast of better success than their fellows, since it was a case that did not depend on their skill, but on the will of the princess herself.
During this interval, Prince Firouz Schah, disguised in the habit of a dervish, had travelled through a great many provinces and towns, full of grief, and having endured much fatigue, not knowing which way to direct his course, or whether he was not taking the very opposite road to the right one to hear the tidings he sought. He made diligent inquiry after her at every place he came to; till at last passing through a great town in India, he heard the people talk very much of a Princess of Bengal, who went mad on the day of her marriage with the Sultan of Cashmire. At the name of the Princess of Bengal, and supposing that there was no other Princess of Bengal than she upon whose account he undertook his travels, he set out for the kingdom of Cashmire, and on his arrival at the capital he went and lodged at a khan, where the same day he was told the story of the Princess of Bengal, and the unhappy fate of the Indian, which he richly deserved. By all the circumstances, the prince knew he could not be deceived, but that she was the princess he had sought after so long.
The Prince of Persia, being informed of all these particulars provided himself with a physician's robe, and, having let his beard grow during his travels, he passed for a physician; and, through the greatness of his impatience to see his princess, went to the sultan's palace. Here, presenting himself to the chief of the officers, he told him that perhaps it might be looked upon as a very bold undertaking in him to offer to attempt the cure of the princess after so many had failed; but that he hoped some specifics, which he had had great experience of and success from, would effect the cure. The chief of the officers told him he was very welcome, that the sultan would receive him with pleasure, and that if he should have the good fortune to restore the princess to her former health, he might expect a liberal reward from the sultan his master. 'Wait a moment,' added he, 'I will come to you again presently.'
It was a long time since any physician had offered himself; and the Sultan of Cashmire, with great grief, had begun to lose all hope of ever seeing the Princess of Bengal restored to her former health, that he might marry her. He ordered the officer to bring in the physician he had announced.
The Prince of Persia was presented to the Sultan of Cashmire in the robe and disguise of a physician, and the sultan, without wasting time in superfluous discourse, after having told him that the Princess of Bengal could not bear the sight of a physician without falling into the most violent transports, which increased her illness, took him into a private room, from whence, through a window, he might see her without being seen.
There Prince Firouz Schah saw his lovely princess sitting carelessly, singing a song with tears in her eyes, deploring her unhappy fate, which deprived her, perhaps for ever, of the prince she loved so tenderly.
The prince was so much affected at the melancholy condition in which he found his dear princess, that he at once comprehended that her illness was feigned. When he came away he told the sultan that he had discovered the nature of the princess's illness, and that she was not incurable, but added that he must speak to her in private, and by himself; and, notwithstanding her violent fits at the sight of physicians, he hoped she would hear and receive him favourably.
The sultan ordered the princess's door to be opened, and Prince Firouz Schah went in. As soon as the princess saw him (taking him by his appearance to be a physician), she rose up in a rage, threatening and giving way to the most abusive language. He made directly towards her, and when he was near enough for her to hear him, for he did not wish to be heard by anyone else, he said to her, in a low voice, and in a most respectful manner, to make her believe him, 'Princess, I am not a physician, but the Prince of Persia, and am come to set you at liberty' 
The princess, who immediately knew the sound of the voice, and the upper features of his face, notwithstanding his beard, grew calm at once, and a secret joy and pleasure overspread her face. Her agreeable surprise deprived her for some time of speech, and gave Prince Firouz Schah time to tell her as briefly as possible how despair seized him when he saw the Indian carry her away; the resolution he took afterwards to leave nothing undone to find out where she was, and never to return home till he had found her, and forced her out of the hands of the perfidious wretch; and by what good fortune at last, after a long and fatiguing journey, he had the satisfaction of finding her in the palace of the Sultan of Cashmire. He then desired the princess to inform him of all that happened to her from the time she was taken away till that moment, telling her that it was of the greatest importance to know this, that he might take the proper measures to deliver her from the tyranny of the Sultan of Cashmire.
The Princess of Bengal told the prince how she was delivered from the Indian's violence by the Sultan of Cashmire, as he was returning home from hunting; but how ill she was treated by his overhasty design to marry her that very day, without even asking her consent; that this violent and tyrannical conduct put her into a swoon, after which she thought she had no other way to save herself for a prince to whom she had given her heart and faith, and would rather die than marry the sultan, whom she neither loved, nor ever could.
Then the Prince of Persia asked her if she knew what had become of the horse after the lndian's death. To which she answered that she knew not what orders the sultan had given about it, but believed he would take care of it.
As Prince Firouz Schah never doubted that the sultan had the horse, he communicated to the princess his design of making use of it to carry them both back to Persia, and after they had consulted together on the measures they were to take, they agreed that the princess should next day receive the sultan civilly, but without speaking to him.
The Sultan of Cashmire was overjoyed when the Prince of Persia told him the effect his first visit had had on the Princess of Bengal. And the next day, when the princess received him in such a manner as persuaded him that her cure was far advanced, he looked upon the prince as the greatest physician in the world, and contented himself with telling her how rejoiced he was to see her so likely to recover her health. He exhorted her to follow the directions of so thoughtful a physician, and to complete what he had so well begun, and then retired, without waiting for her answer.
The Prince of Persia, who went with the Sultan of Cashmire out of the princess's chamber, asked him if, without failing in due respect, he might enquire how the Princess of Bengal came into the dominions of Cashmire thus alone, since her own country lay so far off? This he said on purpose to introduce some remark about the enchanted horse, and to know what had become of it.
The Sultan of Cashmire, who could not penetrate the Prince of Persia's motive for asking this question, concealed nothing, but told him much the same story as the Princess of Bengal had done: adding that he had ordered the enchanted horse to be kept safe in his treasury as a great curiosity, though he knew not the use of it.
'Sir,' replied the pretended physician, 'the information which your majesty gives me affords me a means of curing the princess. As she was brought hither on this horse, and the horse is enchanted, she has contracted somewhat of the enchantment, which can be dissipated only by certain incense which I am acquainted with. If your majesty would be pleased to entertain yourself, your court, and the people of your capital with the most surprising sight that ever was seen, let the horse be brought into the great square before the palace, and leave the rest to me. I promise to show you, and all that assembly in a few moments' time, the Princess of Bengal as well in body and mind as ever she was in her life. But, the better to effect what I propose, it would be best that the princess should be dressed as magnificently as possible, and adorned with the best jewels your majesty has.' The sultan agreed.
Early the next day, the enchanted horse was, by his order, taken out of the treasury, and placed in the great square before the palace. A report was spread through the town that there was something extraordinary to be seen, and crowds of people flocked thither from all parts, insomuch that the sultan's guards were placed to prevent disorder, and to keep space enough round the horse.
The Sultan of Cashmire, surrounded by all his nobles and ministers of state, sat in state on a platform erected on purpose. The Princess of Bengal, attended by a vast number of ladies whom the sultan had assigned her, went up to the enchanted horse and the women helped her to get upon its back. When she was fixed in the saddle, and had the bridle in her hand, the pretended physician placed round the horse a great many vessels full of fire, which he had ordered to be brought, and going round it, he cast a strong and pleasant perfume into these pots; then, collected in himself, with downcast eyes, and his hands upon his breast, he ran three times about the horse, pretending to pronounce certain words. The moment the pots sent forth a dark cloud of pleasant scent, which so surrounded the princess that neither she nor the horse was to be discerned, the prince, watching his opportunity, jumped nimbly up behind her, and stretching out his hand to the peg, turned it; and just as the horse rose with them into the air, he pronounced these words, which the sultan heard distinctly--'Sultan of Cashmire, when you would marry princesses who implore your protection, learn first to obtain their consent.'
Thus the Prince of Persia recovered the Princess of Bengal, and carried her that same day to the capital of Persia, where he alighted in the midst of the palace, before the king his father's window. The king deferred the marriage no longer than until he could make the preparations necessary to render the ceremony pompous and magnificent.
After the days appointed for the rejoicing were over, the King of Persia's first care was to appoint an ambassador to go and give the King of Bengal an account of what had happened, and to demand his approval and ratification of the alliance. This the King of Bengal took as an honour, and granted with great pleasure and satisfaction.
THE STORY OF THE SPEAKING BIRD.


here were once two brothers named Bahman and Perviz, who lived in Persia in the closest and most pleasant friendship with their only sister Parizade. They had never known their father, the Sultan Khosroo Shah, nor he them, for they had been stolen away from the palace one after the other when they were but a day old. Now the Sultan had always been away from home at the time of his children's birth, and on each occasion, when he returned and asked to see the babes, two wicked aunts, who lived in the palace, and had a spite against their sister the Sultaness, told him that they were not children at all, only a dead dog, a cat, and a piece of wood. But the aunts had stolen the real babes, wrapped them in flannel, placed them each in a basket, and sent them, one after the other, adrift down the canal.
It so happened that, just after the first babe was sent adrift, the keeper of the Sultan's gardens, a powerful but kind-hearted officer, who lived on the canal bank some way below the palace, was walking along the path and saw something floating in the water. He called to the gardener, who came with his spade, reached out towards the floating object, and drew it to land. To their great surprise they found it to be a basket containing a beautiful little boy. The keeper, to his great grief, had no children of his own, so he immediately determined to adopt this foundling, and picking up the basket, carried the babe to his wife, and bade her take the greatest care of him. They named him Bahman.
After a time the keeper, while walking on the canal banks, saw another floating basket, containing another babe, whom he and his wife adopted in exactly the same way, and named Perviz. Later still there appeared a third basket containing the little princess, whom they called Parizade, and brought up with the two boys. The keeper and his wife grew so extremely fond of these children, whom they taught to call them father and mother, that they determined not to make any inquiries into the mystery of the children's origin, nor to tell them that they were not really their own. All of them were so quick and clever and good that the keeper had them taught by the very best masters he could procure, and although the sister was the youngest, she was soon as proficient in all learning, and in riding, running, and shooting the arrow or javelin as her brothers.
The keeper was so overjoyed to find his adopted children so accomplished in body and mind, and so well justifying the care and expense which he had bestowed upon their education, that he determined, before he died, to build them a country house at some distance from the city, surrounded by woods, meadows, and corn-land, and to furnish it most magnificently. He then asked permission of the Sultan to retire from his service, saying that he was growing old, and wished to end his days in peace and tranquillity. The Sultan granted his request, but only six months later the keeper died so suddenly that he was unable to give the princes and princess any account of the mystery which hung over their birth, as he had resolved to do.
The Princes Bahman and Perviz, and the Princess Parizade, who knew no other father, regretted and bewailed him as such, and paid him all the honours at his funeral which their love and filial gratitude required of them. Content with the plentiful fortune he left them, they lived together in the same perfect union, free from any ambition for places of honour and dignity at Court, which they might easily have obtained.
One day when the two princes were hunting, and the Princess Parizade stayed at home, a religious old woman came to the gate, and desired leave to come in and say her prayers, it being then the hour. The servants went and asked the princess, who ordered them to show her into the chapel, which the keeper of the Sultan's gardens had taken care to fit up in his house, for want of a mosque in the neighbourhood. She bade them also, after the good woman had finished her prayers, show her the house and gardens, and then bring her to her.
The religious old woman went into the chapel and said her prayers, and when she came out again, two of the princess's women invited her to see the house and gardens; she accepted, and followed them from one apartment to another, and observed, as a person who understood what belonged to furniture, the nice arrangement of everything. They conducted her also into the garden, which she admired, observing that the person who planned it must have been an excellent master of his art. Afterwards she was brought before the princess, who waited for her in the great hall.
As soon as the princess saw the devout woman, she said to her, 'My good mother, come near and sit down by me. I am overjoyed at the happiness of having the opportunity of profiting for some moments by the good example and conversation of such a person as you, who have taken the right way, by dedicating yourself to the service of God. I wish everybody were as wise.'
The religious woman, instead of sitting upon a sofa, would only sit upon the edge of it. The princess would not permit her to do so, but rising from her seat, and taking her by the hand, obliged her to come and sit by her. The good woman said, 'Madam, I ought not to have so much respect shown me; but since you command me, and are mistress of your own house, I will obey you.' When she had sat down, before they entered into any conversation, one of the princess's women brought a little low table of mother-of-pearl and ebony, with a china dish full of cakes, and a great many others full of the fruits in season, and sweetmeats.
The princess took up one of the cakes and said, 'Eat, good mother, and make choice of what you like best; you had need to eat after coming so far.'
'Madam,' replied the good woman, ' I am not used to eat such nice things, but will not refuse what God has sent me by so liberal a hand as yours.'
While the religious woman was eating, the princess ate something too, to keep her company, and asked her a great many questions about the devotion which she practiced, and how she lived; all which questions she answered with great modesty. At last she asked her what she thought of the house and how she liked it.
'Madam,' answered the devout woman, 'I should certainly have very bad taste to disapprove of anything in it, since it is beautiful, regular, and magnificently furnished, and all its ornaments are in the best manner. Its situation is agreeable, and no garden can be more delightful; but yet, if you will give me leave to speak my mind freely, I will take the liberty of saying that this house would be incomparable, if it had three things which are lacking in it.'
'My good mother,' replied the Princess Parizade, 'what are those three things? I implore you to tell me what they are: I will spare no trouble to get them, if possible.'
' Madam,' replied the devout woman, 'the first of these three things is the speaking bird called Bulbulkezer, which is so singular a creature that it can draw round it all the singing birds of the neighbourhood to accompany its song. The second is the singing tree, the leaves of which form a harmonious concert of different voices, and never cease. The third is the yellow water of gold colour, a single drop of which being poured into a vessel properly prepared, in whatever part of the garden, increases so as to fill it immediately, and rises up in the middle like a fountain, which continually plays, and yet the basin never overflows.'
'Ah! my good mother,' cried the princess 'how much am I obliged to you for the knowledge of these things! I never before heard that there were such curious and wonderful things in the world; but as I am sure you know where they are, do me the favour to tell me.'
'Madam,' replied the good woman, 'I should be unworthy of your goodness if I refused to satisfy your curiosity on that point; and am glad to have the honour to tell you that these three things are to be met with in the same spot on the confines of this kingdom, towards India. The road to it lies before your house, and whoever you send need but follow it for twenty days, and on the twentieth let him but ask the first person he meets where the speaking bird, singing tree, and yellow water are, and he will be informed.' After these words, she rose, took leave, and went her way.
The Princess Parizade's thoughts were so taken up with what the religious woman had told her of the speaking bird, singing tree, and yellow water, that she never perceived she was gone, till she wanted to ask her another question. However, she would not send after her to fetch her back, but tried to remember all she had told her, and took real pleasure in thinking of the satisfaction she would have, if she could get these wonderful things into her possession; but the difficulties she apprehended, and the fear of not succeeding, made her very uneasy.
She was lost in these thoughts, when her brothers returned from hunting; when they entered the great hall, instead of finding her lively and gay, as usual, were amazed to see her pensively hang down her head, as if something troubled her.
'Sister,' said Prince Bahman, 'are you not well? or has some misfortune befallen you? Has anybody given you reason to be so melancholy? Tell us, that we may know how to act, and give you relief. If anybody has affronted you, we will resent it.'
The Princess Parizade remained in the same posture for some time without answering, but at last lifted up her eyes to look at her brothers, and then dropped them again, saying that nothing disturbed her.
'Sister,' said Prince Bahman, 'you are concealing the truth from us; there must be something. It is impossible that during the short time we have been absent so sudden a change could take place if there was nothing the matter with you; do not conceal anything from us, unless you would have us believe that you renounce the friendship and union which have been between us from our infancy.'
The princess, who had not the smallest desire to quarrel with her brothers, would not suffer them to entertain such a thought, but said: 'When I told you nothing disturbed me, I meant nothing that was of any great importance to you. To me it is, and since you press me to tell you, I will. We always thought that this house, which our late father built for us, was complete in everything. But this day I have learned that it needs three things, which would render it so perfect that no country-seat in the world could be compared to it These three things are the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the yellow water.' Then she told them all about the visit of the religious woman. 'You,' she added, 'may think as you please, but I am persuaded that they are absolutely necessary, and I shall not be easy without them. Therefore, whether you value them or not, give me your opinion and consider what person I may send on this expedition.'
'Sister,' replied Prince Bahman, 'what concerns you concerns us also. It is enough that you have an earnest desire for the things you mention; but even if it were otherwise, we should be anxious to go and search for them on our own account. Only tell me where the place is, and I will set out to-morrow.'
'Brother,' said Prince Perviz, 'it is not fitting that you, who are the head of the family, should be absent so long. I beg you will abandon your design, and allow me to undertake it.'
'I am sure of your goodwill, brother,' replied Prince Bahman, 'but I have resolved on it, and shall do it. You shall stay at home with our sister, and I need not recommend her to your care.' He spent the remainder of that day in making preparations for his journey, and in learning from the princess the directions the devout woman left her, that he might not miss his way.
Early the next morning, Prince Bahman mounted his horse, and Prince Perviz and the Princess Parizade embraced him and wished him a pleasant journey. But in the midst of their farewells, the princess recollected one thing which she had not thought of before. 'Brother,' said she, 'I had quite forgotten the accidents which attend travellers. Who knows whether I shall ever see you again? Alight, I beseech you, and give up this journey. I would rather be deprived of the sight and possession of the speaking bird, the singing tree, and yellow water, than run the risk of never seeing you more.'
'Sister,' replied Prince Bahman, smiling at the sudden fears of the Princess Parizade, 'my resolution is fixed, and you must allow me to execute it. The accidents you speak of befall only those who are unfortunate. It is true I may be of that number; but there are more who are not than who are, and I may be of the former number. But as events are uncertain, and I may fail, all I can do is to leave you this knife.'
Then Prince Bahman pulled a knife out of his pocket, and presenting it in the sheath to the princess, said: 'Take this knife, sister, and sometimes pull it out of the sheath: while you see it clean as it is now, it shall be a sign that I am alive; but if you find it stained with blood, then you may believe me dead, and favour me with your prayers.'
The Princess Parizade could obtain nothing more from Prince Bahman. He bade farewell to her and Prince Perviz for the last time, and rode away well mounted, armed and equipped.
When he got into the road he never turned to the right nor to the left, but went straight forward towards India. On the twentieth day he perceived by the road-side a hideous old man, who sat under a tree some small distance from a thatched house, which was his retreat from the weather.
His eyebrows were white as snow, and so was the hair of his head; his whiskers and beard came up to his nose; his whiskers covered his mouth, and his beard and hair reached down his feet. The nails of his hands and feet were extremely long; a flat broad hat, like an umbrella, covered his head. He had no clothes, but only a mat thrown round his body.
This old man was a dervish, who had for many years retired from the world, and had neglected himself entirely, so that at last he had become what we have described.
Prince Bahman, who had been all that morning very anxious to see if he could meet with anybody that could tell of the place he was going to, stopped when he came near the dervish, as the first person he had met, and alighted from off his horse, according to the directions the religious woman had given to the Princess Parizade; and leading his horse by the bridle, advanced towards him, and saluting him, said: 'God prolong your days, good father, and grant you the fulfilment of your desires.'
The dervish returned the prince's salutation, but so unintelligibly that he could not understand one word he said. Prince Bahman perceived that this proceeded from the dervish's whiskers hanging over his mouth, and unwilling to go any further without the instruction he wanted, he pulled out a pair of scissors, and having tied his horse to a branch of the tree, said to the dervish: 'Good dervish, I want to have a talk with you; but your whiskers prevent my understanding what you say; if you consent, I will cut off part of them and of your eyebrows, for they disfigure you so much that you look more like a bear than a man.'
The dervish did not oppose the prince, but let him do it; and when the prince had cut off as much hair as he thought fit, he perceived that the dervish had a good complexion, and that he did not seem so old as he really was. 'Good dervish,' said he, 'if I had a glass, I would show you how young you look: you arc now a man, but before, nobody could tell what you were.'
The kind behaviour of Prince Bahman made the dervish smile. 'Sir,' said he, 'whoever you are, I am infinitely obliged to you for the good office you have done me, and am ready to show my gratitude by doing anything in my power for you. You must have alighted here for some reason or other. Tell me what it is, and I will endeavour to serve you if I can.'
'Good dervish,' replied Prince Bahman, 'I have come a long way, and am in search of the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the yellow water; I know these three things are not far from here, but cannot tell exactly where they are to be found; if you know, I beg you to show me the way, that I may not lose my labour after so long a journey.'
While the prince was speaking he observed that the dervish changed countenance, looked very serious, and remained silent; which compelled him to say, 'Good father, I fancy you heard me; tell me whether you know what I ask, that I may not lose my time, and have to go and learn for myself somewhere else.'
At last the dervish broke silence. 'Sir,' said he to Prince Bahman, 'I know the way you ask, but the friendship which I felt for you the first moment I saw you, and which has grown stronger from the service you have done me, kept me in suspense as to whether I should tell you what you desire.'
'What can hinder you?' replied the prince; 'and what difficulty do you find in doing so?'
'I will tell you,' replied the dervish. 'The danger to which you are going to expose yourself is greater than you can believe. A great number of gentlemen, of as much bravery and courage as you can have, have passed by here, and asked me the same question. Though I had used all my power to persuade them to desist, they would not believe me; at last I yielded, I was compelled to show them the way, and I can assure you they have all perished, and I have never seen one come back again. Therefore, if you have any regard for your life, take my advice: go no further, but return home.'
Prince Bahman persisted in his resolution. 'I believe,' said he to the dervish, 'that your advice is sincere. I am much obliged to you for your kind feeling; but whatever the danger may be, nothing shall make me change my mind: if any one attacks me, I am well armed, and as brave as any one.'
'But they who will attack you are not to be seen,' replied the dervish, 'and there are a great many of them; how will you defend yourself against invisible persons?'
'It is no matter,' answered the prince; 'all you say shall not persuade me to do anything contrary to my duty. Since you know the way, I beg you once more to tell me, and not refuse.'
When the dervish found he could not prevail upon Prince Bahman, and that he was obstinately bent on pursuing his journey, notwithstanding the wholesome advice he gave him, he put his hand into a bag that lay by him, and pulled out a bowl, which he gave to him. 'Since I cannot prevail on you to take my advice,' said he, 'take this bow], and when you are on horseback throw it before you, and follow it to the foot of a mountain, where it will stop. As soon as the bowl stops, alight, and leave your horse with the bridle over his neck, and he will stand in the same place till you return. As you go up the hill, you will see, right and left, a great quantity of large black stones, and will hear on all sides of you a confusion of voices, which will say a thousand irritating things to discourage you and prevent your climbing to the top of the hill; but take care, and be not afraid; and, above all things, do not turn your head to look behind you, for at that instant you will be changed into a black stone like those you see, which are all so many gentlemen who have failed. If you escape the danger, of which I give you but a slight description, and get to the top of the mountain, you will see a cage, and in that cage is the bird you seek: ask him where are the singing tree and the yellow water, and he will tell you. I have nothing more to say; this is what you have to do, and the danger you have to avoid; but if you would take my advice you would not expose your life. Consider once more, while you have time, that the difficulty is almost insuperable.'
'I am very much obliged to you for your repeated advice,' replied Prince Bahman, after he had received the bowl, 'but I cannot follow it. However, I will endeavour to conform to that part of it which bids me not look behind me as I go up, and I hope to come and see you again soon, and thank you more when I have got what I am in search of.' After these words, to which the dervish made no answer than that he should be overjoyed to see him again, and wished it might be the case, he mounted his horse, took leave of the dervish with a low bow, and threw the bowl before him.
The bowl rolled away with so much swiftness all along that Prince Bahman was obliged to spur his horse to follow without losing sight of it. When it came to the foot of the mountain which the dervish named, it stopped. The prince alighted. and his horse never stirred from the spot, though he had the bridle on his neck; and having first surveyed the mountain, and seen the black stones, the prince began to climb it, but had not gone four steps before he heard the voices mentioned by the dervish, though he could see nobody. Some said, 'Where is that fool going? where is he going? what does he want? don't let him pass.' Others, 'Stop him, catch him, kill him!' and others with a voice like thunder, 'Thief! assassin! murderer!' while some in a gibing tone, cried, 'No, no; do not hurt him; let the pretty fellow pass; the cage and bird are kept for him.'
Notwithstanding all those troublesome voices, Prince Bahman mounted with courage and resolution for some time, but the voices increased with so loud a din and so near him, both in front and behind, that at last he was seized with fear, his legs trembled under him, he staggered, and presently finding that his strength failed, he forgot the dervish's advice, turned about to run down the hill, and was that instant changed into a black stone, as had happened to so many before him. His horse likewise underwent the same change.
From the time of Prince Bahman's departure, the Princess Parizade always wore the knife and sheath in her girdle, and pulled it out several times a day to know whether her brother was alive. She had the consolation of seeing that he was in perfect health, and talked of him frequently with Prince Perviz.
On the fatal day that Prince Bahman was metamorphosed into a stone, as Prince Perviz and the princess were talking together in the evening, as usual, the prince desired his sister to pull out the knife, to know how their brother was. The princess drew out the knife, and, seeing the blood run down the point, was so seized with horror and grief, that she threw it down. 'Ah! my dear brother,' cried she, 'I have been the cause of your death, and shall never see you more! Oh, why did I tell you of the speaking bird, singing tree, and yellow water? Of what importance was it to me to know whether the religious woman thought this house ugly or handsome, or complete or not? I wish to Heaven she had never spoken! Deceitful hypocrite!' added she, 'is this the return you have made me for the kind reception I gave you? Why did you tell me of a bird, a tree, and a water which, imaginary as I am sure they are, yet disturb me by your enchantment?'
Prince Perviz was as much afflicted at the death of Prince Bahman as the princess; but not to waste time in needless regret, as he knew by the princess's sorrow that she still passionately desired the possession of the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the golden water, he interrupted her, and said, 'Sister, our regret for our brother is vain and useless; it cannot restore him to life; it is the will of God, and we must submit to it, and adore the decrees of the Almighty without searching into them. Why should you doubt of the truth of what the holy woman told you? Do you think she spoke to you of three things that were not in existence? that she invented them on purpose to deceive you when you had received her with so much goodness and civility? Let us rather believe that our brother's death is owing to some fault of his, or some accident. It ought not to prevent us from pursuing our object. I offered to go on this journey, and am in the same mind still; his example has no effect upon my resolution; to- morrow I will go myself.'
The princess did all she could to dissuade Prince Perviz, imploring him not to expose her to the danger of losing two brothers instead of one; but all she could urge had no effect upon him. Before he went, that she might know what success he had, he left her a string of a hundred pearls, telling her that if they would not run when she told them upon the string, but remain fixed, that should be a certain sign that he had undergone the same fate as his brother.
Prince Perviz, on the twentieth day from his setting out, met with the same dervish in the same place that his brother Bahman had done before him. He went up to him, and, after he had saluted him, asked him if he could tell him where to find the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the golden water. The dervish made the same remonstrances as he had done to Prince Bahman, telling him that a young gentleman, who very much resembled him, was with him a short time before; that, overcome by his importunity, he had shown him the way, given him a guide, and told him how he should act; but that he had not seen him since, and doubted not he had shared the same fate as all before him.
'Good dervish,' answered Prince Perviz, 'I know of whom you speak; he was my elder brother, and I know of his death, but not what it was.'
' I can tell you,' replied the dervish; 'he was changed into a black stone, as all I speak of have been; and you must expect the same fate unless you observe more exactly than he did the good advice I gave him, if you persist in your resolution, which I once more entreat you to renounce.'
'Dervish,' said Prince Perviz, 'I cannot say how much I am obliged to you for the care you take of my life, as I have done nothing to deserve your kindness; but I thoroughly considered this enterprise before I undertook it, and 1 cannot give it up; therefore I beg you to do me the same favour as you did my brother. Perhaps I may have better success in following your directions.'
'Since,' said the dervish, 'I cannot persuade you to give up your obstinate resolution, if my age did not prevent me and I could stand, I would get up to bring you a bowl I have here, which will show you the way.'
Without giving him time to say more, the prince alighted from his horse and went up to the dervish, who had taken a bowl out of his bag, and gave it him, with the same directions as he had given Prince Bahman; and after warning him not to be frightened at the voices he would hear without seeing anybody, however threatening they might be, but to continue his way up the hill till he saw the cage and bird, he let him go.
Prince Perviz thanked the dervish, and when he had remounted his horse, and taken leave, he threw the bowl before his horse, and followed it. When the bowl came to the bottom of the hill it stopped, and the prince got off his horse, and stood some time to recollect the dervish's directions. He encouraged himself, and began to walk up with a resolution to reach the top; but before he had gone six steps he heard a voice, which seemed to be that of a man behind him, say, in an insulting tone, 'Stay, rash youth, that I may punish you for your boldness.'
At this affront, the prince forgot the dervish's advice, clapped his hand upon his sword and drew it, and turned about to revenge himself; but scarcely had he had time to see that nobody followed him, when he and his horse were changed into black stones.
In the meantime the Princess Parizade strung over her chaplet several times a day; and when she had nothing else to do, she told the pearls over her fingers one after another. When she went to bed she put it about her neck, and in the morning when she awoke counted over the pearls again to see if they would slide.
The day that Prince Perviz was changed into a stone, she was pulling over the pearls as usual, when all of a sudden she could not stir them, and never doubted that it was a certain token that the prince, her brother, was dead. As she had determined beforehand what to do, in case it should so happen, she lost no time in outward show of grief, which she concealed as much as possible; but disguising herself in man's apparel, she mounted her horse the next morning, having told her servants she should return in two or three days, and took the road her brothers had done before her.
The princess, who was used to riding on horseback, supported the fatigue of so long a journey better than other ladies could have done; and as she made the same days' journey as her brothers, she also met the dervish on the twentieth day. When she came near him she alighted off her horse, and leading him by the bridle, went and sat down by the dervish, and after she had saluted him, she said, 'Good dervish, give me leave to rest by you; and do me the favour to tell me if there are somewhere hereabouts a speaking bird, a singing tree, and golden water.'
' Madam,' answered the dervish, 'for so I must call you, since by your voice I know you to be a woman disguised in man's apparel, I thank you, and receive the honour you do me with great pleasure. I know very well the place where these things you speak of are to be found; but what makes you ask this question?'
'Good dervish,' replied the princess, 'I have a very great desire to possess them.'
'Madam,' replied the dervish, 'these things are even more singular and surprising than they have been represented to you; but you have not been told of the difficulties and dangers which must be surmounted in order to obtain them. Take my advice; go no farther; return, and do not urge me to contribute towards your ruin.'
'Good father,' said the princess, 'I have come a long way, and should be sorry to return home without accomplishing my wish. You talk of difficulties and danger to my life, but you do not tell me what those difficulties are, and wherein the danger consists. This is what I desire to know, that I may consider it, and judge whether I can or cannot trust my courage and strength to undertake it.'
Then the dervish repeated to the Princess Parizade what he had said to the Princes Bahman and Perviz, of the difficulty of climbing to the top of the mountain, the noise and din of the terrible threatening voices which she would hear on all sides, without seeing anybody; and the great quantity of black stones, alone sufficient to strike terror into her and everyone else. He entreated her to reflect that those stones were many brave gentlemen, thus enchanted for omitting to observe the principal condition of success, which was not to look behind them before they had got possession of the cage.
When the dervish had done, the princess replied, 'From what I gather, the difficulty in this affair is, first, the getting up to the cage, without being frightened at the terrible din of voices; and, secondly, not looking behind. As to this last, I hope I shall be mistress enough of myself to observe it. As to the first, I own that such voices are capable of striking terror into the most undaunted; but as in all enterprises and dangers every one may use contrivances, I desire to know if I may make use of them.'
'And what do you here intend to do?' said the dervish.
'To stop my ears with cotton,' answered the princess, 'that however loud and terrible the voices may be, they may make less impression upon my imagination, and my mind remain free from the disturbance which might make me lose my reason.'
'Madam,' replied the dervish, 'of all the persons who have addressed themselves to me to ask the way, I do not know that any one made use of the plan you propose. All I know is, they all perished. If you persist in your design, you can make the experiment. You will be fortunate if it succeeds; but I would advise you not to expose yourself to the danger.'
'My good father,' replied the princess, 'nothing prevents my persisting. I am sure I shall succeed, and am resolved to try the experiment. Nothing remains for me but to know which way I must go, a favour I beg you not to refuse me.'
The dervish exhorted her again for the last time to consider well what she was going to do; but finding her resolute, he took out a bowl and said, 'Take this bowl; mount your horse again, and when you have thrown it before you, follow it through all its windings, till it stops at the bottom of the mountain: there stop, alight off your horse, and ascend the mountain. Go, you know the rest; and be sure not to forget what I have told you.'
After the Princess Parizade had thanked the dervish, and taken leave of him, she mounted her horse, threw the bowl before her, and followed it till it stopped at the foot of the mountain.
The princess alighted, and stopped her ears with cotton-wool, and after she had well examined the way by which she was to get to the top, she began at a moderate pace. She heard the voices, and perceived the great service the cotton was to her. The higher she went, the louder and more numerous the voices seemed; but they could not make any impression on her. She heard a great many affronting speeches and jeering very disagreeable to a woman, which she only laughed at. At last she got so high that she began to perceive the cage and bird, which also tried to frighten her, crying in a thundering voice, notwithstanding the smallness of its size, 'Retire, fool, and come no higher.'
The princess, nevertheless, redoubled her haste. At last she got to the top of the mountain, where the ground was level, and running straight to the cage, clapped her hand upon it, and cried, 'Bird, I have you in spite of you, and you shall not escape me.'
While the Princess Parizade was pulling the cotton-wool out of her ears, the bird said to her, 'Brave lady, be not angry with me for joining in with the voices. Though in a cage, I was content; but since I am destined to be a slave, I would rather be yours than any other person's in the world, since you have obtained me so courageously and so worthily. From this instant I swear inviolable faith to you, and an entire submission to all your commands. I know who you are, and will tell you. You do not know yourself; but the time will come when I shall do you a service, for which you will feel obliged to me. As a proof of my sincerity, tell me what you desire, and I am ready to obey you.'
The princess's joy at her success was inexpressible, because it had cost her the lives of two beloved brothers, and given her more trouble and danger than she could have imagined before she tried it, notwithstanding what the dervish had said. 'Bird,' said she, 'I wish for many things which are of the greatest importance to me. I have been told that there is not far off a golden water; before all things, I ask you to tell me where it is.' The bird showed her the place, which was close by, and she went and filled a little silver flagon which she had brought with her. She returned to the bird, and said, 'Bird, this is not enough; I want also the singing tree; tell me where it is.'
'Turn round,' said the bird, 'and you will see behind you a wood, where you will find this tree.' The princess went into the wood, and by the harmonious sounds she heard soon knew the tree among many others, but it was very large and high. She came back to the bird and said, 'Bird, I have found the singing tree, but I can neither pull it up by the roots nor carry it.'
The bird replied, 'It is not necessary that you should take it up by the roots; break off a branch, and carry it to plant in your garden; it will take root as soon as it is put into the earth, and in a little time will grow to as fine a tree as this you see.'
When the Princess Parizade had in her hand the three things which the religious woman had told her of, and for which she had felt so great a desire, she said to the bird, 'Bird, all you have done for me as yet is not enough. You have been the cause of the death of my two brothers, who must be among the black stones which I saw as I came up the hill. I wish to take them home with me.'
The bird seemed reluctant to satisfy the princess on this point, and indeed made some difficulty about it. 'Bird,' said the princess, 'remember you told me that you were my slave. You are; and your life is at my disposal.'
'I cannot deny it,' answered the bird; 'but although what you now ask of me is more difficult than all the rest, yet I will do it for you. Cast your eyes around,' added he, 'and look if you can see a little pitcher.'
'I see it already,' said the princess.
'Take it then,' said he, 'and as you go down the hill, spill a little of the water that is in it upon every black stone, and that will be the way to find your brothers again.'
The Princess Parizade took up the pitcher, and carried with her the cage and bird, the flagon of golden water, and the branch of the singing tree; and, as she went down the hill, she spilt a little of the water on every black stone, which was changed immediately into a man; and as she did not miss one stone, all the horses, both of the princes her brothers, and of the other gentlemen, resumed their former shape. She presently recognised Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz, as they did her, and ran to embrace her. She returned their embraces, and expressed her amazement. 'What are you doing here, my dear brothers?' said she. They told her they had been asleep. 'Yes,' replied she, 'and if it had not been for me you might have slept till the day of judgment. Don't you remember that you came here to fetch the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the yellow water? and didn't you see, as you came along, the place covered with black stones? The gentlemen you see here, and their horses which surround us, and you yourselves, were these black stones. If you desire to know how this wonder was performed,' continued she, showing the pitcher, which she set down at the foot of the mountain, having no further use for it, 'it was done by virtue of the water which was in this pitcher, with which I sprinkled every stone. After I had made the speaking bird (which you see in this cage) my slave, by his directions I found out the singing tree, a branch of which I now have in my hand; and the yellow water, with which this flagon is filled; but being unwilling to return home without you, I constrained the bird to show me the means.'
Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz perceived how greatly they were indebted to the princess their sister, as did all the other gentlemen, who had collected round, and heard all that was said. They all declared themselves her slaves, and said they were ready to obey her in whatever she should command.
' Gentlemen,' replied the princess, 'I rejoice with you for the happiness which has come to you by my means. Let us, however, stay no longer in a place where we have nothing to detain us; but mount our horses, and return to our respective homes.'
The Princess Parizade led the way. She went and took her horse, which stood in the place where she had left him. Before she mounted, Prince Bahman desired her to give him the cage to carry. 'Brother,' replied the princess, 'the bird is my slave, and I will carry him myself; if you will be so kind as to carry the branch of the singing tree, there it is; only hold the cage while I get on horseback.' When she had mounted her horse, and Prince Bahman had given her the cage, she turned round and said to Prince Perviz, I leave the flagon of golden water to your care, if it will not be too much trouble for you to carry it.' Prince Perviz took charge of it with pleasure.
When Prince Bahman and Prince Perviz and all the gentlemen had mounted their horses, the Princess Parizade waited for some of them to lead the way. The two princes waited for the gentlemen, and they again for the princess, who, finding that none of them would accept the honour, but that it was reserved for her, said, 'Gentlemen, I do not deserve the honour you do me, and accept it only because you desire it.' So she led the way, and the two princes and the gentlemen followed her all together.
This illustrious company called upon the dervish, as they passed by, to thank him for his kindness and wholesome advice, which they had all found to be sincere. But he was dead; whether from old age, or because he was no longer necessary to show the way to the three curiosities, did not appear. They pursued their way, but lessened in number every day, for the gentlemen who had come from different countries, after repeating their obligations to the princess and her brothers, took leave of them one after another.
As soon as the princess reached home, she placed the cage in the garden, just by the hall; and tile bird no sooner began to sing than he was surrounded by nightingales, chaffinches, larks, linnets, goldfinches, and a great many other birds of the country. As for the branch of the singing tree, it was no sooner set in tile midst of the garden, a little distance from the house, than it took root, and in a short time became a large tree, the leaves of which gave as harmonious a concert as those of the tree from which it was gathered. As to the flagon of golden water, a large basin of beautiful marble was made in the midst of the garden; and when it was finished, the princess poured into it all the yellow water that was in the flagon; and it increased and swelled so much that it soon reached up to the edges of the basin, and afterwards formed in the middle a fountain twenty feet high, which fell again into the basin perpetually, without running ever.
The report of these wonders was presently spread abroad in the neighbourhood, and as the doors of the house and those of the gardens were shut to nobody, a great many people came to admire them.
Some days afterwards, when the Princes Bahman and Perviz had recovered from the fatigue of their journey, they resumed their former way of living; and as their usual diversion was hunting they mounted their horses, and went for the first time since their return, not in their own park, but two or three leagues from the house. As they pursued their sport, the Sultan of Persia came up hunting on the same spot of ground. When they perceived by the number of horsemen in different places that he would soon reach them, they resolved to leave off, and retire to avoid meeting him; but they chanced to meet him in so narrow a path that they could not turn away nor retreat without being seen. In their surprise they had only time to alight and prostrate themselves before the sultan without lifting up their heads to look at him. The sultan, who saw they were as well mounted and dressed as if they had belonged to his court, had some curiosity to see their faces. He stopped, and commanded them to rise. The princes rose up, and stood before the sultan with an easy and graceful air, and respectful modest countenances. The sultan looked them all over from head to foot before he spoke. Then he asked them who they were, and where they lived.
'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we arc the sons of the late keeper of your majesty's gardens, and we live in a house which he built, a little before he died, for us to live in, till we should be fit to serve your majesty when opportunity offered.'
'By what I perceive,' replied the sultan, 'you are fond of hunting.'
'Sir,' answered Prince Bahman, 'it is our common exercise; none of your majesty's subjects who intend to bear arms in your armies ought, according to the ancient custom of the kingdom to neglect it.'
The sultan, charmed with so prudent an answer, said, 'Since it is so, I should be glad to see you hunt game; make choice of what you like.'
The princes mounted their horses again, and followed the sultan, but had not gone far before they saw a great many wild beasts together. Prince Bahman chose a lion, and Prince Perviz a bear, and pursued them with so much valour that the sultan was surprised. They came up with their game, and darted their javelins with so much skill, that they pierced, the one the lion, and the other the bear, through and through: the sultan, with his own eyes, saw them fall one after the other. Immediately afterwards Prince Bahman pursued another bear, and Prince Perviz another lion, and killed them in a short time, and would have beaten out for fresh game, but the sultan would not let them, and sent for them. When they came he said, 'If I had given you leave, you would soon have destroyed all my game. I am sure your bravery will some time or other be serviceable to me.'
The sultan, in short, felt so kindly disposed towards the two princes, that he invited them immediately to pay him a visit; to which Prince Bahman replied, 'Your majesty does us an honour we do not deserve, and we beg you will excuse us.'
The sultan, who could not comprehend what reason the princes could have for refusing this token of his favour, asked and pressed them to tell him why they excused themselves. 'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we have a younger sister, with whom we live in such perfect union that we undertake and do nothing before we consult her, nor she anything without asking our advice.'
'I commend your brotherly affection,' answered the sultan. 'Consult your sister, meet here me to-morrow hunting, and give me an answer.'
The princes went home, but forgot not only to speak of their adventure in meeting the sultan and hunting with him, but to tell the princess the honour he had done them by asking them to go home with him; yet they did not the next morning fail to meet him at the place appointed. 'Well,' said the sultan, 'have you spoken to your sister, and has she consented? '
The two princes looked at each other and blushed. 'Sir,' said Prince Bahman, 'we beg your majesty to excuse us, for both my brother and I forgot.'
'Then remember to-day,' replied the sultan, 'and be sure to bring me an answer to-morrow.'
The princes were guilty of the same fault a second time, and the sultan was so good-natured as to forgive their carelessness; but to prevent their forgetfulness the third time, he pulled three little golden balls out of a purse, and put them into Prince Bahman's breast. 'These balls,' said he, smiling, ' will prevent your forgetting a third time what I wish you to do for my sake, since the noise they will make by falling on the floor, when you undress yourself, will remind you. if you do not recollect it before.' The event happened just as the Sultan foresaw. For as Prince Bahman unloosed his girdle to go to bed, the balls dropped on the floor, and thereupon he ran into Prince Perviz's chamber, and both went into the Princess Parizade's apartment; and after they had asked her pardon for coming at so unseasonable a time, they told her all about their meeting the sultan.
The Princess Parizade was somewhat surprised at this news. 'Your meeting with the sultan,' said she, 'is very happy and honourable, and may in the end be very advantageous to you, but it is very disagreeable and distressful to me. It was on my account, I know, that you refused the sultan, and I am infinitely obliged to you for it. I know by this that your friendship is as strong as mine, since you would rather be guilty of incivility towards the sultan than break the brotherly union we have sworn to each other. You judged right that if you had once gone, you would by degrees have decided to leave me, to devote yourselves to him. But do you think it an easy matter absolutely to refuse the sultan what he seems so earnestly to desire? Sultans will be obeyed, and it may be dangerous to oppose them; therefore, if I were to dissuade you from showing the assent he expects from you, it might expose you to his resentment, and might render myself and you miserable. This is what I think: but before we decide on anything, let us consult the speaking bird, and hear what he says; he is wise, and has promised his assistance in all difficulties.'
The Princess Parizade sent for the cage, and after she had related the fact to the bird in the presence of her brothers, she asked him what they should do in their perplexity. The bird answered, 'The princes, your brothers, must conform to the sultan's pleasure, and in their turn invite him to come and see your house.'
'But, bird,' replied the princess, 'my brothers and I love one another, and our friendship is unparalleled. Will not this step be injurious to that friendship?'
'Not at all,' replied the bird; 'it will become stronger.'
'Then,' answered the princess, 'the sultan will see me.' The bird told her it was necessary that he should see her, and that everything would go better afterwards.
Next morning the princes met the sultan hunting, who asked them if they had remembered to speak to their sister. Prince Bahman drew near, and answered, 'Sir, your majesty may dispose of us as you please; we are ready to obey you; for we have not only obtained our sister's consent with great ease, but she took it amiss that we should pay her such deference in a matter wherein our duty to your majesty was concerned. But she is so deserving of it that, if we have offended, we hope you will pardon us.'
'Do not be uneasy upon that account,' replied the sultan; 'so far from taking amiss what you have done, I approve of it, and hope you will feel the same deference and attachment to me, if I have ever so little share in your friendship.' The princes, confused at the sultan's goodness, returned no other answer than a low bow, to show their great respect.
The sultan, contrary to his usual custom, did not hunt long that day. Presuming that the princes possessed brains equal to their courage and bravery, he longed with impatience to converse with them more at liberty, and made them ride on each side of him. When the sultan entered his capital, the eyes of the people' who stood in crowds in the streets, were fixed only upon the two princes Bahman and Perviz; and they were anxious to know who they were, whether foreigners or natives.
All, however, agreed in wishing that the sultan had been blessed with two such handsome lovely princes, and said, 'He might have had children just their age, if he had been more fortunate.'
The first thing that the sultan did when he arrived was to show the princes over his palace. Afterwards a magnificent repast was served up, and the sultan made them sit at the same table with him, which they at first refused, but finding that it was his wish, they obeyed. The sultan was a clever and learned man; but in whatever direction he turned the conversation, they showed so much judgment and discernment, that he was struck with admiration. 'Were these my own children,' said he to himself, 'and I had improved their talents by suitable education, they could not have been better informed.' In fact, he took such pleasure in their conversation that, after having sat at table longer than usual, he went into his private room, where he talked a long time with them, a concert following, and then dancing. Seeing night drawing on apace, the two princes prostrated themselves at the sultan's feet; and having first thanked him for the favours and honours he had heaped on them, asked his leave to retire, which was granted them by the sultan, who, however, said 'Remember I brought you to the palace myself only to show you the way; you will always be welcome, and the oftener you come the greater pleasure you will do me.'
Before they went out of the sultan's presence, Prince Bahman said, 'Sir, may we presume to request that your majesty will do us and our sister the favour to pass by our house, and rest and refresh yourself, the first time you go hunting in our neighbourhood? It is not worthy of your presence; but monarchs sometimes have condescended to take shelter in a cottage.'
'Gentlemen,' replied the sultan, 'your house cannot be otherwise than beautiful, and worthy of you. I will call and see it with pleasure; you and your sister are already dear to me. I will be there early to- morrow morning, at the place where I shall never forget that I first saw you. Meet me, and you shall be my guides.'
When the Princes Bahman and Perviz went home, they gave the Princess Parizade an account of the honourable reception the sultan had given them, and told her that they had invited him to do them the honour to call at their house, and that he had appointed the next day.
'Then,' replied the princess, 'we must think at once of preparing a repast fit for his majesty; I think we should consult the speaking bird: he will tell us, perhaps, what dishes the sultan likes best.' The princes approved of her thought, and after they retired she consulted the bird alone. 'Bird,' said she, 'the sultan will do us the honour to-morrow to come and see our house, and we are to entertain him; tell us what we shall do to please him.'
' Good mistress,' replied the bird, 'you have excellent cooks, let them do the best they can; but, above all, let them prepare a dish of cucumbers stuffed with pearls, which must be set before the sultan in the first course.'
'Cucumbers with pearls!' cried Princess Parizade, in amazement. 'Surely, bird, you do not know what you say; it is an unheard-of dish. The sultan may admire it as a piece of magnificence, but he will sit down to table to eat, and not to admire pearls; besides, the pearls I am worth are not enough for such a dish.'
'Mistress,' said the bird, 'do what I say, and be not uneasy. Nothing but good will follow. As to the pearls, go early to-morrow morning to the foot of the first tree on your right in the park, and dig under it, and you will find more than you want.'
That night the princess ordered a gardener to be ready, and early the next morning took him with her to the tree the bird told her of, and bade him dig at its foot. When the gardener came to a certain depth, he found some resistance to the spade, and presently discovered a gold box about a foot square, which he showed the princess. 'This,' said she, 'is what I brought you for; take care not to hurt it with the spade.'
When the gardener took up the box, he gave it into the princess's hands, who, as it was only fastened with neat little hasps, soon opened it, and found it full of pearls of moderate size, but fit for the use that was to be made of them. Very well satisfied with having found this treasure, she shut the box again, put it under her arm, and went back to the house, while the gardener threw the earth into the hole at the foot of the tree as before.
Princes Bahman and Perviz saw the princess their sister in the garden earlier than usual, as they were dressing in their own apartments; as soon as they could get out, they went to meet her as she was coming back, with a gold box under her arm, which very much surprised them. 'Sister,' said Bahman, 'you carried nothing with you when we saw you before with the gardener, and now we see you have got a golden box; is this some treasure found by the gardener, and did he come and tell you of it? '
'No, brother,' answered the princess, ' I conducted the gardener to the place where this coffer was hid, and showed him where to dig: but you will be more amazed when you see what it holds.'
The princess opened the box, and when the princes saw that it was full of pearls, which, though small, were of great value, they asked her how she came to the knowledge of this treasure. 'Brothers,' said she, 'come with me and I will tell you.' As they returned to the house, the princess gave them an account of her consulting the bird, as they had agreed she should, and the answer he gave her; the objection she raised to preparing a dish of cucumbers stuffed with pearls, and how he had told her where to find this box. The princes and princess wondered greatly what the bird could mean by ordering them to prepare such a dish; and though they could not by any means guess at his reason, they agreed to follow his advice exactly.
As soon as the princess got into the house, she called for the head cook; and after she had given him directions about the entertainment for the sultan, she said, 'besides all this you must prepare an extraordinary dish for the sultan's own eating, which nobody else must have anything to do with besides yourself. This dish must be of cucumbers stuffed with these pearls ;' and she opened the box, and showed him the pearls.
The chief cook, who had never heard of such a dish, started back, and showed his thoughts by his looks. The princess said, 'I see you take me to be mad to order such a dish, which you never heard of, and which one may say with certainty was never made. I know this as well as you; but I am not mad, and give you these orders with the most perfect sincerity. You must go and invent and do the best you can, and bring me back what pearls are left. The cook could make no reply, but took the box and went away with it; and afterwards the princess gave directions to all the servants to have everything in order, both in the house and gardens to receive the sultan.
Then the two princes went to the place appointed; and as soon as the Sultan of Persia came, the chase began, which lasted till the heat of the sun obliged him to leave off. While Prince Bahman waited to conduct the sultan to their house, Prince Perviz rode before to show the way, and, when he came in sight of the house, spurred his horse to tell the Princess Parizade that the sultan was coming; but she had been told by some servants whom she placed to give notice, and the prince found her waiting ready to receive him.
When the sultan entered the court-yard, and alighted at the portico, the Princess Parizade came and threw herself at his feet, and the two princes informed him that she was their sister, and besought him to accept her respects.
The sultan stooped to help her up; and, after he had gazed some time on her beauty, struck with her good person, noble air, and a something indefinable, which seemed different from the country where she lived, he said, 'The brothers are worthy of the sister, and she of them; and to judge of her understanding by her looks, I am not surprised that the brothers would do nothing without their sister's consent; but,' added he, 'I hope to be better acquainted with you, madam, after I have seen the house.'
'Sir,' said the princess, 'it is only a plain country-house, fit for such people as we are, who live retired from the great world. It is not to be compared with houses in great cities, much less with the magnificent palaces of sultans.'
'I cannot perfectly agree with you in opinion,' said the sultan, very obligingly, 'for its first appearance makes me suspect you; however, I will not pass my judgment upon it till I have seen it all; therefore be pleased to conduct me through the apartments.'
The princess led the sultan through all the rooms but the hall; and, after he had considered them all very attentively, and admired their variety, 'My fair one,' said he to the Princess Parizade, 'do you call this a country-house? The finest and largest cities would soon be deserted if all country-houses were like yours. I am no longer surprised that you take so much delight in it, and despise the town. Now let me see the garden, which I doubt not is as fine as the house.'
The princess opened a door which led into the garden; and the first object which presented itself to the sultan's view was the golden fountain. Surprised at so rare a sight, he asked whence came such wonderful water, where was its source, and by what art it was made to play so high that he thought nothing in the world could compare with it? He said he would presently take a nearer view.
Then the princess led him to the spot where the harmonious tree was planted; and there the sultan heard a concert, which was different from all the concerts he had ever heard in his life; and stopping to see where the musicians were, he could discern nobody far or near; but still distinctly heard the music, which ravished his senses. 'My fair one,' said he to the Princess Parizade, 'where are the musicians? Are they underground, or invisible in the air? '
'Sir,' answered the princess, smiling, 'it is not musicians, but the tree your majesty sees before you which makes this concert; and if you will take the trouble to go a little nearer you will not doubt it, and the voices will be the more distinct.'
The sultan went nearer, and was so charmed with the sweet harmony that he would never have been tired of hearing it, but that his desire to have a nearer view of the fountain of yellow water forced him away. 'Fair one,' said he, 'tell me, I pray you, whether this wonderful tree was found in your garden by chance, or whether it was a present made to you, or did you procure it from some foreign country? It must certainly have come from a great way off; otherwise, as I am curious after natural rarities, I should have heard of it. What name do you call it?'
'Sir,' replied the princess, 'this tree has no other name than that of the singing tree, and is not a native of this country. It would take too long to tell you how it came here; its history is connected with that of the yellow water and the speaking bird, which came to me at the same time, and which your majesty may see after you have taken a nearer view of the golden water. But if it be agreeable to your majesty, after you have rested and recovered from the fatigue of hunting, I will do myself the honour of relating it to you.'
'My fair one,' replied the sultan, 'my fatigue is so well dispelled by the wonderful things you have shown me, that I do not feel it the least. I think only of the trouble I am giving you. Let us see the yellow water. I am impatient to see and admire the speaking bird.'
When the sultan came to the yellow water, his eyes were fixed so steadfastly upon the fountain that he could not take them off. At last, addressing himself to the princess, he said, 'As you tell me, fair one, that this water has no spring or communication hereabouts, I conclude that it is foreign, as well as the singing tree.'
'Sir,' replied the princess, 'it is as your majesty says; and to let you know that this water has no communication with any spring, I must tell you that the basin is one single stone, so that the water cannot come in at the sides or underneath. But what your majesty will think most wonderful is, that all this water proceeded from one flagon, which I emptied into the basin, and increased of itself to the quantity you see, and formed the fountain.'
' Well,' said the sultan' going from the fountain, 'this is enough for one time. I promise to come and visit it very often; but now let us go and see the speaking bird.'
As he went towards the hall, the sultan perceived a prodigious number of singing birds in the trees thereabouts filling the air with their songs and warblings, and asked why there were so many there, and none on the other trees in the garden? 'The reason, sir,' answered the princess, 'is, because they come from all parts round to accompany the song of the speaking bird, which your majesty may perceive in a cage in one of the windows of the hall we are going into; and if you listen you will perceive that his notes are sweeter than those of all the other birds, even the nightingale'
The sultan went into the hall; and as the bird continued singing, the princess raised her voice, and said, 'My slave, here is the sultan; pay your respects to him.'
The bird left off singing that instant, and all the other birds ceased one after another, and said, 'The sultan is welcome here; Heaven prosper him, and prolong his life!'
As the meal was served by the sofa near the window where the bird was, the sultan replied, as he was sitting down at the table, 'Bird, I thank you, and I am overjoyed to find in you the sultan and king of birds.'
As soon as the sultan saw the dish of cucumbers set before him, thinking they were stuffed in the ordinary manner, he reached out his hand and took one; but when he cut it, he was extremely surprised to find it stuffed with pearls. 'What is this?' said he; 'and why were these cucumbers stuffed with pearls, since pearls are not to be eaten?' Then he looked at the two princes and princess, to ask them the meaning of it: when the bird, interrupting him, said, 'Can your majesty be in such great astonishment at cucumbers stuffed with pearls, which you see with your own eyes, and yet could so easily believe that the sultaness your wife had a dog, a cat, and a piece of wood instead of children?'
'I believed it,' replied the sultan, 'because the two aunts assured me of it.'
'The sultaness' two sisters,' replied the bird, 'were envious of her happiness in being preferred by your majesty before them, and, to satisfy their envy and revenge, deceived your majesty so easily. If you question them, they will confess their crime. The two brothers and the sister whom you see before you are your own children whom they sent adrift, and who were taken in by the keeper of your gardens, who provided nurses for them, and looked after their education.'
This speech of the bird's illumined the sultan's understanding. 'Bird,' cried he, 'I believe the truth of what you tell me. Come then, my children, come, my daughter, let me embrace you, and give you the first marks of a father's love and tenderness.' Then he rose up, and after having embraced the two princes and the princess, and mingled his tears with theirs, he said, 'It is not enough, my children, you must embrace each other, not as the children of the keeper of my gardens, to whom I have been under great obligations for preserving your lives, but as my own children, of the royal blood of the sultans of Persia, whose glory, I am persuaded, you will maintain.'
After the two princes and princess had embraced with new satisfaction, the sultan sat down again and finished his meal in haste; and when he had done, he said, 'My children, you see in me your father: to-morrow I will bring the sultaness your mother, therefore prepare to receive her.'
Afterwards the sultan mounted his horse, and returned in all haste to his capital. The first thing he did, as soon as he alighted and entered his palace, was to command the grand vizier to try the sultaness' two sisters. They were taken from their houses separately, convicted, and condemned to be executed; which sentence was carried out within an hour.
In the mean time the sultan, followed by all the lords of his court who were then present, went to fetch the sultaness, and embracing her said, with tears in his eyes, 'I come, madam, to ask your pardon for the injustice I have done you, and to make you the reparation I ought to do; which I have begun, by punishing the persons who put the abominable cheat upon me; and I hope you will look upon it as complete, when I present to you two accomplished princes, and a charming lovely princess, our children.' All this was done and said before great crowds of people, who flocked from all parts at the first hint of what was passing, and immediately spread the news through the town.
Early the next morning the sultan and sultaness went with all their court to the house built by the keeper of the gardens, where the sultan presented the Princes Bahman and Perviz, and the Princess Parizade to the sultaness. 'These, madam,' said he, 'are the two princes your sons, and the princess your daughter; embrace them with the same tenderness that I have done, since they are worthy both of me and of you.' The tears flowed plentifully down their cheeks at these tender embraces, especially the sultaness', for the comfort and joy of having two such princes for her sons, and such a princess for her daughter, on whose account she had endured affliction so long.
The two princes and the princess had prepared a magnificent repast for the sultan and sultaness, and their court. As soon as that was over the sultan led the sultaness into the garden, and showed her the harmonious tree and the beautiful effect of the yellow fountain. As for the bird, she had seen him in his cage, and the sultan had spared nothing in his praise during the repast.
When there was nothing to detain the sultan any longer, he took horse again, and with the Princes Bahman and Perviz on his right and left hand, and the sultaness and the princess at his left, preceded and followed by all the officers of his court according to their rank, returned to his capital. Crowds of people came out to meet them, and with acclamations of joy ushered them into the city, where all eyes were fixed not only upon the sultaness, the two princes, and the princess, but also upon the bird, which the princess carried before her in his cage, singing the sweet notes which had drawn all the other birds after him, flying from tree to tree in the country and from one house-top to another in the city. The Princes Bahman and Perviz and the Princess Parizade were at length brought to the palace, and nothing was seen or heard all that night and many days after but illuminations and rejoicings both in the palace and in the utmost parts of the city.
THE STORY OF ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES.


a town in Persia, there lived two brothers, one named Cassim, the other Ali Baba. Their father left them no great property; though as he had divided it equally between them, their fortune should have been equal; but it was otherwise.
Cassim married a widow, who, soon after their marriage, became heiress to a large estate, and a good shop and warehouse full of rich merchandize; so that all at once he became one of the richest merchants, and lived at his ease.
Ali Baba, on the other hand, who married a woman as poor as himself, lived in a very mean dwelling, and had no other means of maintaining his wife and children than his daily labour in cutting wood in a forest near the town, and bringing it upon three asses to town to sell.
One day, when Ali Baba was in the forest, and had just cut wood enough to load his asses, he saw at a distance a great cloud of dust, which seemed to approach towards him: he observed it very attentively, and distinguished a large body of horse coming briskly on; and though they did not fear robbers in that country, Ali Baba began to think that they might prove such, and, without considering what might become of his asses, he resolved to save himself. He climbed up a large tree, whose branches, at a little distance from the ground, divided in a circular form so close to one another that there was but little space between them. He placed himself in the middle, from whence he could see all that passed without being seen. This tree stood at the bottom of a single rock, which was very high, and so steep and craggy that nobody could climb it.
The troop, who were all well mounted and well armed, came to the foot of this rock, and there dismounted. Ali Baba counted forty of them, and by their looks never doubted that they were thieves; nor was he mistaken; for they were a troop of banditti, who, without doing any harm in the neighbourhood, robbed at a distance, and made that place their rendezvous. Every man unbridled his horse, and tied him to a shrub, and hung about his neck a bag of corn. Then each of them took his saddle-bags, which seemed to Ali Baba to be full of gold and silver by the weight. One, whom he took to be their captain, came with his saddle-bags on his back under the tree in which Ali Baba was hidden, and, making his way through some shrubs, pronounced these words, 'Open, Sesame,' so distinctly, that Ali Baba heard him. As soon as the captain of the robbers had uttered these words, a door opened; and after he had made all his troop go in before him, he followed them, and the door shut again of itself.
The robbers stayed some time within the rock, and Ali Baba, who feared that some or all of them together might come out and catch him if he endeavoured to make his escape, was obliged to sit patiently in the tree. He was nevertheless tempted once or twice to get down and mount one of their horses, and, leading another, to drive his asses before him to the town with all the haste he could; but uncertainty made him choose the safest way.
At last the door opened again, and the forty robbers came out. As the captain went in last, so he came out first, and stood to see them all pass by; and then Ali Baba heard him make the door fast by pronouncing the words, ' hut, Sesame.' Every man went and bridled his horse, fastened his saddle-bags, and mounted again; and when the captain saw them all ready, he put himself at their head, and they returned the way they came.
Ali Baba did not immediately quit his tree; 'for,' said he to himself, 'they may have forgotten something and come back again, and then I shall be caught.' He followed them with his eyes as far as he could see them; and after that waited some time before he came down. Remembering the words the captain of the robbers had made use of to cause the door to open and shut, he had the curiosity to try whether his pronouncing them would have the same effect. Accordingly, he went among the shrubs, and perceiving the door concealed behind them, he stood before it, and said, 'Open, Sesame.' The door instantly flew wide open.
Ali Baba, who expected a dark dismal place, was very much surprised to see it well lighted and spacious, cut out by men's hands in the form of a vault, which received the light from an opening at the top of the rock. He saw all sorts of provisions, and rich bales of merchandise, of silk, stuff, brocade, and valuable carpeting, piled one upon another; and, above all, gold and silver in great heaps, and money in great leather purses. The sight of all these riches made him believe that the cave had been occupied for ages by robbers, who succeeded one another.
Ali Baba did not stand long to consider what to do, but went immediately into the cave, and as soon as he was in, the door shut. But this did not disturb him, because he knew the secret of opening it again. He disregarded the silver, but made the best use of his time in carrying out as much of the gold coin, which was in bags, as he thought his three asses could carry. When he had done, he fetched his asses, which had strayed, and, when he had loaded them with the bags, laid the wood on them in such a manner that the bags could not be seen. When he had done, he stood before the door, and pronouncing the words, 'Shut, Sesame,' the door closed after him; for it had shut of itself while he was within, and remained open while he was out. He then made the best of his way to the town.
When Ali Baba got home, he drove his asses into a little yard, and shut the gates very carefully, threw off the wood that covered the bags, carried them into his house, and ranged them in order before his wife, who sat on a sofa.
His wife handled the bags, and finding them full of money, suspected that her husband had been stealing, insomuch that when he had brought them all in, she could not help saying, 'Ali Baba, have you been so unhappy as to----'
'Be quiet, wife,' interrupted Ali Baba; 'do not frighten yourself: I am no robber, unless he can be one who steals from robbers. You will no longer have a bad opinion of me, when I tell you my good fortune.' Then he emptied the bags, which raised such a great heap of gold as dazzled his wife's eyes; and when he had done, he told her the whole adventure from beginning to end; and, above all, recommended her to keep it secret.
The wife recovered, and, cured of her fears, rejoiced with her husband at their good luck, and wanted to count all the gold, piece by piece. 'Wife,' replied Ali Baba, 'you do not know what you are undertaking when you try to count the money; you will never have done. I will go and dig a hole, and bury it; there is no time to be lost.'
'You are in the right, husband,' replied the wife; 'but let us know, as nearly as possible, how much we have. I will go and borrow a small measure in the neighbourhood, and measure it, while you dig the hole.'
'What you are going to do is to no purpose, wife,' said Ali Baba; 'if you take my advice, you had better let it alone; but be sure to keep the secret, and do what you please.'
Away the wife ran to her brother-in-law Cassim, who lived close by, but was not then at home; and addressing herself to his wife, asked her to lend her a measure for a little while. Her sister-in-law asked her whether she would have a large or a small one. 'A small one,' said she. Cassim's wife bade her wait a little, and she would readily fetch one.
The sister-in-law did so, but as she knew very well Ali Baba's poverty, she was curious to know what sort of grain his wife wanted to measure, and bethought herself of artfully putting some suet at the bottom of the measure; then she brought it to her with the excuse that she was sorry that she had made her wait so long, but that she could not find it sooner.
Ali Baba's wife went home, set the measure upon the heap of gold, and filled it and emptied it, at a small distance upon the sofa, till she had done: and she was very well satisfied to find that the number of measures amounted to so many as they did, and went to tell her husband, who had almost finished digging the hole. While Ali Baba was burying the gold, his wife, to show her punctuality to her sister-in-law, carried the measure back again, but without noticing that a piece of gold stuck at the bottom. 'Sister,' said she, giving it back to her again, 'you see that I have not kept your measure long: I am much obliged to you, and return it with thanks.'
As soon as Ali Baba's wife's back was turned, Cassim's wife looked at the bottom of the measure, and was inexpressibly surprised to find a piece of gold sticking to it. Envy immediately possessed her heart. 'What!' said she, 'has Ali Baba gold so plentifully as to measure it? Where has that poor wretch got all this gold?' Cassim, her husband, was at his shop, which he left always in the evening. His wife waited for him, and thought the time an age; so great was her impatience to tell him the news, at which he would be so much surprised.
When Cassim came home, his wife said to him, 'Cassim, you think yourself rich, but you are much mistaken; Ali Baba is infinitely richer than you; he does not count his money, but measures it.' Cassim desired her to explain the riddle, which she did, telling him the stratagem by which she had made the discovery, and showing him the piece of money, which was so old a coin that they could not tell in what prince's reign it was coined.
Cassim, instead of being pleased at his brother's prosperity, could not sleep all that night for jealousy, but went to him in the morning before sunrise. Now Cassim, after he had married the rich widow, never treated Ali Baba as a brother, but forgot him. 'Ali Baba,' said he, 'you are very reserved in your affairs; you pretend to be miserably poor, and yet you measure gold!'
'What, brother?' replied Ali Baba; 'I do not know what you mean: explain yourself.'
'Do not pretend ignorance,' replied Cassim, showing him the piece of gold his wife had given him. 'How many of these pieces have you? My wife found this at the bottom of the measure you borrowed yesterday.'
By this Ali Baba perceived that Cassim and his wife, through his own wife's folly, knew what they had such good reason to keep secret; but what was done could not be recalled; therefore without showing the least surprise or vexation, he confessed all, and told his brother by what chance he had discovered this retreat of the thieves, and where it was; and offered him part of his treasure to keep the secret. 'I expected as much,' replied Cassim haughtily; 'but I will know exactly where this treasure is, and the signs and tokens by which I may go to it myself when I have a mind; otherwise I will go and inform against you, and then you will not only get no more, but will lose all you have got, and I shall have my share for my information.'
Ali Baba, more out of his natural good temper than frightened by the insulting threats of a barbarous brother, told him all he desired, and even the very words he was to make use of to go into the cave and to come out again.
Cassim, who wanted no more of Ali Baba, left him, resolving to be beforehand with him, and hoping to get all the treasure to himself. He rose early the next morning, a long time before sunrise, and set out with ten mules laden with great chests, which he designed to fill: intending to carry many more the next time, according to the riches he found; and followed the road which Ali Baba had told him. It was not long before he came to the rock, and found out the place by the tree. When he came to the door, he pronounced the words, 'Open, Sesame,' and it opened; and when he was in, shut again. In examining the cave, he was astonished to find much more riches than he had supposed from Ali Baba's story. He was so covetous and fond of riches that he could have spent the whole day in feasting his eyes with so much treasure, if the thought that he came to carry some away with him had not hindered him. He laid as many bags of gold as he could carry away by the entrance, and, coming at last to open the door, his thoughts were so full of the great riches he should possess that he could not think of the necessary word; but instead of 'Open, Sesame,' said, 'Open, Barley,' and was very much amazed to find that the door did not open, but remained fast shut. He named several sorts of grain,--all but the right one,--and the door would not open.
Cassim had never expected such an accident, and was so frightened at the danger he was in that the more he endeavoured to remember the word 'Sesame,' the more his memory failed, and he had as much forgotten it as if he had never heard it in his life. He threw down the bags with which he had laden himself, and walked hastily up and down the cave, without the least attention to all the riches that were around him. In this miserable condition we will leave him, bewailing his fate, and undeserving of pity.
About noon the robbers returned to their cave, and from some distance saw Cassim's mules straggling about the rock with great chests on their backs. Alarmed at this unexpected sight, they galloped full speed to the cave. They drove away the mules, which Cassim had neglected to fasten, and which strayed away through the forest so far that they were soon out of sight. The robbers never gave themselves the trouble of pursuing the mules: they were more concerned to know to whom they belonged. And while some of them searched about the rock, the captain and the rest went straight to the door, with naked sabres in their hands, and on their pronouncing the words, it opened.
Cassim, who heard the noise of the horses' feet from the middle of the cave, never doubted the coming of the robbers, and his approaching death; but he was resolved to make one effort to escape. To this end he stood ready at the door, and no sooner heard the word 'Sesame,' which he had forgotten, and saw the door open, than he jumped briskly out, and threw the captain down but could not escape the other robbers, who with their sabres soon deprived him of life.
The first care of the robbers after this was to go into the cave. They found all the bags which Cassim had brought to the door, and carried them all back again to their places, without perceiving what Ali Baba had taken away before. Then holding a council, and deliberating upon the matter, they guessed that Cassim, when he was in, could not get out again; but they could not imagine how he had got in. It came into their heads that he might have got down by the top of the cave; but the opening by which it received light was so high, and the top of the rock so inaccessible without--besides that, nothing showed that he had done so--that they believed it hopeless for them to find out. That he came in at the door they could not feel sure, unless he had the secret of making it open. In short, none of them could imagine which way he entered; for they were all persuaded that nobody knew their secret, little imagining that Ali Baba had watched them. But, however it had happened, it was a matter of the greatest importance to them to secure their riches. They agreed, therefore, to cut Cassim's body into four quarters, and to hang two on one side, and two on the other, inside the door of the cave, to terrify any person who might attempt the same thing. They had no sooner taken this resolution than they executed it; and when they had nothing more to detain them, they left the place of their retreat well closed. They mounted their horses, and went to range the roads again, and to attack the caravans they might meet.
In the meantime Cassim's wife was very uneasy when night came, and her husband had not returned. She ran to Ali Baba in a terrible fright, and said, 'I believe, brother-in-law, you know that Cassim, your brother, is gone to the forest, and why; it is now night, and he has not returned; I am afraid some misfortune has befallen him.' Ali Baba, who never doubted that his brother, after what he had said, would go to the forest, told her, without any reflection upon her husband's unhandsome behaviour, that she need not alarm herself, for that certainly Cassim would not think it proper to come into the town till the night was pretty far advanced.
Cassim's wife, considering how much it behoved her husband to keep this thing secret, was the more easily persuaded to believe him. She went home again, and waited patiently till midnight. Then her fear redoubled, and she repented of her foolish curiosity, and cursed her desire to penetrate into the affairs of her brother and sister-in-law. She spent all that night in weeping; and as soon as it was light, went to them, showing by her tears the reason of her coming.
Ali Baba did not wait for his sister-in-law to ask him to go and see what had become of Cassim, but went immediately with his three asses, begging her first to moderate her grief. He went to the forest, and when he came near the rock, having seen neither his brother nor his mules on the way, he was very much surprised to see some blood spilt by the door. This he took for an ill omen, but when he had pronounced the words, and the door opened, he was much more startled at the dismal sight of his brother in quarters. He was not long in determining how he should pay the last dues to his brother, and without remembering how little brotherly friendship he had shown to him, went into the cave to find something to wrap the remains in, put them on one of his asses and covered them over with wood. The other two asses he loaded with bags of gold, covering them with wood also as before. Then bidding the door shut, he came away; but was cautious enough to stop some time at the end of the forest, that he might not go into the town before nightfall. When he came home, he drove the two asses laden with gold into his little yard, and left the care of unloading them to his wife, while he led the other to his sister-in-law's.
Ali Baba knocked at the door, which was opened by Morgiana, an intelligent slave, clever in inventing plans for the most difficult undertakings: and Ali Baba knew she was. When he came into the court, he unloaded the ass, and taking Morgiana aside, said to her, 'The first thing I ask of you is inviolable secrecy, which you will find is necessary both for your mistress' sake and mine. Your master's body is contained in these two bundles, and our business is to bury him as if he had died a natural death. Go and tell your mistress I want to speak to her, and mind what I say.'
Morgiana went to her mistress, and Ali Baba followed. 'Well, brother,' said she, with great impatience, 'what news do you bring me of my husband ? I perceive no comfort in your face.'
'Sister,' answered Ali Baba, 'I cannot tell you anything before you hear my story from the beginning to the end, without speaking a word; for it is of as great importance to you as to me to keep what has happened secret.'
'Alas!' said she, 'this tells me that my husband is dead; but as I know the necessity of the secrecy you require of me, I must constrain myself: say on, I will hear you.'
Then Ali Baba told his sister all about his journey, till he came to the finding of Cassim's body. 'Now,' said he, 'sister, I have something to tell you which will distress you much more, because it is what you so little expect; but it cannot now be remedied. We must now think of acting so that my brother may appear to have died a natural death. I think you may leave the management of it to Morgiana, and I will contribute all that lies in my power.'
What could Cassim's widow do better than accept this proposal? Ali Baba left the widow, and, recommending Morgiana to act her part well, then returned home with his ass.
Morgiana went out to an apothecary, and asked him for some lozenges which he prepared, and which were very efficacious in the most dangerous illnesses. The apothecary asked her who was ill at her master's. She replied, with a sigh, her good master Cassim himself: they knew not what his illness was, but he could neither eat nor speak. After these words, Morgiana carried the lozenges home with her, and the next morning went to the same apothecary's again, and, with tears in her eyes, asked for an essence which they used to give to sick people only when at the last extremity. 'Alas!' said she, taking it from the apothecary, 'I am afraid that this remedy will have no better effect than the lozenges, and that I shall lose my good master.'
On the other hand, as Ali Baba and his wife were often seen to go between Cassim's and their own house all that day, and to seem melancholy, nobody was surprised in the evening to hear the lamentable shrieks and cries of Cassim's wife and Morgiana, who told everyone that her master was dead.
Next morning, soon after daylight appeared, Morgiana, who knew a certain old cobbler who opened his stall early, before other people, went to him, and bidding him good-morning, put a piece of gold into his hand. 'Well,' said Baba Mustapha, which was his name, and who was a merry old fellow, looking at the gold, though it was hardly daylight, and seeing what it was, 'this is good handling; what must I do for it? I am ready.'
'Babe Mustapha,' said Morgiana, ' you must take with you your sewing tackle, and go with me; but I shall blindfold you when you come to a certain place.'
Baba Mustapha seemed to hesitate a little at these words. 'Oh, ho!' replied he, 'you would have me do something against my conscience, or against my honour.'
'Nay,' said Morgiana, putting another piece of gold into his hand, 'only come along with me, and fear nothing.'
Baba Mustapha went with Morgiana, who, after she had bound his eyes with a handkerchief, at the place she told him of, took him to her deceased master's house, and never unbandaged his eyes till he came in. 'Babe Mustapha,' said she, 'you must make haste and sew these pieces of my master together; and when you have done, I will give you another piece of gold.'
After Baba Mustapha had done, she blindfolded him again, gave him the third piece of gold as she had promised, imposed secrecy on him, and led him back to the place where she first bound his eyes. Then she pulled off the bandage, and let him go home, but watched till he was quite out of sight, for fear he should have the curiosity to return and dodge her; and then went home.
Morgiana had scarcely got home before the iman and the other ministers of the mosque came. Four neighbours carried the coffin on their shoulders to the burying-ground, following the iman, who recited some prayers. Morgiana, as a slave of the deceased, followed, weeping, beating her breast, and tearing her hair; and Ali Baba came after with some neighbours.
Cassim's wife stayed at home mourning, uttering lamentable cries with the women of the neighbourhood, who came according to custom during the funeral, and, joining their lamentations with hers, filled the quarter far and near with sorrow.
In this manner Cassim's melancholy death was concealed and hushed up between Ali Baba, his wife, Cassim's widow, and Morgiana, so that nobody in the city had the least knowledge or suspicion of the reason of it.
Three or four days after the funeral, Ali Baba removed his few goods to his brother's widow's house; the money he had taken from the robbers he conveyed thither by night; and soon afterwards the marriage with his sister-in-law was published, and as these marriages are common in the Mussulman religion, nobody was surprised.
As for Cassim's shop, Ali Baba gave it to his own eldest son, who had been some time out of his apprenticeship to a great merchant, promising him withal that, if he managed well, he would soon give him a fortune to marry upon.
Let us now return to the forty robbers.
They came again at the appointed time to visit their retreat in the forest; but how great was their surprise to find Cassim's body taken away, and some of their bags of gold! 'We are certainly discovered,' said the captain, 'and shall be undone, if we do not take care; otherwise we shall gradually lose all the riches which our ancestors have been so many years amassing together with so much pains and danger. All that we can think of is that the thief whom we surprised had the secret of opening the door, and we came luckily as he was coming out; but his body being removed, and with it some of our money, plainly shows that he had an accomplice. As it is likely that there were but two who had got the secret, and one has been caught, we must look narrowly after the other. What say you to it, my lads?'
All the robbers thought the captain's proposal so reasonable that they unanimously approved of it, and agreed that they must lay all other enterprises aside, to follow this closely, and not give it up till they had succeeded.
'I expected no less,' said the captain, ' from your courage and bravery: but, first of all, one of you who is bold, artful, and enterprising, must go into the town dressed like a traveller and stranger, and do all he can to see if he can hear any talk of the strange death of the man whom we killed, as he deserved, and to find out who he was, and where he lived. This is a matter of the first importance for us to know, that we may do nothing which we may have reason to repent of, by revealing ourselves in a country where we have lived so long unknown, and where we have so much reason to remain: but to warn the man who shall take upon himself this commission, and to prevent our being deceived by his giving us a false report, which might be the cause of our ruin, I ask you all, whether you do not think it fit that if he does he shall suffer death?'
Without waiting for his companions, one of the robbers started up and said, 'I submit to this law, and think it an honour to expose my life by taking such a commission upon me; but remember, at least, if I do not succeed, that I wanted neither courage nor good-will to serve the troop.'
After this robber had received great commendation from the captain and his comrades, he disguised himself so that nobody would take him for what he was; and taking leave of the troop that night, went into the town just at daybreak; and walked up and down till he came to Baba Mustapha's stall, which was always open before any of the shops of the town.
Baba Mustapha was sitting on his seat with an awl in his hand, just going to work. The robber saluted him, and perceiving that he was very old, he said, 'Honest man, you begin to work very early: is it possible that any one of your age can see so well? I question whether you can see to stitch.'
'Certainly,' replied Baba Mustapha, 'you must be a stranger, and not know me; for, old as I am, I have extraordinarily good eyes; and you will not doubt it when I tell you that I sewed the pieces of a dead man together in a place where I had not so much light as I have now.'
The robber was overjoyed to think that he had addressed himself, at his first coming into the town, to a man who gave him the information he wanted, without being asked. 'A dead man!' replied he with amazement. 'What could you sew up a dead man for? You mean you sewed up his winding sheet.'
'No, no,' answered Baba Mustapha, 'I know what I say; you want to have me speak out, but you shall know no more.'
The robber needed no great insight to be persuaded that he had discovered what he came about. He pulled out a piece of gold, and putting it into Baba Mustapha's hand, said, 'I do not want to know your secret, though I can assure you I would not divulge it, if you trusted me. The only thing which I request of you is to do me the favour to point out the house where you stitched up the dead man.'
'If I wanted to do you that favour,' replied Baba Mustapha holding the money in his hand, ready to return it, 'I assure you I cannot; on my word, I was taken to a certain place, where they first blindfolded me, and then led me to the house, and brought me back again after the same manner; therefore you see the impossibility of doing what you desire.'
'Well,' replied the robber, 'you may remember a little of the way that you were led blindfold. Come, let me bind your eyes at the same place. We will walk together by the same way and turnings; perhaps you may remember some part; and as everybody ought to be paid for their trouble, there is another piece of gold for you: gratify me in what I ask you.' So saying, he put another piece of gold into his hand.
The two pieces of gold were a great temptation to Baba Mustapha. He looked at them a long time in his hand, without saying a word, thinking what he should do; but at last he pulled out his purse, and put them in. 'I cannot assure you,' said he to the robber, 'that I remember the way exactly; but, since you desire it, I will try what I can do.' At these words Baba Mustapha rose up, to the great satisfaction of the robber, and without shutting up his shop, where he had nothing valuable to lose, he led the robber to the place where Morgiana had bound his eyes. 'It was here,' said Baba Mustapha, 'that I was blindfolded; and I turned as you see me.' The robber, who had his handkerchief ready, tied it over his eyes, and walked by him till he stopped, partly leading him, and partly guided by him. 'I think,' said Baba Mustapha, 'I went no farther,' and he had now stopped directly opposite Cassim's house, where Ali Baba lived then; upon which the thief, before he pulled off the handkerchief, marked the door with a piece of chalk, which he had ready in his hand; and when he had pulled it off, he asked him if he knew whose house that was: to which Baba Mustapha replied, that as he did not live in the neighbourhood, he could not tell.
The robber, finding he could discover no more from Baba Mustapha, thanked him for the trouble he had taken, and left him to go back to his stall, while he returned to the forest, persuaded that he would be very well received.
A little while after the robber and Baba Mustapha parted, Morgiana went out of Ali Baba's house for something, and coming home again, she saw the mark the robber had made, and stopped to observe it. 'What is the meaning of this?' said she to herself: 'either somebody intends my master no good, or else some boy has been playing the rogue: with whatever intention it was done, it is good to guard against the worst.' Accordingly she went and fetched a piece of chalk, and marked two or three doors on each side in the same manner, without saying a word to her master or mistress.
In the meantime the thief rejoined his troop again in the forest, and told them the success he had had, dwelling upon his good fortune in meeting so soon with the only person who could tell him what he wanted to know. All the robbers listened to him with the utmost satisfaction. Then the captain, after commending his diligence, addressed himself to them all and said, 'Comrades, we have no time to lose: let us all set off well armed, without its appearing who we are; and that we may not give any suspicion, let one or two go privately into the town together, and appoint the rendezvous in the great square; and in the meantime our comrade, who brought us the good news, and myself will go and find out the house.'
This speech and plan was approved by all, and they were soon ready. They filed off in small groups of two or three, at the proper distance from each other; and all got into the town without being in the least suspected. The captain and he that came in the morning as spy came in last of all. He led the captain into the street where he had marked Ali Baba's house, and when they came to one of the houses which Morgiana had marked, he pointed it out. But going a little further, to avoid being noticed, the captain observed that the next door was chalked after the same manner, and in the same place; and showing it to his guide, asked him which house it was, that, or the first. The guide was so bewildered, that he knew not what answer to make; much less, when he and the captain saw five or six houses marked in the same manner. He assured the captain that he had marked but one, and could not tell who had chalked the rest; and owned, in his confusion, that he could not distinguish it.
The captain, finding that their design proved abortive, went at once to the place of rendezvous, and told the first of his troop that he met that they had lost their labour, and must return to their cave. He himself set them the example, and they all returned as they came.
When the troop was all together, the captain told them the reason of their returning; and presently the conductor was declared by all to be worthy of death. He condemned himself, acknowledging that he ought to have taken better precautions, and knelt down to receive the stroke from him that was appointed to cut off his head.
But as it was for the safety of the troop that an injury should not go unpunished, another of the gang, who promised that he would succeed better, presented himself; and his offer being accepted, he went and corrupted Baba Mustapha, as the other had done, and being shown the house, marked it, in a place more remote from sight, with red chalk.
Not long after, Morgiana, whose eyes nothing could escape, went out. She saw the red chalk, and, arguing after the same manner with herself, marked the neighbours' houses in the same place and manner.
The robber, on his return to his company, prided himself very much upon the precaution he had taken, which he looked upon as an infallible way of distinguishing Ali Baba's house from those of his neighbours, and the captain and all of them thought it must succeed. They conveyed themselves into the town in the same manner as before, and when the robber and his captain came to the street, they found the same difficulty, at which the captain was enraged, and the robber in as great confusion as his predecessor.
Thus the captain and his troop were forced to retire a second time, still more dissatisfied; and the robber, as the author of the mistake, underwent the same punishment, to which he willingly submitted.
The captain, having lost two brave fellows of his troop, was afraid of diminishing it too much by pursuing this plan to get information about Ali Baba's house. He found, by their example, that their heads were not so good as their hands on such occasions, and therefore resolved to take upon himself this important commission.
Accordingly, he went and addressed himself to Baba Mustapha who did him the same service as he had done to the former men. He did not amuse himself with setting any particular mark on the house, but examined and observed it so carefully, by passing and re-passing, that it was impossible for him to mistake it.
The captain, very well satisfied with his journey, and informed of what he wanted to know, returned to the forest; and when he came into the cave, where the troops awaited him, he said: 'Now, comrades, nothing can prevent our full revenge. I am certain of the house, and on my way hither I have thought how to act, and if any one knows a better plan, let him communicate it.' Then he ordered them to go into the towns and villages round about, and buy nineteen mules, and thirty-eight large leather jars, one full, and the others all empty.
In two or three days' time the robbers purchased the mules and jars, and as the mouths of the jars were rather two narrow for his purpose, the captain caused them to be widened; and after having put one of his men into each, with the weapons which he thought suitable, and leaving open the seam which had been undone so as to leave them room to breathe, he rubbed the jars on the outside with oil from the full vessel.
Things being thus prepared, when the nineteen mules were loaded with thirty-seven robbers in jars and the jar of oil, the captain, as their driver, set out with them, and reached the town by the dusk of the evening, as he intended. He led them through the streets till he came to Ali Baba's, at whose door he had intended to knock. Ali Baba was sitting there, after supper, to take a little fresh air. The robber captain stopped his mules, and said, 'I have brought some oil here a great way to sell at to-morrow's market, and it is now so late that I do not know where to lodge. If I should not be troublesome to you, do me the favour to let me pass the night here, and I shall be very much obliged to you.'
Though Ali Baba had seen the captain of the robbers in the forest, and had heard him speak, it was impossible for him to know him in the disguise of an oil-merchant. He told him he would be welcome, and immediately opened his gates for the mules to go into the yard. At the same time he called to a slave, and ordered him, when the mules were unloaded, not only to put them into the stable, but to give them corn and hay, and then went to Morgiana, to bid her get a good hot supper for his guest, and make him a good bed.
To make his guest as welcome as possible, when he saw the captain had unloaded his mules, that they were put into the stables as he had ordered, and that he was looking for a place to pass the night out of doors, he brought him into the hall, telling him he could not suffer him to remain in the court. The captain excused himself, on presence of not being troublesome, but really to have room to execute his design; and it was not until after the most pressing importunity that he yielded. Ali Baba, not content with showing hospitality to the man who had a design on his life, continued talking with him till supper was ended, and repeated his offer of service.
The captain rose up at the same time, and went with him to the door, and, while Ali Baba went into the kitchen to speak to Morgiana, he went into the yard, under presence of looking at his mules. Ali Baba, after charging Morgiana afresh to take great care of his guest, said to her, 'To-morrow morning I intend to go to the baths before dawn. Take care that my bathing linen is ready, and give it to Abdalla,' (which was the slave's name), 'and make me some good broth by the time I come back.' After this he went to bed.
In the meantime, the captain of the robbers went from the stable to give his people orders what to do, and beginning at the first jar, and so on to the last, said to each man, 'As soon as I throw some stones out of my window, do not fail to cut open the jar with the knife you have about you, pointed and sharpened for the purpose, and come out, and I will be with you at once.' After this he returned into the kitchen, and Morgiana, taking a light, conducted him to his chamber, where, after she had asked him if he wanted anything, she left him; and he, to avoid any suspicion, put the light out soon after, and laid himself down in his clothes, that he might be the more ready to get up again.
Morgiana, remembering Ali Baba's orders, got his bathing linen ready, and ordered Abdalla, who was not then gone to bed, to set on the pot for the broth; but while she scummed the pot the lamp went out, and there was no more oil in the house, nor any candles. What to do she did not know, for the broth must be made.
Abdalla, seeing her very uneasy, said, 'Do not fret and tease yourself, but go into the yard and take some oil out of one of the jars.'
Morgiana thanked Abdalla for his advice, and he went to bed, when she took the oil-pot and went into the yard, and as she came near the first jar, the robber within said softly, ' Is it time?'
Though the robber spoke low, Morgiana was struck with the voice, the more because the captain, when he unloaded the mules, opened this and all the other jars, to give air to his men, who were cramped and ill at ease.
Any other slave but Morgiana, surprised to find a man in a jar, instead of the oil she wanted, would have made such a noise as to have given an alarm, which would have been attended with evil consequences; whereas Morgiana, apprehending immediately the importance of keeping the secret, and the danger Ali Baba, his family, and she herself were in, and the necessity of taking quiet action at once, collected herself without showing the least alarm, and answered, 'Not yet, but presently.' She went in this manner to all the jars, giving the same answer, till she came to the jar of oil.
By this means Morgiana found out that her master, Ali Baba, who thought that he had entertained an oil-merchant, had admitted thirty-eight robbers into his house, with this pretended merchant as their captain. She made what haste she could to fill her oil-pot, and returned into her kitchen ; where as soon as she had lighted the lamp, she took a great kettle, and went again to the oil jar, filled the kettle, and set it on a great wood fire to boil. As soon as it boiled, she went and poured enough into every jar to stifle and destroy the robber within.
When this action, worthy of the courage of Morgiana, was executed without any noise, as she had intended, she returned to the kitchen with the empty kettle, and shut the door; and having put out the great fire she had made to boil the oil, and leaving just enough to make the broth, put out also the lamp, and remained silent; resolving not to go to bed till she had observed what was to follow through a window of the kitchen, which opened into the yard, so far as the darkness of the night permitted.
She had not waited a quarter of an hour before the captain of the robbers got up, and opened the window; and finding no light, and hearing no noise, or any one stirring in the house, he gave the signal by throwing little stones, several of which hit the jars, as he doubted not by the sound they made. Then he listened, and not hearing or perceiving any thing whereby he could judge that his companions stirred, he began to grow very uneasy, and threw stones again a second and third time, and could not comprehend the reason why none of them answered his signal. Much alarmed, he went softly down into the yard, and going to the first jar, asked the robber, whom he thought alive, if he was asleep. Then he smelt the hot boiled oil, which sent forth a steam out of the jar, and knew thereby that his plot to murder Ali Baba and plunder his house was discovered. Examining all the jars one after another, he found that all his gang were dead; and by the oil he missed out of the last jar, he guessed at the means and manner of their death. Enraged to despair at having failed in his design, he forced the lock of a door that led from the yard to the garden, and, climbing over the walls of several gardens, at last made his escape.
When Morgiana heard no noise, and found, after waiting some time, that the captain did not return, she guessed that he chose to make his escape by the garden rather than by the street-door, which was double-locked. Satisfied and pleased to have succeeded so well, and to have saved the house, she went to bed and fell asleep.
Ali Baba rose before dawn, and, followed by his slave, went to the baths, entirely ignorant of the amazing event that had happened at home: for Morgiana did not think it right to wake him before for fear of losing her opportunity; and afterwards she thought it needless to disturb him.
When he returned from the baths, and the sun had risen, he was very much surprised to see the oil-jars, and that the merchant had not gone with the mules. He asked Morgiana, who opened the door, and had let all things stand as they were, that he might see them, the reason of it. 'My good master,' answered she, 'you will be better informed of what you wish to know, when you have seen what I have to show you, if you will take the trouble to follow me.'
As soon as Morgiana had shut the door, Ali Baba followed her; and when she brought him into the yard, she bade him look into the first jar, and see if there was any oil. Ali Baba did so, and seeing a man, started back frightened, and cried out. 'Do not be afraid,' said Morgiana; ' the man you see there can do neither you nor anybody else any harm. He is dead.'
'Ah, Morgiana!' said Ali Baba, 'what is this you show me? Explain the meaning.'
'I will,' replied Morgiana; 'do not excite the curiosity of your neighbours; for it is of great importance to keep this affair secret. Look in all the other jars.'
Ali Baba examined all the other jars, one after another; and when he came to that which had the oil in it, he found it much sunk, and stood for some time motionless, sometimes looking at the jars, and sometimes at Morgiana, without saying a word, so great was his surprise. At last, when he had recovered himself, he said, 'And what has become of the merchant?'
'Merchant!' answered she: 'he is as much one as I am. I will tell you who he is, and what has become of him; but you had better hear the story in your own room; for it is time for your health that you had your broth after your bathing.'
While Ali Baba went to his room, Morgiana went into the kitchen to fetch the broth, and carry it to him; but before he would drink it, he first bade her satisfy his curiosity, and tell him the whole story, and she obeyed him.
'This,' said Morgiana, when she had finished, 'is the account you asked for; and I am convinced it is the sequel of an observation which I had made two or three days before, but did not think it necessary to acquaint you with; for when I came in one morning, early, I found our street-door marked with white chalk, and the next morning with red; and both times, without knowing what was the meaning of those chalks, I marked two or three neighbours' doors on each side in the same manner. If you reflect on this, and on what has since happened, you will find it to be a plot of the robbers of the forest, of whose gang there are two missing, and now they are reduced to three. All this shows that they had sworn your destruction, and it is right that you should stand upon your guard, while there is one of them alive: for my part, I shall not neglect anything necessary to your preservation, as I am in duty bound.'
When Morgiana left off speaking, Ali Baba was so impressed with a sense of the great service she had done him, that he said to her, 'I will not die without rewarding you as you deserve. I owe my life to you, and I give you your liberty from this moment, till I can complete your recompense as I intend. I am persuaded, with you, that the forty robbers have laid all manner of snares for me. All that we have to do is to bury the bodies of these pests of mankind immediately, and with all the secrecy imaginable, that nobody may suspect what is become of them. But that Abdalla and I will undertake.'
Ali Baba's garden was very long, and shaded at the further end by a great number of large trees. Under these trees he and the slave went and dug a trench, long and wide enough to hold all the robbers, and as the earth was light, they were not long doing it. Afterwards they lifted the robbers out of the jars, took away their weapons, carried them to the end of the garden, laid them in the trench, and levelled the ground again. When this was done, Ali Baba hid the jars and weapons; and as for the mules, as he had no occasion for them, he sent them at different times to be sold in the market by his slave.
While Ali Baba took these measures to prevent the public from knowing how he came by his riches in so short a time, the captain of the forty robbers returned to the forest, in the most inconceivable mortification. He entered the cave, not having been able, all the way from the town, to come to any resolution as to what to do to Ali Baba.
The loneliness of the dark place seemed frightful to him. 'Where are you, my brave lads ?' cried he, 'old companions of my watchings, inroads, and labour! What can I do without you? Did I collect you to lose you by so base a fate, one so unworthy of your courage? Had you died with your sabres in your hands, like brave men, my regret had been less! When shall I get such a gallant troop again? And if I could, can I undertake it without exposing so much gold and treasure to him who has already enriched himself out of it? I cannot, I ought not to think of it, before I have taken away his life. I will undertake that myself which I could not accomplish with powerful assistance; and when I have taken care to secure this treasure from being pillaged, I will provide for it new masters and successors after me, who shall preserve and augment it to all posterity.' This resolution being taken, he became easy in his mind, and, full of hope, he slept all that night very quietly.
When he woke early the next morning as he had proposed he dressed himself in accordance with the project he had in his head, went down to the town, and took a lodging in a khan. And as he expected that what had happened at Ali Baba's might make a great noise in the town, he asked his host, casually, what news there was in the city. Upon which the innkeeper told him a great many things which did not concern him in the least. He judged by this that the reason why Ali Baba kept the affair so secret was lest people should find out where the treasure lay, and the means of getting at it. And this urged him the more to neglect nothing which might rid himself of so dangerous a person.
The next thing that the captain had to do was to provide himself with a horse, and to convey a great many sorts of rich stuffs and fine linen to his lodging, which he did by a great many journeys to the forest, with all the precautions imaginable to conceal the place whence he brought them. In order to dispose of the merchandise when he had amassed it together, he took a furnished shop, which happened to be opposite to Cassim's, which Ali Baba's son had not long occupied.
He took upon him the name of Cogia Houssain, and, as a new comer, was, according to custom, extremely civil and complaisant to all the merchants his neighbours. And as Ali Baba's son was young and handsome, and a man of good sense, and was often obliged to converse with Cogia Houssain, he soon introduced them to him. He strove to cultivate his friendship, more particularly when, two or three days after he was settled, he recognised Ali Baba, who came to see his son, and stopped to talk with him as he was accustomed to do; and when he was gone the robber captain learnt from his son who he was. He increased his attentions, made him some small presents, often asked him to dine and sup with him, and treated him very handsomely.
Ali Baba's son did not care to lie under such obligations to Cogia Houssain without making a like return; but he was so much straitened for want of room in his house that he could not entertain him so well as he wished. He therefore told his father Ali Baba that it did not look well for him to receive such favours from Cogia Houssain without inviting him again.
Ali Baba, with great pleasure, took the matter upon himself. 'Son,' said he, 'to-morrow (Friday), which is a day that the shops of such great merchants as Cogia Houssain and yourself are shut, get him to take a walk with you after dinner, and as you come back, pass by my door, and call in. It will look better to have it happen accidentally than if you gave him a formal invitation. I will go and order Morgiana to provide a supper.'
The next day, after dinner, Ali Baba's son and Cogia Houssain met by appointment, and took their walk, and, as they returned, Ali Baba's son led Cogia Houssain through the street where his father lived; and when they came to the house, he stopped and knocked at the door.
'This, sir,' said he, ' is my father's house; when I told him of your friendship, he charged me to gain him the honour of your acquaintance.'
Though it was the sole aim of Cogia Houssain to introduce himself into Ali Baba's house, that he might kill him without hazarding his own life or making any noise, he excused himself, and offered to take leave. But a slave having opened the door, Ali Baba's son took him kindly by the hand, and in a manner forced him in.
Ali Baba received Cogia Houssain with a smiling countenance, and in the most obliging manner he could wish. He thanked him for all the favours he had done his son; adding that the obligation was the greater, as his son was a young man not very well acquainted with the world, and that he might learn much from him.
Cogia Houssain returned the compliment by assuring Ali Baba that, though his son might not have acquired the experience of older men, he had good sense equal to the experience of many others. After a little more conversation on different subjects, he offered again to take his leave; when Ali Baba, stopping him. said, 'Where are you going, sir, in such haste? I beg you will do me the honour to sup with me, though what I have to give you is not worth your acceptance; but such as it is, I hope you will accept it as heartily as I give it.'
'Sir,' replied Cogia Houssain, 'I am thoroughly persuaded of your good-will; and if I ask you not to take it ill that I do not accept your kind I beg you to believe that it does not proceed from any slight or intention to affront, but from a certain reason which you would approve of if you knew it.'
'And what may that reason be, sir,' replied Ali Baba, 'if I may be so bold as to ask you?'
'It is,' answered Cogia Houssain, 'that I can eat no food that has any salt in it.'
'If that is the only reason,' said Ali Baba, 'it ought not to deprive me of the honour of your company at supper; for, in the first place, there is no salt ever put into my bread, and, as for the meat we shall have to-night, I promise you there shall be none. I will go and take care of that. Therefore you must do me the favour to stay; I will come back immediately.'
Ali Baba went into the kitchen, and ordered Morgiana to put no salt to the meat that was to be cooked that night; and to make quickly two or three ragouts besides what he had ordered, but to be sure to put no salt in them.
Morgiana, who was always ready to obey her master, could not help, this time, seeming somewhat dissatisfied at his new order. 'Who is this difficult man,' said she, 'who eats no salt with his meat? Your supper will be spoiled, if I keep it back so long.'
'Do not be angry, Morgiana,' replied Ali Baba, 'he is an honest man; therefore do as I bid you.'
Morgiana obeyed, though with no little reluctance; and was curious to see this man who ate no salt. So when she had done what she had to do in the kitchen, and Abdalla had laid the cloth, she helped to carry up the dishes; and looking at Cogia Houssain she knew him at first sight to be the captain of the robbers, notwithstanding his disguise; and examining him very carefully, she perceived that he had a dagger hidden under his garment. 'I am not in the least amazed,' said she to herself, 'that this wicked wretch, who is my master's greatest enemy, would eat no salt with him, since he intends to assassinate him; but I will prevent him.'
When Morgiana had sent up the supper by Abdalla, while they were eating, she made the necessary preparations for executing one of the boldest acts which could be thought of, and had just done, when Abdalla came again for the dessert. This she carried up, and as soon as Abdalla had taken the meat away, she set it upon the table; after that, she set a little table and three glasses by Ali Baba, and going out, took Abdalla along with her to supper, and to give Ali Baba the more freedom for conversation with his guest.
Then the pretended Cogia Houssain, or rather captain of the robbers, thought he had a favourable opportunity to kill Ali Baba. ' I will,' said he to himself, 'make the father and son both drunk; and then the son, whose life I intend to spare, will not be able to prevent my stabbing his father to the heart; and while the slaves are at supper, or asleep in the kitchen, I can make my escape over the gardens as before.'
Instead of going to supper, Morgiana, who penetrated into the intention of the sham Cogia Houssain, dressed herself neatly with a suitable head-dress like a dancer, girded her waist with a silver-gilt girdle, to which there hung a poniard with a hilt and guard of the same metal, and put a handsome mask on her face. When she had thus disguised herself, she said to Abdalla, 'Take your tabor, and let us go and amuse our master and his son's guest, as we do sometimes when he is alone.'
Abdalla took his tabor and played before Morgiana all the way into the hall. When she came to the door, she made a low curtsy, with a deliberate air, by way of asking leave to show what she could do. Abdalla, seeing that his master wanted to say something, left off playing. 'Come in, Morgiana,' said Ali Baba, 'and let Cogia Houssain see what you can do, that he may tell us what he thinks of you. But, sir,' said he, turning towards Cogia Houssain, 'do not think that I put myself to any expense to give you this entertainment, since these are my slave and my cook and housekeeper; and I hope you will not find it disagreeable.'
Cogia Houssain, who did not expect this diversion after supper, began to fear that he should not have the opportunity that he thought he had found; but he hoped, if he missed it now, to have one another time, by keeping up a friendly correspondence with the father and son; therefore, though he could have wished Ali Baba to let it alone, he pretended to be much obliged to him for it, and had the good manners to express pleasure at what he saw pleased his host.
As soon as Abdalla saw that Ali Baba and Cogia Houssain had done talking, he began to play an air on the tabor, to which Morgiana, who was an excellent dancer, danced in such a manner as would have created admiration in any company.
After she had danced several dances with the same grace and strength, she drew the poniard, and holding it in her hand, danced a dance in which she outdid herself by the many different figures and light movements, and the surprising leaps and wonderful exertions with which she accompanied it. Sometimes she presented the poniard to one person's breast, sometimes to another's, and oftentimes seemed to strike her own At last, as if she were out of breath, she snatched the tabor from Abdalla with her left hand, and, holding the dagger in her right, presented the other side of the tabor, after the manner of those who get a livelihood by dancing, for the liberality of the spectators.
Ali Baba put a piece of gold into the tabor, as did also his son; and Cogia Houssain, seeing that she was coming to him, pulled out his purse to make her a present; but while he was putting his hand into it, Morgiana, with a courage and resolution worthy of herself, plunged the poniard into his heart.
Ali Baba and his son, frightened at this action, cried out aloud.
'Unhappy wretch!' exclaimed Ali Baba, 'what have you done to ruin me and my family?'
'It was to preserve you, not to ruin you,' answered Morgiana; 'for see here,' said she (opening Cogia Houssain's garment, and showing the dagger), ' what an enemy you had entertained! Look well at him, and you will find him to be both the pretended oil-merchant, and the captain of the gang of forty robbers. Remember, too, that he would eat no salt with you; and what more would you have to persuade you of his wicked design? I suspected him as soon as you told me you had such a guest. You now find that my suspicion was not groundless.'
Ali Baba, who immediately felt the new obligation he was under to Morgiana for saving his life a second time, embraced her.
'Morgiana,' said he, 'I gave you your liberty, and then promised you that my gratitude should not stop there, but that I would soon complete it. The time is come for me to give you a proof of this, by making you my daughter-in-law.' Then addressing himself to his son, he said to him: 'I believe you, son, to be so dutiful, that you will not refuse Morgiana for your wife. You see that Cogia Houssain sought your friendship with a treacherous design to take away my life; and, if he had succeeded, there is no doubt but that he would also have sacrificed you to his revenge. Consider that by marrying Morgiana you marry the support of my family and your own.'
The son, far from showing any dislike, readily consented to the marriage; not only because he would not disobey his father, but because he loved Morgiana for herself.
After this, they thought of burying the captain of the robbers with his comrades, and did it so privately that nobody knew anything of it till a great many years afterwards.
After a few days, Ali Baba celebrated the marriage of his son and Morgiana with great solemnity and a sumptuous feast, and the usual dancing and shows; and he had the satisfaction of seeing that his friends and neighbours, who were not unacquainted with Morgiana's good qualities, commended his generosity and goodness of heart.
Ali Baba forbore, for a long time after this marriage, to go again to the robbers' cave, for fear of finding them there and being surprised by them. He kept away after the death of the thirty-seven robbers and their captain, supposing that the other two robbers, of whom he could get no account, might be alive.
But at the year's end, when he found that they had not made any attempt to disturb him, he had the curiosity to make another journey, taking the necessary precautions for his safety. He mounted his horse and when he came to the cave, and saw no footsteps of men or horses, he looked upon it as a good sign. He alighted off his horse, and tied him to a tree; and on his presenting himself before the door, and pronouncing the words, 'Open, Sesame,' the door opened. He went in, and, by the condition that he found things in, he judged that nobody had been there since the false Cogia Houssain, when he fetched the goods for his shop, and that the gang of forty robbers was completely destroyed; and he never doubted that he was the only person in the world who had the secret of opening the cave, and that all the treasure was solely at his disposal. With as much gold as his horse would carry, he returned to town.
Afterwards Ali Baba took his son to the cave and told him the secret, which they handed down to their posterity; and using their good fortune with moderation, lived in great honour and splendour, and filled the highest offices of the city.
THE STORY OF THE FISHERMAN AND GENIE.


here was once a very old fisherman, so poor, that he could scarcely earn enough to maintain himself, his wife, and three children. He went every day to fish betimes in the morning; and imposed it as a law upon himself not to cast his nets above four times a day. He went one morning by moonlight, and coming to the seaside, undressed himself, and cast in his nets. As he drew them towards the shore, he found them very heavy, and thought he had a good draught of fish, at which he rejoiced within himself; but perceiving a moment after that, instead of fish, there was nothing in his nets but the carcass of an ass, he was much vexed.
When the fisherman, vexed to have made such a sorry draught, had mended his nets, which the carcass of the ass had broken in several places, he threw them in a second time; and, when he drew them, found a great deal of resistance, which made him think he had taken abundance of fish; but he found nothing except a basket full of gravel and slime, which grieved him extremely. 'O Fortune!' cried he in a lamentable tone, 'be not angry with me, nor persecute a wretch who prays thee to spare him. I came hither from my house to seek for my livelihood, and thou pronouncest death against me. I have no trade but this to subsist by; and, notwithstanding all the care I take, I can scarcely provide what is absolutely necessary for my family.'
Having finished this complaint, he threw away the basket in a fret, and washing his nets from the slime, cast them the third time; but brought up nothing except stones, shells, and mud. Nobody can express his dismay; he was almost beside himself. However, when the dawn began to appear, he did not forget to say his prayers, like a good Mussulman, and afterwards added this petition: 'Lord, thou knowest that I cast my nets only four times a day; I have already drawn them three times, without the least reward for my labour: I am only to cast them once more; I pray thee to render the sea favourable to me, as thou didst to Moses.'
The fisherman, having finished his prayer, cast his nets the fourth time; and when he thought it was time, he drew them as before, with great difficulty; but, instead of fish, found nothing in them but a vessel of yellow copper, which by its weight seemed to be full of something; and he observed that it was shut up and sealed, with a leaden seal upon it. This rejoiced him: 'I will sell it,' said he, 'at the foundry, and with the money arising from the produce buy a measure of corn.' He examined the vessel on all sides, and shook it, to see if what was within made any noise, but heard nothing. This, with the impression of the seal upon the leaden cover, made him think there was something precious in it. To try this, he took a knife, and opened it with very little trouble. He presently turned the mouth downward, but nothing came out, which surprised him extremely. He set it before him, and while he looked upon it attentively, there came out a very thick smoke which obliged him to retire two or three paces away.
The smoke ascended to the clouds, and extending itself along the sea and upon the shore, formed a great mist, which, we may well imagine, did mightily astonish the fisherman. When the smoke was all out of the vessel, it reunited itself, and became a solid body, of which there was formed a genie twice as high as the greatest of giants. At the sight of a monster of such unwieldy bulk, the fisherman would fain have fled, but he was so frightened that he could not go one step.
'Solomon,' cried the genie immediately, 'Solomon, great prophet, pardon, pardon; I will never more oppose thy will, I will obey all thy commands.'
When the fisherman heard these words of the genie, he recovered his courage, and said to him, 'Proud spirit, what is it that you say? It is above eighteen hundred years since the prophet Solomon died, and we are now at the end of time. Tell me your history, and how you came to be shut up in this vessel.'
The genie, turning to the fisherman with a fierce look, said, 'You must speak to me with more civility; you are very bold to call me a proud spirit.'
'Very well,' replied the fisherman, 'shall I speak to you with more civility, and call you the owl of good luck?'
'I say,' answered the genie, 'speak to me more civilly, before I kill thee.'
'Ah!' replied the fisherman, 'why would you kill me? Did I not just now set you at liberty, and have you already forgotten it?'
'Yes, I remember it,' said the genie,' but that shall not hinder me from killing thee: I have only one favour to grant thee.'
'And what is that ?' said the fisherman.
'It is,' answered the genie, 'to give thee thy choice, in what manner thou wouldst have me take thy life.'
'But wherein have I offended you?' replied the fisherman. 'Is that your reward for the good service I have done you?'
'I cannot treat you otherwise,' said the genie; and that you may be convinced of it, hearken to my story.
'I am one of those rebellious spirits that opposed the will of Heaven: all the other genii owned Solomon, the great prophet, and submitted to him. Sacar and I were the only genii that would never be guilty of a mean thing: and, to avenge himself, that great monarch sent Asaph, the son of Barakhia, his chief minister, to apprehend me. That was accordingly done. Asaph seized my person, and brought me by force before his master's throne.
'Solomon, the son of David, commanded me to quit my way of living, to acknowledge his power, and to submit myself to his commands: I bravely refused to obey, and told him I would rather expose myself to his resentment than swear fealty, and submit to him, as he required. To punish me, he shut me up in this copper vessel; and to make sure that I should not break prison, he himself stamped upon this leaden cover his seal, with the great name of God engraver upon it. Then he gave the vessel to one of the genii who submitted to him, with orders to throw me into the sea, which was done, to my sorrow.
'During the first hundred years' imprisonment, I swore that if anyone would deliver me before the hundred years expired, I would make him rich, even after his death: but that century ran out, and nobody did me the good office. During the second, I made an oath that I would open all the treasures of the earth to anyone that should set me at liberty; but with no better success. In the third, I promised to make my deliverer a potent monarch, to be always near him in spirit, and to grant him every day three requests, of what nature soever they might be: but this century ran out as well as the two former, and I continued in prison. At last, being angry, or rather mad, to find myself a prisoner so long, I swore that if afterwards anyone should deliver me, I would kill him without mercy, and grant him no other favour but to choose what kind of death he would die; and, therefore, since you have delivered me to-day, I give you that choice.'
This tale afflicted the poor fisherman extremely: 'I am very unfortunate,' cried he, 'to have done such a piece of good service to one that is so ungrateful. I beg you to consider your injustice and to revoke such an unreasonable oath; pardon me, and heaven will pardon you; if you grant me my life, heaven will protect you from all attempts against yours.'
'No, thy death is resolved on,' said the genie, 'only choose how you will die.'
The fisherman, perceiving the genie to be resolute, was terribly grieved, not so much for himself as for his three children, and the misery they must be reduced to by his death. He endeavoured still to appease the genie, and said, 'Alas! be pleased to take pity on me, in consideration of the good service I have done you.'
'I have told thee already,' replied the genie, 'it is for that very reason I must kill thee.'
'That is very strange,' said the fisherman, 'are you resolved to reward good with evil? The proverb says, "He who does good to one who deserves it not is always ill rewarded." I must confess I thought it was false; for in reality there can be nothing more contrary to reason, or to the laws of society. Nevertheless, I find now by cruel experience that it is but too true.'
'Do not lose time,' replied the genie, 'all thy reasonings shall not divert me from my purpose; make haste, and tell me which way you choose to die.'
Necessity is the mother of invention. The fisherman bethought himself of a stratagem. 'Since I must die then,' said he to the genie, 'I submit to the will of heaven; but, before I choose the manner of death, I conjure you by the great name which was engraver upon the seal of the prophet Solomon, the son of David, to answer me truly the question I am going to ask you.'
The genie finding himself bound to a positive answer trembled, and replied to the fisherman, 'Ask what thou wilt, but make haste.'
The genie having thus promised to speak the truth, the fisherman said to him, 'I wish to know if you were actually in this vessel. Dare you swear it by the Great Name?'
'Yes,' replied the genie, 'I do swear by that Great Name that I was; and it is a certain truth.'
'In good faith,' answered the fisherman, ' I cannot believe you. The vessel is not capable of holding one of your feet, and how is it possible that your whole body could lie in it?'
'I swear to thee, notwithstanding,' replied the genie, 'that I was there just as thou seest me here. Is it possible that thou dost not believe me after this great oath that I have taken?'
'Truly, I do not,' said the fisherman; 'nor will I believe you unless you show it me.'
Upon which the body of the genie was dissolved, and changed itself into smoke, extending itself as formerly upon the sea and shore, and then at last, being gathered together, it began to re-enter the vessel, which it continued to do by a slow and equal motion in a smooth and exact way, till nothing was left out, and immediately a voice said to the fisherman, 'Well, now, incredulous fellow, I am all in the vessel; do not you believe me now?'
The fisherman, instead of answering the genie, took the cover of lead, and speedily shut the vessel. 'Genie,' cried he, 'now it is your turn to beg my favour, and to choose which way I shall put you to death; but it is better that I should throw you into the sea, whence I took you: and then I will build a house upon the bank, where I will dwell, to give notice to all fishermen who come to throw in their nets to beware of such a wicked genie as thou art, who hast made an oath to kill him that shall set thee at liberty.'
The genie, enraged, did all he could to get out of the vessel again; but it was not possible for him to do it, for the impression of Solomon's seal prevented him. So, perceiving that the fisherman had got the advantage of him, he thought fit to dissemble his anger. 'Fisherman,' said he, in a pleasant tone, 'take heed you do not do what you say, for what I spoke to you before was only by way of jest, and you are to take it no otherwise.'
'Oh genie!' replied the fisherman, 'thou who wast but a moment ago the greatest of all genii, and now art the least of them, thy crafty discourse will avail thee nothing. Back to the sea thou shalt go. If thou hast been there already so long as thou hast told me, thou mayst very well stay there till the day of judgment. I begged of thee, in God's name, not to take away my life, and thou didst reject my prayers; I am obliged to treat thee in the same manner.'
The genie omitted nothing that might prevail upon the fisherman. ' pen the vessel,' said he; 'give me my liberty, I pray thee, and I promise to satisfy thee to thy heart's content.'
'Thou art a mere traitor,' replied the fisherman; 'I should deserve to lose my life if I were such a fool as to trust thee. Notwithstanding the extreme obligation thou wast under to me for having set thee at liberty, thou didst persist in thy design to kill me, I am obliged in my turn, to be as hard-hearted to thee.'
'My good friend fisherman,' replied the genie, 'I implore thee once more not to be guilty of such cruelty; consider that it is not good to avenge oneself, and that, on the other hand, it is commendable to return good for evil; do not treat me as Imama treated Ateca formerly.'
'And what did Imama do to Ateca?' replied the fisherman.
'Ho!' said the genie, 'if you have a mind to hear, open the vessel: do you think that I can be in a humour to tell stories in so strait a prison? I will tell you as many as you please when you let me out.'
'No,' said the fisherman, 'I will not let you out; it is vain to talk of it. I am just going to throw you to the bottom of the sea.'
'Hear me one word more,' cried the genie. ' I promise to do thee no hurt; nay, far from that, I will show thee how thou mayest become exceedingly rich.'
The hope of delivering himself from poverty prevailed with the fisherman.
'I might listen to you,' said he, 'were there any credit to be given to your word. Swear to me by the Great Name that you will faithfully perform what you promise, and I will open the vessel. I do not believe you will dare to break such an oath.'
The genie swore to him, and the fisherman immediately took off the covering of the vessel. At that very instant the smoke came out, and the genie having resumed his form as before, the first thing he did was to kick the vessel into the sea. This action frightened the fisherman.
'Genie,' said he, 'what is the meaning of that? Will you not keep the oath you just now made?'
The genie laughed at the fisherman's fear, and answered: 'No, fisherman, be not afraid; I only did it to please myself, and to see if thou wouldst be alarmed at it; but to persuade thee that I am in earnest, take thy nets and follow me.' As he spoke these words, he walked before the fisherman, who took up his nets, and followed him, but with some distrust. They passed by the town, and came to the top of a mountain, from whence they descended into a vast plain, and presently to a great pond that lay betwixt four hills.
When they came to the side of the pond, the genie said to the fisherman, 'Cast in thy nets and catch fish.' The fisherman did not doubt of catching some, because he saw a great number in the pond; but he was extremely surprised when he found that they were of four colours--white, red, blue, and yellow. He threw in his nets, and brought out one of each colour. Having never seen the like, he could not but admire them, and, judging that he might get a considerable sum for them, he was very joyful.
'Carry those fish,' said the genie, 'and present them to the sultan; he will give you more money for them than ever you had in your life. You may come every day to fish in this pond; and I give you warning not to throw in your nets above once a day, otherwise you will repent it. Take heed, and remember my advice.' Having spoken thus, he struck his foot upon the ground, which opened and swallowed up the genie.
The fisherman, being resolved to follow the genie's advice exactly, forebore casting in his nets a second time, and returned to the town very well satisfied with his fish, and making a thousand reflections upon his adventure. He went straight to the sultan's palace.
The sultan was much surprised when he saw the four fishes. He took them up one after another, and looked at them with attention; and, after having admired them a long time, he said to his first vizier, 'Take those fishes to the handsome cook-maid that the Emperor of the Greeks has sent me. I cannot imagine but that they must be as good as they are fine.'
The vizier carried them himself to the cook, and delivering them into her hands, 'Look,' said he, 'here are four fishes newly brought to the sultan; he orders you to dress them.' And having so said, he returned to the sultan his master, who ordered him to give the fisherman four hundred pieces of gold of the coin of that country, which he accordingly did.
The fisherman, who had never seen so much cash in his lifetime, could scarcely believe his own good fortune. He thought it must be a dream, until he found it to be real, when he provided necessaries for his family with it.
As soon as the sultan's cook had cleaned the fishes, she put them upon the fire in a frying-pan with oil; and when she thought them fried enough on one side, she turned them upon the other; but scarcely were they turned when the wall of the kitchen opened, and in came a young lady of wonderful beauty and comely size. She was clad in flowered satin, after the Egyptian manner, with pendants in her ears, a necklace of large, pearls, bracelets of gold garnished with rubies, and a rod of myrtle in her hand. She came towards the frying-pan, to the great amazement of the cook, who stood stock-still at the sight and, striking one of the fishes with the end of the rod, said, 'Fish, fish, art thou in thy duty?'
The fish having answered nothing, she repeated these words and then the four fishes lifted up their heads all together, and said to her, 'Yes, yes; if you reckon, we reckon; if you pay your debts, we pay ours; if you fly, we overcome, and are content.' As soon as they had finished these words, the lady overturned the frying-pan, and entered again into the open part of the wall, which shut immediately, and became as it was before.
The cook was greatly frightened at this, and, on coming a little to herself, went to take up the fishes that had fallen upon the hearth, but found them blacker than coal, and not fit to be carried to the sultan. She was grievously troubled at it, and began to weep most bitterly. 'Alas! ' said she, 'what will become of me If I tell the sultan what I have seen, I am sure he will not believe me, but will be enraged.'
While she was thus bewailing herself, in came the grand vizier, and asked her if the fishes were ready. She told him all that had happened, which we may easily imagine astonished him; but, without speaking a word of it to the sultan, he invented an excuse that satisfied him, and sending immediately for the fisherman, bade him bring four more such fish, for a misfortune had befallen the other ones. The fisherman, without saying anything of what the genie had told him, but in order to excuse himself from bringing them that very day, told the vizier that he had a long way to go for them, but would certainly bring them to-morrow.
Accordingly the fisherman went away by night, and, coming to the pond, threw in his nets betimes next morning, took four such fishes as before, and brought them to the vizier at the hour appointed. The minister took them himself, carried them to the kitchen, and shut himself up all alone with the cook: she cleaned them and put them on the fire, as she had done the four others the day before. When they were fried on one side, and she had turned them upon the other, the kitchen wall opened, and the same lady came in with the rod in her hand, struck one of the fishes, spoke to it as before, and all four gave her the same answer.
After the four fishes had answered the young lady, she overturned the frying-pan with her rod, and retired into the same place of the wall from whence she had come out. The grand vizier being witness to what had passed said, 'This is too surprising and extraordinary to be concealed from the sultan; I will inform him.' Which he accordingly did, and gave him a very faithful account of all that had happened.
The sultan, being much surprised, was impatient to see it for himself. He immediately sent for the fisherman, and said to him, 'Friend, cannot you bring me four more such fishes?'
The fisherman replied, 'If your majesty will be pleased to allow me three days' time, I will do it.' Having obtained his time, he went to the pond immediately, and at the first throwing in of his net, he caught four fishes, and brought them at once to the sultan. The sultan rejoiced at it, as he did not expect them so soon, and ordered him four hundred pieces of gold. As soon as the sultan had received the fish, he ordered them to be carried into his room, with all that was necessary for frying them; and having shut himself up there with the vizier, the minister cleaned them, put them in the pan upon the fire, and when they were fried on one side, turned them upon the other; then the wall of the room opened, but instead of the young lady there came out a black man, in the dress of a slave, and of gigantic stature, with a great green staff in his hand. He advanced towards the pan, and touching one of the fishes with his staff, said to it in a terrific voice, 'Fish, art thou in thy duty?'
At these words, the fishes raised up their heads, and answered 'Yes, yes; we are; if you reckon, we reckon; if you pay your debts, we pay ours; if you fly, we overcome, and are content.'
The fishes had no sooner finished these words than the black man threw the pan into the middle of the room, and reduced the fishes to a coal. Having done this, he retired fiercely, and entering again into the hole of the wall, it shut, and appeared just as it did before.
'After what I have seen,' said the sultan to the vizier, 'it will not be possible for me to be easy in my mind. These fish without doubt signify something extraordinary.' He sent for the fisherman, and said to him, 'Fisherman, the fishes you have brought us make me very uneasy; where did you catch them?'
'Sir,' answered he, 'I fished for them in a pond situated between four hills, beyond the mountain that we see from here.'
Know'st thou that pond?' said the sultan to the vizier,
'No, sir,' replied the vizier, 'I never so much as heard of it: and yet it is not sixty years since I hunted beyond that mountain and thereabouts.'
The sultan asked the fisherman how far was the pond from the palace.
The fisherman answered that it was not above three hours' journey.
Upon this, there being daylight enough beforehand, the sultan commanded all his court to take horse, and the fisherman served them for a guide. They all ascended the mountain, and at the foot of it they saw, to their great surprise, a vast plain, that nobody had observed till then, and at last they came to the pond which they found really to be situated between four hills, as the fisherman had said. The water of it was so transparent that they observed all the fishes to be like those which the fisherman had brought to the palace.
The sultan stood upon the bank of the pond, and after beholding the fishes with admiration, he demanded of his emirs and all his courtiers if it was possible that they had never seen this pond, which was within so little a way of the town. They all answered that they had never so much as heard of it.
'Since you all agree,' said he, 'that you never heard of it, and as I am no less astonished than you are, I am resolved not to return to my palace till I know how this pond came here, and why all the fish in it are of four colours.' Having spoken thus he ordered his court to encamp; and immediately his pavilion and the tents of his household were pitched upon the banks of the pond.
When night came, the sultan retired to his pavilion and spoke to the grand vizier by himself.
'Vizier, my mind is very uneasy; this pond transported hither; the black man that appeared to us in my room. and the fishes that we heard speak; all this does so much excite my curiosity that I cannot resist the impatient desire I have to satisfy it. To this end I am resolved to withdraw alone from the camp, and I order you to keep my absence secret.'
The grand vizier said much to turn the sultan from this design. But it was to no purpose; the sultan was resolved on it, and would go. He put on a suit fit for walking, and took his scimitar; and as soon as he saw that all was quiet in the camp, he went out alone, and went over one of the hills without much difficulty. He found the descent still more easy, and, when he came to the plain, walked on till the sun rose, and then he saw before him, at a considerable distance, a great building. He rejoiced at the sight, and hoped to learn there what he wanted to know. When he came near, he found it was a magnificent palace, or rather a very strong castle, of fine black polished marble, and covered with fine steel, as smooth as a looking-glass. Being highly pleased that he had so speedily met with something worthy of his curiosity, he stopped before the front of the castle, and considered it attentively.
The gate had two doors, one of them open; and though he might have entered, he yet thought it best to knock. He knocked at first softly, and waited for some time. Seeing nobody, and supposing they had not heard him, he knocked harder the second time, and then neither seeing nor hearing anybody, he knocked again and again. But nobody appeared, and it surprised him extremely; for he could not think that a castle in such good repair was without inhabitants. 'If there is nobody in it, said he to himself, 'I have nothing to fear; and if there is, I have wherewith to defend myself.'
At last he entered, and when he came within the porch, he called out, 'Is 'there nobody here to receive a stranger, who comes in for some refreshment as he passes by?' He repeated the same two or three times; but though he shouted, nobody answered. The silence increased his astonishment he came into a very spacious court, and looked on every side, to see if he could perceive anybody; but he saw no living thing.
Perceiving nobody in the court, the sultan entered the great halls, which were hung with silk tapestry; the alcoves and sofas were covered with stuffs of Mecca, and the porches with the richest stuffs of India, mixed with gold and silver. He came afterwards into a magnificent court, in the middle of which was a great fountain, with a lion of massive gold at each corner; water issued from the mouths of the four lions, and this water, as it fell, formed diamonds and pearls, while a jet of water, springing from the middle of the fountain, rose almost as high as a cupola painted after the Arabian manner.
On three sides the castle was surrounded by a garden, with flower-pots, fountains, groves, and a thousand other fine things; and to complete the beauty of the place, an infinite number of birds filled the air with their harmonious songs, and always stayed there, nets being spread over the trees, and fastened to the palace to keep them in. The sultan walked a long time from apartment to apartment, where he found everything very grand and magnificent. Being tired with walking, he sat down in a room which had a view over the garden, and there reflected upon what he had already seen, when all of a sudden he heard lamentable cries. He listened with attention, and distinctly heard these sad words: 'O Fate! thou who wouldst not suffer me longer to enjoy a happy lot, and hast made me the most unfortunate man in the world, forbear to persecute me, and by a speedy death put an end to my sorrows. Alas! is it possible that I am still alive, after so many torments as I have suffered?'
The sultan, touched at these pitiful complaints, rose up, and made toward the place whence he heard the voice; and when he came to the gate of a great hall, he opened it, and saw a handsome young man, richly dressed, seated upon a throne raised a little above the ground. Melancholy was painted on his looks. The sultan drew near, and saluted him; the young man returned him his salute, by a low bow with his head; but not being able to rise up, he said to the sultan, 'My lord, I am very sure you deserve that I should rise up to receive you, and do you all possible honour; but I am hindered from doing so by a very sad reason, and therefore hope you will not take it ill.'
'My lord,' replied the sultan, 'I am very much obliged to you for having so good an opinion of me: as to your not rising, whatever your excuse may be, I heartily accept it. Being drawn hither by your complaints, and distressed by your grief, I come to offer you my help. I flatter myself that you would willingly tell me the history of your misfortunes; but pray tell me first the meaning of the pond near the palace, where the fishes are of four colours. What is this castle? how came you to be here? and why are you alone?'
Instead of answering these questions, the young man began to weep bitterly. 'How inconstant is fortune!' cried he: 'she takes pleasure in pulling down those she had raised up. Where are they who enjoy quietly their happiness, and whose day is always clear and serene?'
The sultan, moved with compassion, prayed him forthwith to tell him the cause of his excessive grief. 'Alas! my lord,' replied the young man, 'how can I but grieve, and my eyes be inexhaustible fountains of tears?' At these words, he lifted up his gown, and showed the sultan that he was a man only from the head to the waist, and that the other half of his body was black marble.
The sultan was strangely surprised when he saw the deplorable condition of the young man. 'That which you show me,' said he, 'while it fills me with horror, so excites my curiosity that I am impatient to hear your history, which, no doubt, is very extraordinary, and I am persuaded that the pond and the fishes have some part in it; therefore I beg you to tell it me. You will find some comfort in doing so, since it is certain that unfortunate people obtain some sort of ease in telling their misfortunes.'
'I will not refuse you this satisfaction,' replied the young man, 'though I cannot do it without renewing my grief. But I give you notice beforehand, to prepare your ears, your mind, and even your eyes, for things which surpass all that the most extraordinary imagination can conceive.
'You must know, my lord,' he began, 'that my father Mahmoud was king of this country. This is the kingdom of the Black Isles, which takes its name from the four little neighbouring mountains; for those mountains were formerly islands: the capital, where the king, my father, had his residence, was where that pond now is.
'The king, my father, died when he was seventy years of age; I had no sooner succeeded him than I married, and the lady I chose to share the royal dignity with me was my cousin. Nothing was comparable to the good understanding between us, which lasted for five years. At the end of that time I perceived that the queen, my cousin, took no more delight in me.
'One day I was inclined to sleep after dinner, and lay down upon a sofa. Two of her ladies came and sat down, one at my head, and the other at my feet, with fans in their hands to moderate the heat, and to hinder the flies from troubling me. They thought I was fast asleep, and spoke very low; but I only shut my eyes, and heard every word they said.
'One of them said to the other, "Is not the queen much in the wrong not to love such an amiable prince as this?"
'"Certainly," replied the other; "for my part, I do not understand it. Is it possible that he does not perceive it?"
'"Alas!" said the first, "how would you have him perceive it? She mixes every evening in his drink the juice of a certain herb, which makes him sleep so soundly that she has time to go where she pleases; then she wakes him by the smell of something she puts under his nose."
'You may guess, my lord, how much I was surprised at this conversation; yet, whatever emotion it excited in me, I had command enough over myself to dissemble, and pretended to awake without having heard one word of it.
'The queen returned, and with her own hand presented me with a cup full of such water as I was accustomed to drink; but instead of putting it into my mouth, I went to a window that was open, and threw out the water so quickly that she did not notice it, and I put the cup again into her hands, to persuade her that I had drunk it.
'Soon after, believing that I was asleep, though I was not, she got up with little precaution, and said, so loudly, that I could hear it distinctly, "Sleep, and may you never wake again!"
'As soon as the queen, my wife, went out, I got up in haste, took my scimitar, and followed her so quickly, that I soon heard the sound of her feet before me, and then walked softly after her, for fear of being heard. She passed through several gates, which opened on her pronouncing some magical words; and the last she opened was that of the garden, which she entered. I stopped there that she might not perceive me, and looking after her as far as the darkness permitted, I perceived that she entered a little wood, whose walks were guarded by thick palisades. I went thither by another way, and slipping behind the palisades of a long walk, I saw her walking there with a man.
'I listened carefully, and heard her say, "I do not deserve to be upbraided by you for want of diligence; you need but command me, you know my power. I will, if you desire it, before sunrise, change this great city, and this fine palace, into frightful ruins, which shall be inhabited by nothing but wolves, owls, and ravens. If you wish me to transport all the stones of those walls, so solidly built, beyond the Caucasus, and out of the bounds of the habitable world, speak but the word, and all shall undergo a change."
'As the queen finished these words, the man and she came to the end of the walk, turned to enter another, and passed before me. I had already drawn my scimitar, and the man being nearest to me, I struck him on the neck, and made him fall to the ground. I thought I had killed him, and therefore retired speedily, without making myself known to the queen, whom I chose to spare, because she was my kinswoman.
'The blow I had given was mortal; but she. preserved his life by the force of her enchantments; in such a manner, however, that he could not be said to be either dead or alive. As I crossed the garden, to return to the palace, I heard the queen cry out lamentably.
'When I returned home, being satisfied with having punished the villain, I went to sleep; and, when I awoke next morning, found the queen there too.
'Whether she slept or not I cannot tell, but I got up and went out without making any noise. I held my council, and at my return the queen, clad in mourning, her hair hanging about her eyes, and part of it torn off, presented herself before me, and said: "Sir, I come to beg your majesty not to be surprised to see me in this condition. I have just now received, all at once, three afflicting pieces of news."
'"Alas! what is the news, madam?" said I.
'"The death of the queen my dear mother," answered she; "that of the king my father, killed in battle; and that of one of my brothers, who has fallen down a precipice."
'I was not ill-pleased that she made use of this pretext to hide the true cause of her grief. "Madam," said I, "I am so far from blaming your grief that I assure you I share it. I should very much wonder if you were insensible of so great a loss. Mourn on, your tears are so many proofs of your good nature. I hope, however, that time and reason will moderate your grief."
'She retired into her apartment, and gave herself wholly up to sorrow, spending a whole year in mourning and afflicting herself. At the end of that time she begged leave of me to build a burying-place for herself, within the bounds of the palace, where she would remain, she told me, to the end of her days. I agreed, and she built a stately palace, with a cupola, that may be seen from hence, and she called it the Palace of Tears. When it was finished she caused the wounded ruffian to be brought thither from the place where she had caused him to be carried the same night, for she had hindered his dying by a drink she gave him. This she carried to him herself every day after he came to the Palace of Tears.
'Yet with all her enchantments she could not cure the wretch. He was not only unable to walk and to help himself, but had also lost the use of his speech, and gave no sign of life but by his looks. Every day she made him two long visits. I was very well informed of all this, but pretended to know nothing of it.
'One day I went out of curiosity to the Palace of Tears to see how the queen employed herself, and going to a place where she could not see me, I heard her speak thus to the scoundrel: "I am distressed to the highest degree to see you in this condition. I am as sensible as yourself of the tormenting pain you endure, but, dear soul, I constantly speak to you, and you do not answer me; how long will you be silent? Speak only one word. I would prefer the pleasure of always seeing you to the empire of the universe." 
'At these words, which were several times interrupted by her sighs and sobs, I lost all patience, and, showing myself, came up to her, and said, "Madam, you have mourned enough. It is time to give over this sorrow, which dishonours us both. You have too much forgotten what you owe to me and to yourself."
'"Sir," said she, "if you have any kindness left for me, I beseech you to put no restraint upon me. Allow me to give myself up to mortal grief, which it is impossible for time to lessen."
'When I saw that what I said, instead of bringing her to her duty, served only to increase her rage, I gave over, and retired. She continued for two whole years to give herself up to excessive grief.
'I went a second time to the Palace of Tears while she was there. I hid myself again, and heard her speak thus: "It is now three years since you spoke one word to me. Is it from insensibility or contempt? No, no, I believe nothing of it. O tomb! tell me by what miracle thou becamest the depositary of the rarest treasure that ever was in the world."
'I must confess I was enraged at these words, for, in short, this creature so much doted upon, this adored mortal, was not such an one as you might imagine him to have been. He was a black Indian, a native of that country. I say I was so enraged that I appeared all of a sudden, and addressing the tomb in my turn, cried, "O tomb! why dost not thou swallow up this pair of monsters?"
'I had scarcely finished these words when the queen, who sat by the Indian, rose up like a fury. "Cruel man!" said she, "thou art the cause of my grief. I have dissembled it but too long; it is thy barbarous hand which hath brought him into this lamentable condition, and thou art so hard-hearted as to come and insult me.'
'"Yes," said I, in a rage, "it was I who chastised that monster according to his deserts. I ought to have treated thee in the same manner. I repent now that I did not do it. Thou hast abused my goodness too long."
'As I spoke these words I drew out my scimitar, and lifted up my hand to punish her; but she, steadfastly beholding me, said, with a jeering smile, "Moderate thy anger." At the same time she pronounced words I did not understand, and added, "By virtue of my enchantments, I command thee immediately to become half marble and half man." Immediately I became such as you see me now, a dead man among the living, and a living man among the dead.
'After this cruel magician, unworthy of the name of a queen, had metamorphosed me thus, and brought me into this hall, by another enchantment she destroyed my capital, which was very flourishing and full of people; she abolished the houses, the public places and markets, and reduced it to the pond and desert field, which you may have seen; the fishes of four colours in the pond are the four sorts of people, of different religions, who inhabited the place. The white are the Mussulmans; the red, the Persians, who worship fire; the blue, the Christians; and the yellow, the Jews. The four little hills were the four islands that gave the name to this kingdom. I learned all this from the magician, who, to add to my distress, told me with her own mouth these effects of her rage. But this is not all; her revenge was not satisfied with the destruction of my dominions, and the metamorphosis of my person; she comes every day, and gives me over my naked shoulders an hundred blows with an ox-goad, which makes me all over gore; and, when she has done, she covers me with a coarse stuff of goat's-hair, and throws over it this robe of brocade that you see, not to do me honour, but to mock me.'
After this, the young king could not restrain his tears; and the sultan's heart was so pierced with the story, that he could not speak one word to comfort him. Presently he said: 'Tell me whither this perfidious magician retires, and where may be the unworthy wretch who is buried before his death.'
'My lord,' replied the prince, 'the man, as I have already told you, is in the Palace of Tears, in a handsome tomb in form of a dome, and that palace joins the castle on the side of the gate. As to the magician, I cannot tell precisely whither she retires, but every day at sunrise she goes to see him, after having executed her vengeance upon me, as I have told you; and you see I am not in a condition to defend myself against such great cruelty. She carries him the drink with which she has hitherto prevented his dying, and always complains of his never speaking to her since he was wounded.'
'Unfortunate prince,' said the sultan, 'never did such an extraordinary misfortune befall any man, and those who write your history will be able to relate something that surpasses all that has ever yet been written.'
While the sultan discoursed with the young prince, he told him who he was, and for what end he had entered the castle; and thought of a plan to release him and punish the enchantress, which he communicated to him. In the meantime, the night being far spent, the sultan took some rest; but the poor young prince passed the night without sleep, as usual, having never slept since he was enchanted; but he had now some hope of being speedily delivered from his misery.
Next morning the sultan got up before dawn, and, in order to execute his design, he hid in a corner his upper garment, which would have encumbered him, and went to the Palace of Tears. He found it lit up with an infinite number of tapers of white wax, and a delicious scent issued from several boxes of fine gold, of admirable workmanship, all ranged in excellent order As soon as he saw the bed where the Indian lay, he drew his scimitar, killed the wretch without resistance, dragged his corpse into the court of the castle, and threw it into a well. After this, he went and lay down in the wretch's bed, took his scimitar with him under the counterpane, and waited there to execute his plan.
The magician arrived after a little time. She first went into the chamber where her husband the King of the Black Islands was, stripped him, and beat him with the ox-goad in a most barbarous manner. The poor prince filled the palace with his lamentations to no purpose, and implored her in the most touching manner to have pity on him; but the cruel woman would not give over till she had given him an hundred blows.
'You had no compassion,' said she, 'and you are to expect none from me.' 
After the enchantress had given the king, her husband, an hundred blows with the ox-goad, she put on again his covering of goat's-hair, and his brocade gown over all; then she went to the Palace of Tears, and, as she entered, she renewed her tears and lamentations; then approaching the bed, where she thought the Indian was: 'Alas!' cried she, addressing herself unawares to the sultan; 'my sun, my life,' will you always be silent? Are you resolved to let me die, without giving me one word of comfort. My soul, speak one word to me at least, I implore you.'
The sultan, as if he had waked out of a deep sleep, and counterfeiting the language of the Indians, answered the queen in a grave tone, 'There is no strength or power but in God alone, who is almighty.' 
At these words the enchantress, who did not expect them, gave a great shout, to signify her excessive joy. 'My dear lord,' cried she, 'do I deceive myself? Is it certain that I hear you, and that you speak to me?'
'Unhappy wretch,' said the sultan, 'art thou worthy that I should answer thee?'
'Alas!' replied the queen, 'why do you reproach me thus?'
'The cries,' replied he, 'the groans and tears of thy husband, whom thou treatest every day with so much indignity and barbarity, hinder me from sleeping night and day. I should have been cured long ago, and have recovered the use of my speech, hadst thou disenchanted him. That is the cause of the silence which you complain of.'
'Very well,' said the enchantress; 'to pacify you, I am ready to do whatever you command me. Would you have me restore him as he was?'
'Yes,' replied the sultan, 'make haste and set him at liberty, that I be no more disturbed with his cries.'
The enchantress went immediately out of the Palace of Tears. she took a cup of water, and pronounced words over it, which caused it to boil, as if it had been on the fire. Then she went into the hall, to the young king her husband, and threw the water upon him, saying, 'If the Creator of all things did form thee so as thou art at present, or if He be angry with thee, do not change. But if thou art in that condition merely by virtue of my enchantments, resume thy natural shape, and become what thou wast before.'
She had scarcely spoken these words, when the prince, finding himself restored to his former condition, rose up freely, with all imaginable joy, and returned thanks to God.
Then the enchantress said to him, 'Get thee gone from this castle, and never return here on pain of death!'
The young king, yielding to necessity, went away from the enchantress, without replying a word, and retired to a remote place, where he patiently awaited the success of the plan which the sultan had so happily begun.
Meanwhile the enchantress returned to the Palace of Tears and, supposing that she still spoke to the black man, said 'Dearest, I have done what you ordered.'
The sultan continued to counterfeit the language of the blacks. 'That which you have just now done,' said he, 'is not sufficient for my cure. You have only eased me of part of my disease; you must cut it up by the roots.'
'My lovely black man,' replied she, ' what do you mean by the roots?'
'Unfortunate woman,' replied the sultan, 'do you not understand that I mean the town, and its inhabitants, and the four islands, which thou hast destroyed by thy enchantments? The fishes every night at midnight raise their heads out of the pond, and cry for vengeance against thee and me. This is the root cause of the delay of my cure. Go speedily, restore things as they were, and at thy return I will give thee my hand, and thou shalt help me to rise.'
The enchantress, filled with hope from these words, cried out in a transport of joy, 'My heart, my soul, you shall soon be restored to health, for I will immediately do what you command me.' Accordingly she went that moment, and when she came to the brink of the pond, she took a little water in her hand, and sprinkling it, she pronounced some words over the fishes and the pond, and the city was immediately restored. The fishes became men, women, and children; Mahometans, Christians, Persians, or Jews; freemen or slaves, as they were before; every one having recovered his natural form. The houses and shops were immediately filled with their inhabitants, who found all things as they were before the enchantment. The sultan's numerous retinue, who had encamped in the largest square, were astonished to see themselves in an instant in the middle of a large, handsome, and well-peopled city.
To return to the enchantress. As soon as she had effected this wonderful change, she returned with all diligence to the Palace of Tears. 'My dear,' she cried, as she entered, 'I come to rejoice with you for the return of your health: I have done all that you required of me; then pray rise, and give me your hand.'
'Come near,' said the sultan, still counterfeiting the language of the blacks. She did so. 'You are not near enough,' said he, 'come nearer.' She obeyed. Then he rose up, and seized her by the arm so suddenly, that she had not time to discover who it was, and with a blow of his scimitar cut her in two, so that one half fell one way, and the other another. This done, he left the carcass at the place, and going out of the Palace of Tears, he went to look for the young King of the Black Isles, who was waiting for him with great impatience. 'Prince,' said he, embracing him, 'rejoice; you have nothing to fear now; your cruel enemy is dead.'
The young prince returned thanks to the sultan in such a manner as showed that he was thoroughly sensible of the kindness that he had done him, and in return, wished him a long life and all happiness. 'You may henceforward,' said the sultan, 'dwell peaceably in your capital, unless you will go to mine, where you shall be very welcome, and have as much honour and respect shown you as if you were at home.'
'Potent monarch, to whom I am so much indebted,' replied the king, 'you think, then, that you are very near your capital?'
'Yes,' said the sultan, 'I know it; it is not above four or five hours' journey.'
'It will take you a whole year,' said the prince. 'I do believe, indeed, that you came hither from your capital in the time you speak of, because mine was enchanted; but since the enchantment is taken off, things are changed. However, this shall not prevent my following you, were it to the utmost corners of the earth. You are my deliverer, and that I may show you that I shall acknowledge this during my whole life, I am willing to accompany you, and to leave my kingdom without regret.'
The sultan was extremely surprised to learn that he was so far from his dominions, and could not imagine how it could be. But the young King of the Black Islands convinced him beyond a possibility of doubt. Then the sultan replied, 'It is no matter: the trouble of returning to my own country is sufficiently recompensed by the satisfaction of having obliged you, and by acquiring you for a son; for since you will do me the honour to accompany me, as I have no child, I look upon you as such, and from this moment I appoint you my heir and successor.'
The conversation between the sultan and the King of the Black Islands concluded with the most affectionate embraces; after which the young prince was totally taken up in making preparations for his journey, which were finished in three weeks' time, to the great regret of his court and subjects, who agreed to receive at his hands one of his nearest kindred for their king.
At last the sultan and the young prince began their journey, with a hundred camels laden with inestimable riches from the treasury of the young king, followed by fifty handsome gentlemen on horseback, well mounted and dressed. They had a very happy journey; and when the sultan, who had sent couriers to give notice of his delay, and of the adventure which had occasioned it, came near his capital, the principal officers he had left there came to receive him, and to assure him that his long absence had occasioned no alteration in his empire. The inhabitants came out also in great crowds, received him with acclamations, and made public rejoicings for several days.
On the day after his arrival, the sultan gave all his courtiers a very ample account of the events which, contrary to his expectation, had detained him so long. He told them he had adopted the King of the Four Black Islands, who was willing to leave a great kingdom to accompany and live with him; and as a reward for their loyalty, he made each of them presents according to their rank.
As for the fisherman, since he was the first cause of the deliverance of the young prince, the sultan gave him a plentiful fortune, which made him and his family happy for the rest of their days.
THE HISTORY OF AGIB.


y name is Agib, and I am the son of a king called Cassib. After his death I took possession of his dominions, and resided in the same city. This city is situated on the sea coast; it has one of the finest and safest harbours in the world, an arsenal capable of fitting out for sea one hundred and fifty men of war that are always ready, and fifty merchant men, besides light frigates and pleasure-boats. My kingdom consists of several fine provinces upon the main land, and a number of spacious islands, every one of which lies almost in sight of my capital.
The first thing I did was to visit the provinces: I afterwards caused the whole fleet to be fitted out and manned, and went to the islands to gain the hearts of my subjects by my presence, and to confirm them in their loyalty; and after some time I went thither again. These voyages gave me some taste for navigation, and I took so much pleasure in it that I resolved to make some discoveries beyond my islands; to which end I caused only ten ships to be fitted out, embarked, and set sail.
Our voyage was very successful for forty days together, but on the forty-first night the wind become contrary, and so boisterous that we were nearly lost in the storm. About break of day the wind grew calm, the clouds dispersed, and, the sun having brought back fair weather, we came close to an island, where we remained for two days to take in fresh provisions; after which we put off again to sea. After ten days' sail we were in hopes of seeing land, for the tempests we had gone through had so much abated my curiosity that I gave orders to steer back to my own coast; but I perceived at the same time that the pilot knew not where we were. Upon the tenth day a seaman being sent to look out for land from the main-mast head, gave notice that on starboard and larboard he could see nothing but the sky and the sea, which bounded the horizon; but that just before us he saw a great blackness.
At this the pilot changed colour and, throwing his turban on the deck with one hand, and beating his breast with the other, cried, 'Oh, sir, we are all lost; not one of us will escape; and with all my skill it is not in my power to prevent it.' Having spoken thus, he fell a-crying like a man who foresaw unavoidable ruin: his despair put the whole ship's crew in fear. I asked him the reason. He told me that the tempest, which we had outlived, had brought us so far out of our course that to- morrow about noon we should come near to the black place, which was nothing else than the black mountain. 'That,' said he, 'is a mine of adamant, which at this very minute is drawing all your fleet towards it, by virtue of the iron and the nails that are in your ships; and when we come to-morrow within a certain distance, the adamant will have such a force that all the nails will be drawn out of the sides and bottom of the ships, and fasten to the mountain, so that your vessel will fall to pieces, and sink to the bottom: and as the adamant draws all iron to it, this mountain on the side of the sea is covered over with nails, drawn out of an infinite number of vessels that have perished here.
'The mountain,' continued the pilot, 'is very rugged; on the top of it there is a dome of fine brass, supported by pillars of the same, and upon the top of that dome there stands a horse of the same metal, with a rider on his back, who has a plate of lead fixed to his breast, upon which some talismanic characters are engraver. Sir, the tradition is that this statue is the chief reason why so many ships and men have been lost and sunk in this place, and that it will ever continue to be fatal to all who have the misfortune to come near to it, until it is thrown down.'
The pilot, having ended his explanation, began to weep afresh, and all the rest of the ship's company did the like. I had no other thought but that my days were then and there to have an end. In the meantime every one began to provide for his own safety, and took all imaginable precautions, and all made one another their heirs, by virtue of a will, for the benefit of those that should happen to be saved.
The next morning we perceived the black mountain very plainly, and the idea we had formed of it made it appear more frightful than it was. About noon we had come so near that we found what the pilot had foretold to be true; for we saw all the nails and iron about the ships fly towards the mountain, where they fixed, by the violence of the attraction, with a horrible noise: the ships split asunder, and sank into the sea, which was so deep about the place that we could not sound it. All my people were drowned; but I was permitted to save myself by means of a plank, which the wind drove ashore just at the foot of the mountain. I did not receive the least hurt; and my good fortune brought me to a landing-place, where there were steps that went up to the top of the mountain.
At the sight of these steps, for there was not a bit of ground on either the right or the left whereon a man could set his foot, I gave thanks to God, and recommended myself to His holy protection. I then began to mount the steps, which were so narrow, rugged, and hard to get up that, had the wind blown ever so little, it would have thrown me down into the sea. But at last I got up to the top without any accident.
I passed the night under the dome; and in my sleep a grave old man appeared to me, and said, 'Hearken, Agib; as soon as thou art awake, dig up the ground under thy feet: thou shalt find a bow of brass, and three arrows of lead, that are made under certain constellations, to deliver mankind from the many calamities that threaten them. Shoot the three arrows at the statue, and the rider will fall into the sea, but the horse will fall down by thy side. Thou must bury him in the place from whence thou tookest the bow and arrows: this being done, the sea will swell and rise up to the foot of the dome that stands upon the top of the mountain. When it comes up so high, thou shalt see a boat, with one man holding an oar in each hand; this man is also of metal, but different from the one thou hast thrown down; step on board to him, without mentioning the name of God, and let him conduct thee. In ten days' time he will bring thee into another sea, where thou shalt find an opportunity to get home to thy country safe and sound, provided, as I have told thee, thou dost not mention the name of God during the whole voyage.'
This was the substance of the old man's discourse. When I awoke I was very much comforted by the vision, and did not fail to observe everything that he had commanded me. I took the bow and arrows out of the ground, shot at the horseman, and with the third arrow I overthrew him: he fell into the sea, and the horse fell by my side, and I buried him in the place whence I took the bow and arrows. In the meantime the sea swelled and rose up by degrees: when it came as high as the foot of the dome that stood upon the top of the mountain, I saw, afar off, a boat rowing towards me, and I returned God thanks that everything had happened according to my dream.
At last the boat made for land, and I saw the man was made of metal, as I had dreamt. I stepped aboard, and took great heed not to pronounce the name of God, neither spoke I one word; I sat down, and the man of metal began to row off from the mountain. He rowed without ceasing till the ninth day, when I saw some islands, which gave me hope that I should escape all the danger that I feared. The excess of my joy made me forget what I was forbidden to do: 'Blessed be God,' said I, 'God be praised.'
No sooner had I spoken these words than the boat sank with the man of metal, leaving me upon the surface. I swam for the remaining part of the day towards that land which appeared nearest to me. A very dark night succeeded, and, not knowing where I was, I swam haphazard. My strength at last began to fail, and I despaired of being able to save myself, when the wind began to blow, and a wave, as big as a mountain, threw me on a flat coast, where it left me, and drew back. I made haste to get ashore, fearing another wave might wash me back again. The first thing I did was to strip and wring the water out of my clothes, and I then laid them out on the dry sand, which was still pretty warm from the heat of the day.
Next morning the sun dried my clothes early; I put them on, and went forward to see where I was. I had not walked very far before I found I was upon a little desert island, very pleasant, where there grew several sorts of trees and wild fruit; but I perceived it was very far from the continent, which much diminished my joy in having escaped the danger of the sea. I, notwithstanding, commended myself to God, and prayed Him to dispose of me according to His good will and pleasure. Just then I saw a vessel coming from the main land, before the wind, direct to the island. I doubted not that they were coming to anchor there, and being uncertain what sort of people they might be, whether friends or foes, I thought it not safe for me to be seen, so I got up into a very thick tree, from whence I might safely look at them. The vessel came into a little creek. Ten slaves landed, carrying a spade and other instruments for digging. They went towards the middle of the island, where I saw them stop and dig the ground for a long while, after which I thought I saw them lift up a trap-door. They returned again to the vessel, and unladed provisions and furniture, which they carried to the place where they had broken ground, and so went downward, which made me suppose it was a subterranean dwelling.
Once more I saw them go to the ship, and soon return with an old man, who led a very handsome lad by the hand, of about fourteen or fifteen years of age. They all went down at the trapdoor. When they came up again they let down the trap-door, and covered it over with earth, and returned to the creek where the ship lay. But I saw not the young man in their company; this made me believe that he remained behind in that place underground, at which I could not but be extremely astonished.
The old man and the slaves went aboard again, and the vessel being got under sail, steered its course towards the mainland. When they were too far off to see me, I came down from the tree, and went direct to the place where I had seen the ground broken. I removed the earth by degrees till I found a stone two or three feet square. I lifted it up, and saw that it covered the head of the stairs, which were also of stone. I went down, and came into a large room, where there was a carpet, and a couch covered with tapestry, and cushions of rich stuff, upon which the young man sat, with a fan in his hand. I saw all this, also the fruits and flower-pots he had standing about him, by the light of two tapers. The young lad was startled at the sight of me, but to rid him of his fear I said as I came in, 'Whoever you are, sir, do not fear anything: a king, and the son of a king, as I am, is not capable of doing you any harm. On the contrary, it is probable that your good destiny has brought me hither to deliver you out of this tomb, where it seems they have buried you alive, for reasons unknown to me. But what makes me wonder is that you have suffered yourself to be buried in this place without any resistance.'
The young man recovered himself at these words, and begged me, with a smiling countenance, to sit down by him. 'Prince,' he said, 'I will tell you something so extraordinary that it cannot but surprise you.'
'My father is a merchant jeweller, who, through skill in his calling, has acquired great wealth. He has many slaves, and also deputies, whom he employs to go as supercargoes to sea with his own ships, to maintain the connection he has at several courts, which he furnishes with such precious stones as they want.
'He had been married a long while, without children, when he understood by a dream that he would have a son, though his life would be but short, at which he was very much concerned when he awoke. But when I was born there was great joy in the family.
'My father, who had observed the very moment of my birth, consulted astrologers about my nativity. They told him: "Your son shall live very happily till the age of fifteen, when he will be in danger of losing his life, and hardly be able to escape, but if his good destiny should preserve him beyond that time, he will live to grow very old. It will be," said they, "when the statue of brass, that stands upon the top of the mountain of adamant, is thrown down into the sea by Prince Agib, son of King Cassib, and, as the stars prognosticate, your son will be killed fifty days afterwards by that prince."
'As this part of the prediction about the statue agrees exactly with my father's dream, it distressed him so much, and he was struck to the very heart. In the meantime, he took all imaginable care of my education until this present year, which is the fifteenth of my age, and he had notice given him yesterday that the statue of brass had been thrown into the sea about ten days ago, by that same prince I told you of. This news has cost him so many tears and has alarmed him so much, that he does not look like himself.
'Since these predictions of the astrologers, he has sought by all possible means to falsify my horoscope, and to preserve my life. It is not long since he took the precaution to build me this subterranean place to hide in, till the end of the fifty days after the throwing down of the statue; and therefore, since it was ten days ago that this happened, he came hastily hither to hide me to-day, and promised at the end of forty days to come again and fetch me out. For my own part I am in good hope, for I cannot believe that prince Agib will come to look for me in a place underground, in the midst of a desert island.'
While the jeweller's son was telling me this story, I laughed in myself at those astrologers who had foretold that I should take away his life. I thought myself so far from being likely to verify what they said that he had scarcely done speaking when I told him, with great joy, 'Dear sir, put your trust in the goodness of God, and fear nothing. I am glad that after my shipwreck I came so fortunately hither to defend you against all that would attempt your death. I will not leave you till the forty days of which the foolish astrologers have made you apprehensive are ended; and in the meanwhile I will do you all the service that lies in my power.'
This encouraged the jeweller's son, and inspired him with confidence in me. I took care not to tell him I was the very Agib whom he dreaded, lest I should put him into a fright, and took as much care not to give him any cause to suspect it. We passed the time in talking till night came on. I found the young lad of ready wit, and shared in his provisions, of which he had enough to have lasted beyond the forty days, even if he had had more guests than myself. After supper we went to bed.
The next day, when we got up, I held the basin and water for him to wash himself; I also provided dinner, and set it on the table in due time; and after we had done, I invented a game to amuse ourselves, not only for that day but for those that followed. I prepared supper as I had prepared dinner. We had time enough to contract a friendship. I found the boy loved me; and for my part, I had so great a respect for him that I often said to myself, 'Those astrologers who predicted to his father that his son should die by my hand were impostors; for it is not possible that I could commit so base an action.' In short, we spent thirty-nine days in the pleasantest manner that could be in a place like that underground.
The fortieth day appeared; and in the morning, when the young man awoke, he said to me, with a joy that he could not restrain, 'Prince, this is the fortieth day, and I am not dead, thanks to God and your good company. My father will not fail to be here anon, and shall furnish you with all that is necessary for your return to your kingdom. But in the meantime,' said he, 'I beg you to get ready some water very warm that I may wash my whole body in that portable bath, and change my clothes to receive my father.'
I set the water on the fire, and when it was hot, put it into the bath; the youth got in, and I myself washed and rubbed him. Then he laid himself down in his bed, and I covered him with his bedclothes. After he had slept awhile, he awoke, and said, 'Dear Prince, pray do me the favour to fetch me a melon and some sugar, that I may eat some, and be refreshed.'
Out of several melons that remained I took the best, and laid it on a plate; and because I could not find a knife to cut it with, I asked the young man if he knew where there was one. 'There is one,' said he, 'upon this cornice over my head.' I made so much haste to reach it, that while I had it in my hand, my foot became entangled in the bedclothes, and I fell most unhappily upon the young man, and the knife ran into his heart in a minute.
At this I cried out most hideously; I beat my head, my face, and breast; I tore my clothes; I threw myself on the ground with unspeakable sorrow and grief. 'Alas!' I cried, 'there were only some hours wanting to have put him out of that danger from which he sought sanctuary here; and now that I myself thought the danger past, I have become his murderer, and verified the prediction. But, O Lord!' said I, lifting up my face and hands to heaven, 'I entreat thy pardon, and if I be guilty of his death, let me not live any longer.'
After this misfortune, I would have embraced death without any reluctance. But what we wish for ourselves, whether good or bad, will not always happen. Nevertheless, considering that all my tears and sorrow would not bring the young man to life again, and the forty days being ended, I might be surprised by his father, I quitted the subterranean dwelling, laid down the great stone upon the entry of it, and covered it with earth.
I had scarcely done when, casting my eyes upon the sea towards the main land, I perceived the vessel coming to fetch the young man home. I began then to consider what I had better do. I said to myself, 'If I am seen by the old man, he will certainly lay hold of me, and perhaps cause me to be massacred by his slaves, when he has seen that his son is killed: all that I can allege to justify myself will not persuade him of my innocence. It is better for me to withdraw, since it is in my power, than to expose myself to his resentment.'
There happened to be near the subterranean habitation a large tree with thick leaves, which I thought fit to hide in. I got up into it, and was no sooner settled in a place where I could not be seen than I saw the vessel come to the same place as before.
The old man and his slaves landed immediately, and advanced towards the subterranean dwelling, with a countenance that showed some hope; but when they saw that the earth had been newly removed, they changed colour, particularly the old man. They lifted up the stone and went down; they called the young man by his name, but as he did not answer, their fears increased. They went down to seek him, and at length found him lying upon the bed with the knife in his heart, for I had not power to draw it out. At this sight they cried out lamentably, which increased my sorrow; and the old man fell down in a swoon. To give him air the slaves brought him up in their arms, and laid him at the foot of the tree where I was; but notwithstanding all the pains they took to revive him, the unfortunate father continued insensible a long while, and made them oftener than once despair of his life; but at last he came to himself. Then the slaves brought up his son's corpse, dressed in his best apparel; they made a grave, and put him into it. The old man, supported by two slaves, and his face wet with tears, threw the first earth upon him, after which the slaves filled up the grave.
This being done, all the furniture was brought up from underground, and, with the remaining provisions, put on board the vessel. The old man, overcome with sorrow, and not being to stand, was laid upon a sort of litter, and carried to the ship, which stood out to sea, and in a short time was out of sight.
After the old man and his slaves had gone in the vessel, I was left alone upon the island. I slept that night in the subterranean dwelling, which they had shut up; and when the daylight came I walked round the island, and stopped in various places to rest.
I led this wearisome life for a whole month; after which I perceived the sea to have greatly fallen, the island to be much larger, and the mainland to be drawing near me. At last the water sank so low that there was but a small stream between me and the mainland. I crossed it, and the water did not come above the middle of my leg. I walked so long upon the slime and sand that I was very weary; at last I got upon firm ground, and, when at a good distance from the sea, I saw in the distance before me something like a great fire, which gave me comfort. 'For,' I said to myself, 'I shall find somebody or other, it not being possible that this fire should kindle of itself.' But when I came nearer I found my error, and saw that what I had taken for a fire was a castle of red copper, which the beams of the sun made to look, at a distance, as if it had been in flames.
I stopped near the castle, and sat down to admire its structure, and to rest awhile. I had not taken such a full view of this magnificent building as it deserved when I saw ten handsome young men coming along, as if they had been taking a walk. But what most surprised me was that they were all blind of the right eye. They accompanied an old man, who was very tall, and of a venerable aspect.
I could not but wonder at the sight of so many half-blind men all together, and every one blind of the same eye. As I was thinking they came up to me, and seemed very glad to see me. After the first compliments, they inquired what had brought me thither. I told them my story would be somewhat tedious, but if they would take the trouble to sit down, I would satisfy their request. They did so, and I related to them all that had happened since I left my kingdom, which filled them with astonishment.
After I had ended, the young gentlemen begged me to go with them into the castle. I accepted the offer, and we passed through a great many halls, antechambers, and bedchambers, very well furnished, and came at last into a spacious hall, where there were ten small blue sofas set round, separate from one another, upon which they sat by day, and slept by night. In the middle of this circle stood an eleventh sofa, not so high as the rest, but of the same colour, upon which the old man before mentioned sat down, and the young gentlemen made use of the other ten; but as each sofa could only contain one man, one of the young men said to me, 'Comrade, sit down upon that carpet in the middle of the room, and do not inquire into anything that concerns us, nor the reason why we are all blind of the right eye; be content with what you see, and let not your curiosity go any further.'
The old man, having sat a little while, rose up and went out; but he returned in a minute or two, brought in supper to the ten gentlemen, distributed to each man his portion by himself, and likewise brought me mine, which I ate by myself, as the rest did; and when supper was almost ended he presented to each of us a cup of wine.
They thought my story so extraordinary that they made me repeat it after supper, and it furnished conversation for a good part of the night. One of the gentlemen, observing that it was late, said to the old man, 'You see it is time to go to bed, and you do not bring us that with which we may do our duty.' At these words the old man arose and went to a cupboard, from whence he brought out upon his head ten basins, one after another, all covered with blue stuff; he set one before every gentleman, together with a light.
They uncovered their basins, in which there were ashes, coal-dust, and lamp-black; they mixed all together, and rubbed and bedaubed their faces with it in such a manner that they looked very frightful. After having thus blackened themselves, they fell a-weeping and lamenting, beating their heads and breasts, and crying continually, 'This is the fruit of our idleness and wickedness.'
They continued thus almost the whole night, and when they left off the old man brought them water, with which they washed their faces and hands; they changed all their clothes, which were spoiled, and put on others; so that they did not look in the least as if they had been doing so strange an action.
It may be imagined how uneasy I was all the while; I wished a thousand times to break the silence which those young gentlemen had imposed upon me, and to ask questions; nor was it possible for me to sleep that night.
After we got up the next day we went out for a walk, and then I told them, 'Gentlemen, I declare to you that I must renounce that law which you prescribed to me last night, for I cannot observe it. You are men of sense, and do not lack brains; you have convinced me of this; yet I have seen you do such actions as none but madmen could be capable of. Whatever misfortune may befall me, I cannot forbear to ask why you bedaubed your faces with black. How is it that each of you has but one eye? Some singular thing must certainly be the cause of it; therefore I implore you to satisfy my curiosity.' To this they only answered that it was no business of mine to ask such questions, and that I should do well to hold my peace.
We passed that day in conversation on indifferent subjects; and when night was come and every man had finished his supper, the old man brought in the blue basins, and the young gentlemen bedaubed their faces, wept and beat themselves, crying, 'This is the fruit of our idleness and wickedness,' as before, and continued the same actions the following night. At last, not being able to resist my curiosity, I earnestly prayed them to satisfy me, or to show me how to return to my own kingdom; for it was impossible for me to keep them company any longer, and to see every night such an odd spectacle, without being permitted to know the reason.
One of the gentlemen answered in behalf of the rest, 'Do not wonder at our conduct in regard to yourself, and that hitherto we have not granted your request. It is out of mere kindness, to save you from the pain of being reduced to the same condition. If you have a mind to try our unfortunate fate, you need but speak, and we will give you the satisfaction you desire.' I told them I was resolved on it, let what would be the consequence. 'Once more,' said the same gentleman, 'we advise you to restrain your curiosity; it will cost you the loss of your right eye.'
'No matter,' said I; 'I declare to you, that if such a misfortune does befall me, I will impute it not to you, but to myself.'
He further represented to me that when I had lost an eye, I must not hope to stay with them, if I were so minded, because their number was complete, and no addition could be made to it. I told them that it would be a great satisfaction to me never to part from such pleasant gentlemen, but if necessary I was ready to submit; and, let it cost me what it would, I begged them to grant my request.
The ten gentlemen, perceiving that I was so fixed in my resolulution, took a sheep and killed it, and after they had taken off the skin, presented me with a knife, saying it would be useful to me on a certain occasion, which they would tell me of presently. 'We must sew you into this skin,' said they, ' and then leave you; upon which a fowl of a monstrous size, called a roe, will appear in the air, and taking you to be a sheep, will come down upon you, and carry you up to the very sky. But let not that frighten you; he will come down again, and lay you on the top of a mountain. When you find yourself upon the ground, cut the skin with the knife, and throw it off. As soon as the roc sees you, he will fly away in fear, and leave you at liberty: do not stay, but walk on till you come to a prodigiously large castle, covered with plates of gold, large emeralds, and other precious stones. Go up to the gate, which always stands open, and walk in. We were in the castle as long as we have been here; we will tell you nothing of what we saw, or what befell us there; you will learn it yourself; all that we can inform you is that it has cost each of us his right eye, and the penance which you have been witness to is what we are obliged to do because we have been there. The history of each of us is so full of extraordinary adventures that a large volume would not contain them. But we must explain ourselves no further.'
When the gentleman had ended, I wrapt myself in the sheep's skin, and held fast the knife which was given me; and after the young gentleman had taken the trouble to sew the skin about me, they retired into the hall, and left me on the spot. The roc they spoke of was not long in coming; he fell upon me, took me in his talons like a sheep, and carried me up to the top of the mountain.
When I found myself upon the ground, I made use of the knife, cut the skin, and threw it off; the roc at the sight of me flew away. This roc is a white bird, of a monstrous size; his strength is so great that he can lift up elephants from the plains, and carry them to the tops of the mountains, where he feeds upon them.
Being impatient till I reached the castle, I lost no time, but made so much haste that I got thither in half a day's journey; and I must say that I found it surpass the description they had given me.
The gate being open, I entered into a court which was square, and so large that there was round it ninety-nine gates of wood of sanders and aloes, with one of gold, without reckoning those of several magnificent staircases that led to the apartments above, besides many more which I could not see. The hundred doors I spoke of opened into gardens or store-houses full of riches, or into places which contained things wonderful to see.
I saw a door standing open just before me, through which I entered into a large hall, where I found forty young ladies of such perfect beauty that imagination could not surpass it; they were all most sumptuously apparelled. As soon as they saw me, they rose up, and said, with demonstrations of joy, 'Noble sir, you are very welcome.' Then one spoke to me in the name of the rest and said: 'We have been in expectation a long while of such a gentleman as you; your face assures us that you are master of all the good qualities we can wish for; and we hope you will not find our company disagreeable or unworthy of yours.'
They forced me, notwithstanding all the opposition I could make, to take a seat that was higher than their own, and though I signified that I was uncomfortable, 'That is your place,' said they; 'you are at present our lord, master, and judge, and we are your slaves, ready to obey your commands.'
Nothing in the world so much astonished me as the passionate eagerness of those fair ladies to do me all possible service. One brought me hot water to wash my feet, a second poured sweet-scented water on my hands; others brought me all sorts of necessaries, and change of apparel; others brought in a magnificent meal; and the rest came with glasses in their hands to pour out delicious wines, all in good order, and in the most charming manner possible. I ate and drank; after which the ladies placed themselves round me, and desired an account of my travels. I gave them a full history of my adventures, which lasted till night came on.
When I had made an end of my story, some of the forty ladies stayed to keep me company, whilst the rest, seeing that it was dark, rose up to fetch tapers. They brought a prodigious quantity, which made a wonderful light as if it had been day, and they were so well arranged that nothing could be more beautiful.
Other ladies covered a table with dry fruits, sweetmeats, and everything suitable. Some of the ladies came in with musical instruments, and formed a most charming concert. The others began a sort of ball, and danced two and two, one after another, with wonderful grace.
It was past midnight ere all this ended. At length one of the ladies said to me, 'You are doubtless wearied by the journey you have taken to-day; it is time for you to go to rest; your lodging is prepared.'
I was scarcely dressed the next morning when the ladies came in, all in different dresses from those they had on the day before; they bade me good-morrow, and inquired after my health. I continued a whole year among those forty ladies. When the year was ended I was strangely surprised that, instead of appearing with their usual cheerfulness, they entered one morning all in tears. They embraced me with great tenderness one after another, saying, 'Farewell, dear prince, farewell, for we must leave you.' Their tears affected me; I prayed them to tell me the reason of their grief, and of the separation they spoke of. 'Fair ladies, let me know,' said I, 'if it be in my power to comfort you, or if my assistance can be in any way useful to you.' Instead of returning a direct answer, 'Ah,' said they, 'that we had never seen or known you! Several gentlemen have honoured us with their company before; but never one of them had that comeliness, that sweetness, that pleasantness of temper, and that merit which you possess; we know not how to live without you.' After they spoke these words they began to weep bitterly. 'My dear ladies,' said I, 'be so kind as not to keep me in suspense any longer; tell me the cause of your sorrow.'
'Alas,' said they, 'what but the necessity of parting from you could be capable of grieving us? It may happen that we shall never see you again; but if you are so minded, and possess sufficient self-control, it is not impossible for us to meet.'
'Ladies,' said I, 'I understand not your meaning; pray explain yourselves more
'Then,' said one of them, 'we must tell you that we are all princesses, daughters of kings; we live here together, as you have seen. But at the end of every year we are obliged to be absent forty days upon indispensable duties, which we are not permitted to reveal, and afterwards we return again to this castle. Yesterday was the last day of the year, and we must leave you this day, which is the cause of our grief. Before we depart we will leave you the keys of everything, especially those belonging to the hundred doors, where you will find enough to satisfy your curiosity, and to sweeten your solitude during our absence; but for your own welfare we recommend you to forbear opening the golden door, for if you do we shall never see you again, and the fear of this increases our grief. We hope, nevertheless, that you will follow the advice we give you, as you value your own peace and the happiness of your life; therefore take heed that you do not give way to indiscreet curiosity, for you will do yourself considerable mischief. We implore you not to commit this fault, but let us have the satisfaction of finding you here again after forty days. We would willingly carry the key of the golden door away with us, but it would be an affront to a prince like you to question your discretion and modesty.'
This conversation with the fair princesses grieved me extremely. I omitted not to tell them how much their absence would trouble me. I thanked them for their good advice, and assured them that I would follow it, and willingly do what was much more difficult in order to secure the happiness of passing the rest of my days with ladies of such rare qualifications. We took leave of one another with much tenderness, and, after I had embraced them all, they departed, and I was left alone in the castle.
Their agreeable company, the good cheer, the music and other pleasures had so much occupied me during the whole year that I had neither time nor the least desire to see the wonderful things contained in this enchanted palace. I did not so much as take notice of a thousand rare objects that were every day in my sight; for I was so entranced with the charming beauty of the ladies, and took so much pleasure in seeing them, that their departure afflicted me very much, and though their absence was to last only forty days, it seemed to me an age to live without them.
I determined not to forget the important advice they had given me not to open the golden door, but as I was permitted to satisfy my curiosity in everything else, I took the first of the keys of the other doors, which were hung in good order.
I opened the first door, and came into an orchard, which, I believe, the universe could not equal. I could not imagine anything that could surpass it, but that which our religion promises us after death; the symmetry, the neatness, the admirable order of the trees, the abundance and diversity of a thousand unknown fruits, their freshness and beauty, ravished my sight.
This delicious orchard was watered in a very particular manner; there were channels artificially dug which carried water in abundance to the roots of such trees as wanted it for their leaves and flowers. Other channels carried it to those that had their fruit in bud; some carried it in lesser quantities to those whose fruits were swelling, and others only so much as was just requisite to water those which had their fruit come to perfection. They far exceeded the ordinary fruits of our gardens in size. Lastly, those channels that watered the trees whose fruit was ripe had no more moisture in them than just enough to preserve them from withering.
I could never have wearied of looking at and admiring so sweet a place; and I should never have left it, had I not formed a great idea of the other things which I had not seen. I went out at last with my mind filled with these wonders: I shut that door, and opened the next.
Instead of an orchard I found a flower-garden, which was no less extraordinary of its kind. It contained a spacious plot, not watered so profusely as the former, but with greater nicety, furnishing no more water than just what each flower required. The roses, jessamines, violets, daffodils, hyacinths, anemones, tulips, crowsfoots, pinks, lilies, and an infinite number of flowers which do not grow in other places except at certain times, were there flourishing all at once, and nothing could be more delicious than the fragrant scent of this garden.
I opened the third door, where I found a large aviary, paved with marble of several fine uncommon colours. The cage was made of sandal-wood and wood of aloes. It contained a vast number of nightingales, goldfinches, canary-birds, larks, and other rare singing-birds, which I never heard of; and the vessels that held their seed and water were of the most precious jasper or agate.
This aviary was so exceedingly neat that, considering its extent, one would think there must be not less than a hundred persons to keep it so clean; but all this while not one soul had appeared, either here or in the gardens where I had been; and yet I could not perceive a weed, or any superfluous thing there. The sun went down, and I retired, charmed with the chirping notes of the multitude of birds, who then began to perch upon such places as suited them to roost on during the night. I went to my chamber, resolving to open all the rest of the doors the days following, excepting the golden one.
I failed not to open the fourth door next day, and, if what I had seen before was capable of surprising me, that which I saw then put me into a perfect ecstacy. I went into a large court surrounded with buildings of an admirable structure, the description of which I will pass by not to be tedious.
This building had forty doors, all open, and each of them was the entrance into a treasury, which would purchase the largest kingdoms. The first contained heaps of pearls. In the second treasury there were diamonds, carbuncles, and rubies; in the third, emeralds; in the fourth, ingots of gold; in the fifth, money; in the sixth, ingots of silver; in the two following there was also money. The rest contained amethysts, chrysolites, topazes, opals, turquoises, with other stones unknown to us, without mentioning agate, jasper, carnelian and coral, of which there was a storehouse filled, not only with branches but whole trees.
Transported with amazement and admiration, I cried out to myself, after having seen all these riches, 'If all the treasures of the kings of the universe were gathered together in one place, they could not come near this: what good fortune have I to possess all this wealth, with so many admirable princesses!'
I need not recount the particulars of all the other rare and precious things I saw the following days. I shall only say that thirty-nine days afforded me but just so much time as was necessary to open ninety-nine doors, and to admire all that presented itself to my view; so that there was only the hundredth door left, the opening of which was forbidden to me.
I had come to the fortieth day after the departure of those charming princesses, and had I but retained so much power over myself as I ought to have had, I should have been this day the happiest of all mankind, whereas now I am the most unfortunate. They were to return next day, and the pleasure of seeing them again ought to have restrained my curiosity: but through my weakness, which I shall ever repent, I yielded to the temptations of the Evil Spirit, who gave me no rest till I had involved myself in the misfortunes that I have since suffered.
I opened that fatal door, which I had promised not to meddle with, and had not moved my foot to go in when a smell that was pleasant enough, but contrary to my constitution, made me faint away. Nevertheless I came to myself again, and instead of taking notice of this warning to shut the door, and forbear to satisfy my curiosity, I went in after I had stood some time in the air, to carry off the scent, which did not upset me any more. I found a large place, well vaulted; the pavement was strewed over with saffron; several candlesticks of messy gold, with lighted tapers that smelled of aloes and ambergris, lighted the place; and this light was augmented by lamps of gold and silver, that burnt with oil made of sweet-scented materials.
Among a great many objects that arrested my attention was a black horse, of the handsomest and best form that ever was seen. I went nearer, the better to observe him, and found that he had a saddle and bridle of massive gold, curiously wrought. One side of his trough was filled with clean barley and sesame, and the other with rose-water: I took him by the bridle, and led him forth to look at him by a better light. I got on his back, and tried to make him move; but as he did not stir I whipped him with a switch I had taken up in his magnificent stable, and he had no sooner felt the stroke than he began to neigh with a horrible noise, and extending his wings, which I had not seen before, he flew up with me into the air, quite out of sight. I thought of nothing then but how to sit fast; and considering the fear that had seized upon me, I sat very well. He afterwards flew down again towards the earth, and lighting upon the terrace of a castle, without giving me any time to dismount, he shook me out of the saddle with such force that he threw me backwards, and with the end of his tail knocked out my eye.
Then I began to remember the predictions of the ten young gentlemen. The horse flew out of sight. I got up very much troubled at the misfortune I had brought upon myself; I walked upon the terrace, covering my eye with one of my hands, for it pained me exceedingly, and then came down and entered into a hall, which I knew immediately by the ten sofas in a circle, and the eleventh in the middle, lower than the rest, to be in the same castle from whence I had been taken away by the roc.
The ten half-blind gentlemen were not in the hall when I came in, but came soon after with the old man. They were not at all surprised to see me again, nor at the loss of my eye; but said, 'We are sorry that we cannot congratulate you upon your return, as we could have desired: but we are not the cause of your misfortune.' 'I should be in the wrong to accuse you,' said I; 'for I have brought it upon myself, and I can charge the fault upon no other person.' 'If it is any consolation to the unfortunate,' said they, 'to have companions, this example may afford us a subject of rejoicing. All that has happened to you, we have also undergone; we tasted all sorts of pleasure, during a whole year; and we should have continued to enjoy the same happiness had we not opened the golden door when the princesses were absent. You have been no wiser than we were, and have likewise had the same punishment. We would gladly receive you among us, to perform such penance as we do, though we know not how long it may continue: but we have already declared the reasons that hinder us; therefore depart from hence and begone.'
They told me the way I was to travel, and I left them, and returned to my kingdom, where I became a hermit.
THE STORY OF THE GRECIAN KING AND THE PHYSICIAN DOUBAN.


here was in the country of Zouman in Persia, a king, whose subjects were originally Greeks. This king was covered with leprosy, and his physicians in vain endeavoured to cure him. When they were at their wits' end what to prescribe for him, a very able physician, called Douban, arrived at his court.
This physician had learned his science in Greek, Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Latin, Syriac, and Hebrew books; and, besides that, he was an expert philosopher, and fully understood the good and bad qualities of all sorts of plants and drugs. As soon as he was informed of the king's distemper, and understood that his physicians had given him over, he clad himself in the best robes he could procure, and found means to present himself before the king. 'Sir,' said he, 'I know that all your majesty's physicians have not been able to cure you of the leprosy, but if you will do me the honour to accept my services, I will engage to cure you without potions or external applications.'
The king listened to what he said, and answered, 'If you are able to perform what you promise, I will enrich you and your posterity, and, besides the presents I will make you, you shall be my chief favourite. Do you assure me, then, that you will cure me of my leprosy, without making me take any potion, or applying any external medicine?'
'Yes, sir,' replied the physician, 'I promise success, through God's assistance, and to-morrow I will make trial of it.'
The physician returned to his quarters, and made a mallet, hollow within, and at the handle he put in his drugs. He made also a ball in such a manner as suited his purpose, with which, next morning, he presented himself before the king, and, falling down at his feet, kissed the ground.
The physician Douban then rose up, and, after a profound reverence, said to the king that he judged it meet for his majesty to take horse, and go to the place where he was wont to play at polo. The king did so, and when he arrived there, the physician came to him with the mallet, and said to him, 'Sir, exercise yourself with this mallet, and strike the ball with it until you find your hands and your body in a sweat. When the medicine I have put up in the handle of the mallet is heated with your hand it will penetrate your whole body, and as soon as you perspire you may leave off the exercise, for then the medicine will have had its effect. As soon as you return to your palace, go into the bath, and cause yourself to be well washed and rubbed; then go to bed, and when you rise to-morrow you will find yourself cured.'
The king took the mallet and struck the ball, which was returned by the officers that played with him. He struck it again, and played so long that his hand and his whole body were in a sweat, and then the medicine shut up in the handle of the mallet had its operation, as the physician said. At this the king left off playing, returned to his palace, entered the bath, and observed very exactly what his physician had prescribed him.
He was very well after it, and next morning, when he arose, he perceived, with equal wonder and joy, that his leprosy was cured, and his body as clean as if he had never been attacked by that disease. As soon as he was dressed he came into the hall of audience, where he ascended his throne, and showed himself to his courtiers, who, eager to know the success of the new medicine, came thither betimes, and, when they saw the king perfectly cured, all expressed great joy. The physician Douban entered the hall, and bowed himself before the throne, with his face to the ground. The king, perceiving him, called him, made him sit down by his side, showed him to the assembly, and made him eat alone with him at his table.
Towards night, when he was about to dismiss the company, he caused the physician to be clad in a long, rich robe, like those which his favourites usually wore in his presence, and ordered him two thousand sequins. The next day and the day following he continued his favour towards him; in short, the prince, thinking that he could never sufficiently acknowledge his obligations to the able physician, bestowed every day new favours upon him.
But this king had a grand vizier, who was avaricious, envious, and naturally capable of all sorts of mischief. He could not see without envy the presents that were given to the physician, whose other merits had already begun to make him jealous, and therefore he resolved to lessen him in the king's esteem. To effect this he went to the king, and told him in private that he had some advice to give him which was of the greatest concern. The king having asked what it was, 'Sir,' said he, 'it is very dangerous for a monarch to put confidence in a man whose fidelity he has never tried. Though you heap favours upon the physician Douban, your majesty does not know but that he may be a traitor, and have come to this court on purpose to kill you.'
'From whom have you heard this,' answered the king, 'that you dare to tell it to me? Consider to whom you speak, and that you are suggesting a thing which I shall not easily believe.'
'Sir,' replied the vizier, 'I am very well informed of what I have had the honour to represent to your majesty; therefore do not let your dangerous confidence grow to a further height. If your majesty be asleep be pleased to wake, for I once more repeat that the physician Douban did not leave the heart of Greece, his native country, nor come here to settle himself at your court, except to execute the horrible design which I have just now hinted to you.'
'No, no, vizier,' replied the king, 'I am certain that this man, whom you treat as a villain and a traitor, is one of the best and most virtuous men in the world, and there is no man I love so much. You know by what medicine, or rather by what miracle, he cured me of my leprosy. If he had a design upon my life why did he save me? He needed only have left me to my disease. I could not have escaped it, my life was already half gone. Forbear, then, to fill me with unjust suspicions. Instead of listening to you, I tell you that from this day forward I will give that great man a pension of a thousand sequins per month for life. Nay, though I were to share with him all my riches and dominions, I should never pay him enough for what he has done for me. I perceive it to be his worth which raises your envy; but do not think that I will be unjustly possessed with prejudice against him.'
'I am very well assured,' said the vizier, 'that he is a spy sent by your enemies to attempt your majesty's life. He has cured you, you will say, but, alas! who can assure you of that? He has, perhaps, cured you only in appearance, and not radically. Who knows but that the medicine he has given you may, in time, have pernicious effects?'
The Grecian king, who had by nature very little sense, was not able to see through the wicked design of his vizier, nor had he firmness enough to persist in his first opinion. This conversation staggered him. 'Vizier,' said he, 'thou art in the right. He may be come on purpose to take away my life, which he could easily do by the very smell of some of his drugs. We must consider what is proper for us to do in this case.'
When the vizier found the king in such a mood as he wished, 'Sir,' said he, 'the surest and speediest method you can take to secure your life is to send immediately for the physician Douban, and order his head to be cut off as soon as he comes.'
'In truth,' said the king, 'I believe that is the way we must take to put an end to his design.' When he had spoken thus, he called for one of his officers, and ordered him to go for the physician, who, knowing nothing, came to the palace in haste.
'Do you know,' said the king, when he saw him, 'why I sent for you?'
'No, sir,' answered he, 'I wait till your majesty be pleased to inform me.'
'I sent for you,' replied the king, 'to rid myself of you by taking your life.'
No man can express the surprise of the physician when he heard the sentence of death pronounced against him. 'Sir,' said he, 'why would your majesty take my life? What crime have I committed?'
'I am informed on good authority,' replied the king, 'that you came to my court only to attempt my life, but to prevent you I will be sure of yours. Give the blow,' said he, to the executioner, who was present, 'and deliver me from a perfidious wretch, who came hither on purpose to assassinate me.'
When the physician heard this cruel order, he readily judged that the honours and presents he had received from the king had procured him enemies, and that the weak monarch had been imposed on. He repented that he had cured him of his leprosy; but it was now too late. 'Is it thus' replied the physician, 'that you reward me for curing you?' The king would not hearken to him, but a second time ordered the executioner to strike the fatal blow. The physician then had recourse to his prayers: 'Alas! sir,' cried he, 'prolong my days, and God will prolong yours; do not put me to death, lest God treat you in the same manner.'
The Grecian king, instead of having regard to the prayers of the physician, cruelly replied, 'No no; I must of necessity cut you off, otherwise you may take my life away with as much art as you cured me.' The physician melted into tears, and bewailed himself for being so ill rewarded by the king, but prepared for death. The executioner bound up his eyes, tied his hands, and was going to draw his scimitar.
Then the courtiers who were present, being moved with compassion, begged the king to pardon him, assuring his majesty that he was not guilty of the crime laid to his charge, and that they would answer for his innocence; but the king was inflexible, and answered them so as they dared not say any more on the matter.
The physician, being on his knees, his eyes bound, and ready to receive the fatal blow, addressed himself once more to the king: 'Sir,' said he, 'since your majesty will not revoke the sentence of death, I beg, at least, that you would give me leave to return to my house, to give orders about my burial, to bid farewell to my family, to give alms, and to bequeath my books to those who are capable of making good use of them. I have one which I would particularly present to your majesty: it is a very precious book, and worthy to be laid up very carefully in your treasury.' 'Well,' replied the king, 'why is that book so precious?' 'Sir,' said the physician, 'because it contains an infinite number of curious things; of which the chief is that when you have cut off my head, if your majesty will take the trouble to open the book at the sixth leaf, and read the third line of the left page, my head will answer all the questions you ask it.' The king, being curious to see such a wonderful thing, deferred his death till the next day, and sent him home under a strong guard.
The physician put his affairs in order; and report spread that an unheard of miracle was to happen after his death, the viziers, emirs, officers of the guard, and, in a word, the whole court, repaired next day to the hall of audience, that they might witness it.
The physician Douban was soon brought in, and advanced to the foot of the throne, with a great book in his hand: then he called for a basin, upon which he laid the cover that the book was wrapped in, and presented the book to the king. ' Sir,' said he, 'take that book, if you please. As soon as my head is cut off, order that it be put into the basin upon the cover of the book; as soon as it is put there, the bleeding will stop: then open the book, and my head will answer your questions. But sir,' said he, 'permit me once more to implore your majesty's clemency; for God's sake grant my request, I protest to you that I am innocent.' 'Your prayers,' answered the king, 'are in vain; and, were it for nothing but to hear your head speak after your death, it is my will that you should die.' As he said this, he took the book out of the physician's hand, and ordered the executioner to do his duty.
The head was so dexterously cut off that it fell into the basin, and was no sooner laid upon the cover of the book than the bleeding stopped. Then, to the great surprise of the king and all the spectators, it opened its eyes, and said, 'Sir, will your majesty be pleased to open the book?' The king opened it, and finding that one leaf was as it were glued to another, he put his finger to his mouth that he might turn it with the more ease. He did so till he came to the sixth leaf, and finding no writing in the place where he was bidden to look for it, 'Physician,' said he to the head, 'there is nothing written.'
'Turn over some more leaves,' replied the head. The king continued to turn over, always putting his finger to his mouth, until the poison, with which each leaf was imbrued, came to have its effect; all of a sudden he was taken with an extraordinary fit, his eyesight failed, and he fell down at the foot of the throne in violent convulsions.
When the physician Douban, or rather his head, saw that the poison had taken effect and that the king had but a few moments to live, 'Tyrant,' it cried, 'now you see how princes are treated who, abusing their authority, cut off innocent men. Soon or late God punishes their injustice and cruelty.' Scarcely had the head spoken these words when the king fell down dead, and the head itself lost what life it had.
THE STORY OF ALADDIN; OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP.


n the capital of one of the large and rich provinces of the kingdom of China there lived a tailor, whose name was Mustapha, so poor, that he could hardly, by his daily labour, maintain himself and his family, which consisted of a wife and son.
His son, who was called Aladdin, had been brought up after a very careless and idle manner, and by that means had contracted many vicious habits. He was wicked, obstinate, and disobedient to his father and mother, who, when he grew up, could not keep him within doors, but he would go out early in the morning, and stay out all day, playing in the streets and public places with little vagabonds of his own age.
When he was old enough to learn a trade, his father, not being able to put him out to any other, took him into his own shop, and showed him how to use his needle; but neither good words nor the fear of chastisement were capable of fixing his attention. All that his father could do to keep him at home to mind his work was in vain; for no sooner was his back turned than Aladdin was gone for that day. Mustapha chastised him, but Aladdin was incorrigible; and his father, to his great grief, was forced to abandon him to his own devices; and was so much troubled at not being able to reclaim him, that he fell into an illness, of which he died in a few months.
The mother of Aladdin, finding that her son would not follow his father's business, shut up the shop, sold off the implements of the trade, and with the money she got for them, and what she could get by spinning cotton, hoped to maintain herself and her son.
Aladdin, who was now no longer restrained by the fear of a father, and who cared so little for his mother that, whenever she chid him, he would fly in her face, gave himself entirely over to dissipation, and was never out of the streets from his companions. This course he followed till he was fifteen years old, without giving his mind to any thing whatever, or the least reflection on what would become of him. Things being thus, as he was one day playing, according to custom, in the street, with his vagabond troop, a stranger passing by stood still to observe him.
This stranger was a famous magician, called the African Magician, as he was a native of Africa, and had been but two days come from thence.
The African magician had observed in Aladdin's countenance something which was absolutely necessary for the execution of the plan he came about; he inquired artfully about his family, who he was, and what was his disposition; and when he had learned all he desired to know, he went up to him, and taking him aside from his comrades, said to him, 'Child, was not your father called Mustapha the tailor?'
'Yes, sir,' answered Aladdin, 'but he has been dead a long time.'
At these words the African magician threw his arms about Aladdin's neck, and kissed him several times with tears in his eyes. 'Alas! my son,' cried the African magician with a sigh, 'how can I forbear? I am your uncle; your good father was my own brother. 1 have been a great many years abroad travelling, and now that I am come home in the hope of seeing him, you tell me he is dead. It is a great grief to me to be deprived of the comfort I expected. But it is some relief that, so far as I can remember him, you are so like him.' Then he asked Aladdin, putting his hand into his purse, where his mother lived; and as soon as Aladdin had informed him, he gave him a handful of small money, saying 'Go, my son, to your mother, give my love to her, and tell her that I will come and see her to-morrow, if I have time, that I may have the satisfaction of seeing where my good brother lived so long, and ended his days.'
As soon as the African magician left his newly-adopted nephew, Aladdin ran to his mother, overjoyed at the money his uncle had given him. 'Mother,' said he, 'have I an uncle?'
'No, child,' replied his mother, 'you have no uncle on your father's side, or mine.'
'I have just now come,' answered Aladdin, 'from a man who says he is my uncle on my father's side, assuring me that he is his brother. He cried and kissed me when I told him my father was dead; and to show you that what I tell you is the truth,' added he, pulling out the money, 'see what he has given me; he charged me to give his love to you, and to tell you, if he has any time to-morrow, he will come and pay you a visit, that he may see the house my father lived and died in.'
'Indeed, child,' replied his mother, 'your father had a brother, but he has been dead a long time, and I never heard of another.'
The mother and son talked no more then of the African magician; but the next day Aladdin's uncle found him playing in another part of the town with other children, and embracing him as before, put two pieces of gold into his hand, and said to him, 'Carry this, child, to your mother, and tell her that I will come and see her to-night, and bid her get us something for supper; but first show me the house where you live.'
After Aladdin had showed the African magician the house, he carried the two pieces of gold to his mother, and when he had told her of his uncle's intention, she went out and bought provisions. She spent the whole day in preparing the supper; and at night, when it was ready, she said to Aladdin, 'Perhaps your uncle knows not how to find our house; go and see, and bring him if you meet with him.'
Though Aladdin had showed the magician the house, he was very ready to go, when somebody knocked at the door, which Aladdin immediately opened; and the magician came in loaded with wine, and all sorts of fruit, which he had brought for dessert.
After the African magician had given what he brought into Aladdin's hands, he saluted his mother, and desired her to show him the place where his brother Mustapha used to sit on the sofa; and when she had so done, he presently fell down and kissed it several times, crying out, with tears in his eyes, 'My poor brother! how unhappy am I, not to have come soon enough to give you one last embrace '' Aladdin's mother desired him to sit down in the same place, but he would not. 'No,' said he, 'I shall take care how I do that; but give me leave to sit here over against it, that if I am deprived of seeing the master of a family so dear to me, I may at least have the pleasure of seeing the place where he used to sit.' Aladdin's mother pressed him no farther, but left him at liberty to sit where he pleased.
When the magician had sat down, he began to enter into conversation with Aladdin's mother: 'My good sister,' said he, 'do not be surprised at your never having seen me all the time you were married to my brother Mustapha, of happy memory. I have been forty years absent from this country, which is my native place, as well as my late brother's; and during that time have travelled into the Indies, Persia, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt, and have resided in the finest towns of those countries; and afterwards crossed over into Africa, where I made a longer stay. At last, as it is natural for a man, how distant soever it may be, to remember his native country, relations, and acquaintances, I was very desirous to see mine again, and to embrace my dear brother; and finding I had strength and courage enough to undertake so long a journey, I immediately made the necessary preparations, and set out. I will not tell you the time it took me, all the obstacles I met with, what fatigues I have endured, to come hither; but nothing ever mortified and afflicted me so much as hearing of my brother's death, for whom I always had a brotherly love and friendship. I observed his features in the face of my nephew, your son, and distinguished him from among a number of children with whom he was at play; he can tell you how I received the most melancholy news that ever reached my ears. But it is a comfort to me to find him again in a son who has his most remarkable features.'
The African magician, perceiving that Aladdin's mother began to weep at the remembrance of her husband, changed the conversation, and turning towards Aladdin, asked him his name.
'I am called Aladdin,' said he.
'Well, Aladdin,' replied the magician, 'what business do you follow? Are you of any trade?'
At this question Aladdin hung down his head, and was not a little abashed when his mother made answer, 'Aladdin is an idle fellow; his father, when alive, strove all he could to teach him his trade, but could not succeed; and since his death, notwithstanding all I can say to him, he does nothing but idle away his time in the streets, as you saw him, without considering that he is no longer a child; and if you do not make him ashamed of it, and make him leave it off, I despair of his ever coming, to any good. He knows that his father left him no fortune and sees me endeavour to get bread by spinning cotton every day; for my part, I am resolved one of these days to turn him out of doors, and let him provide for himself.'
After these words, Aladdin's mother burst into tears; and the magician said, 'This is not well, nephew; you must think of helping yourself, and getting your livelihood. There are a great many sorts of trades; consider if you have not a liking for some of them; perhaps you did not like your father's trade, and would prefer another: come, do not disguise your feelings from me; I will endeavour to help you.' But finding that Aladdin returned no answer, 'If you have no mind,' continued he, 'to learn any trade and prove an honest man, I will take a shop for you, and furnish it with all sorts of fine stuffs and linens, and set you to trade with them; and the money you make of them lay out in fresh goods, and then you will live in an honourable way. Tell me freely what you think of it: you shall always find me ready to keep my word.'
This proposal greatly flattered Aladdin, who mortally hated work, and had sense enough to know that such shops were very much esteemed and frequented, and the owners honoured and respected. He told the magician he had a greater liking for that business than for any other, and that he should be very much obliged to him all his life for his kindness. 'Since this profession is agreeable to you,' said the African magician, 'I will take you with me to-morrow, and clothe you as richly and handsomely as the best merchants in the city, and after that we will think of opening such a shop as I mean.'
Aladdin's mother, who never till then could believe that the magician was her husband's brother, no longer doubted it after his promises of kindness to her son. She thanked him for his good intentions; and after having exhorted Aladdin to render himself worthy of his uncle's favour by his good behaviour, served up supper, at which they talked of several indifferent matters; and then the magician, who saw that the night was pretty far advanced, took his leave of the mother and son, and retired.
He came again the next day, as he promised, and took Aladdin with him to a great merchant, who sold all sorts of clothes for different ages and ranks, ready made, and a variety of fine stuffs. He asked to see some that suited Aladdin in size; and after choosing a suit which he liked best, and rejecting others which he did not think handsome enough, he bid Aladdin choose those he preferred. Aladdin, charmed with the liberality of his new uncle, made choice of one, and the magician immediately bought it, and all things necessary, and paid for it without haggling.
When Aladdin found himself so handsomely equipped from top to toe, he returned his uncle all imaginable thanks: who, on the other hand, promised never to forsake him, but always to take him with him; which he did to the most frequented places in the city, and particularly to where the chief merchants kept their shops. When he brought him into the street where they sold the richest stuffs and finest linens, he said to Aladdin, 'As you are soon to be a merchant as well as these, it is proper you should frequent these shops, and be acquainted with them.' Then he show' d him the largest and finest mosques, and took him to the khans or inns where the merchants and travellers lodged, and afterwards to the sultan's palace, where he had free access; and at last he took him to his own khan, where, meeting with some merchants he had got acquainted with since his arrival, he treated them, to make them and his pretended nephew acquainted.
This treat lasted till night, when Aladdin would have taken his leave of his uncle to go home; but the magician would not let him go by himself, but conducted him safe to his mother, who, as soon as she saw him so finely dressed, was transported with joy, and bestowed a thousand blessings upon the magician, for being at so great an expense for her child. 'Generous relation!' said she, 'I know not how to thank you for your liberality! I know that my son is not deserving of your favours; and was he never so grateful, he would be unworthy of them. For my part,' added she, 'I thank you with all my soul, and hope you may live long enough to be a witness of my son's gratitude, which he cannot better show than by regulating his conduct by your good advice.'
'Aladdin,' replied the magician, 'is a good boy, and minds well enough, and I believe we shall do very well; but I am sorry for one thing, which is, that I cannot perform to-morrow what I promised, because it is Friday, and the shops will be shut up, and therefore we cannot hire or furnish one, but must leave it till Saturday. But I will call on him to-morrow, and take him to walk in the gardens, where the most fashionable people generally walk. Perhaps he has never seen these amusements, he has only been hitherto among children; but now he must see men.' Then the African magician took his leave of the masher and son, and retired. Aladdin, who was overjoyed to be so well clothed, looked forward to the pleasure of walking in the gardens which lay about the town. He had never been out of the town, nor seen the environs, which were very beautiful and pleasant.
Aladdin rose early the next morning, and dressed himself, to be ready when his uncle called on him; and after he had waited some time, he began to be impatient, and stood watching for him at the door; but as soon as he perceived him coming, he told his mother, took leave of her, and ran to meet him.
The magician caressed Aladdin when he came to him. 'Come along, my dear child,' said he, 'and I will show you fine things.' Then he led him out at one of the gates of the city, to some large fine houses, or rather palaces, with beautiful gardens, into which anybody might go. At every house he came to, he asked Aladdin if he did not think it fine; and Aladdin was ready to answer, 'Here is a finer house, uncle, than any we have seen yet.' By this artifice, the cunning magician got Aladdin a good long way into the country; and, pretending to be tired, the better to rest Aladdin, he took the opportunity to sit down in one of the gardens by a fountain of clear water, which fell from a lion's mouth of bronze into a great basin, Come, nephew,' said he, you must be weary as well as I let us rest ourselves, and we shall be better able to walk.'
After they had sat down, the magician pulled from his girdle a handkerchief with cakes and fruit, which he had provided on purpose, and laid them on the edge of the basin. He broke a cake in two, gave one half to Aladdin, and ate the other himself. During this short repast, he exhorted his nephew to leave off keeping company with children, and to seek that of wise and prudent men, to improve by their conversation; 'for,' said he, 'you will soon be at man's estate, and you cannot too early begin to imitate them.' When they had eaten as much as they liked, they got up, and pursued their walk through the gardens, which were separated from one another only by small ditches, which marked out the limits without interrupting the communication: so great was the confidence the inhabitants reposed in each other. By this means, the African magician drew Aladdin insensibly beyond the gardens, and crossed the country, till they almost came to the mountains.
Aladdin, who had never been so far in his life before, began to feel much tired with so long a walk, and said to the magician, 'Where are we going, uncle? We have left the gardens a great way behind us, and I see nothing but mountains; if we go much further, I do not know whether I shall be able to reach the town again.'
'Never fear, nephew,' said the false uncle; 'I will show you another garden which surpasses all we have yet seen; it is not far off, it is but a little step; and when we come there, you will say that you would have been sorry to be so near it, and not to have seen it.' Aladdin was soon persuaded; and the magician, to make the way seem shorter and less fatiguing, told him a great many stories
At last they came between two mountains of moderate height and equal size, divided by a narrow valley, which was the place where the magician intended to bring Aladdin, to put into execution a design that had brought him from Africa to China. 'We will go no further, now,' said he to Aladdin: 'I will show you here some very extraordinary things, such as nobody ever saw before; when you have seen them, you will thank me; but while I strike fire, do you gather up all the loose dry sticks you can see, to kindle a fire with.'
Aladdin found there so many dried sticks that, before the magician had lighted a match, he had gathered up a great heap. The magician presently set them on fire, and when they were all in a blaze, the magician threw in some incense he had about him, which raised a great cloud of smoke. This he dispersed on each side, by pronouncing several magical words which Aladdin did not understand.
At the same time the earth trembled a little, and opened just before the magician and Aladdin, and showed a stone about half a yard square, laid horizontally, with a brass ring fixed into the middle of it, to raise it up by. Aladdin was so frightened at what he saw, that he would have run away; but he was to be useful to the magician, who caught hold of him, scolded him, and gave him such a box on the ear that he knocked him down, and nearly beat his teeth down his throat. Poor Aladdin got up again trembling, and, with tears in his eyes, said to the magician, 'What have I done, uncle, to be treated in this severe manner?'
'I have my reasons for it,' replied the magician: 'I am your uncle, and supply the place of your father, and you ought to make no reply. But, child,' added he, softening, 'do not be afraid of anything; for I shall not ask anything of you, except that you should obey me punctually, if you would reap the advantages which I intended you should.' These fair promises calmed Aladdin's fears and resentment; and when the magician saw that he was come to himself, he said to him: 'You see what I have done by virtue of my incense, and the words I pronounced. Know, then, that under this stone there is hidden a treasure, which is destined to be yours, and which will make you richer than the greatest monarch in the world: this is so true, that no other person but yourself is permitted to touch this stone, and to pull it up and go in; for I am forbidden ever to touch it, or to set foot in this treasure when it is opened; so you must without fail execute what I tell you, for it is a matter of great consequence both to you and to me.'
Aladdin, amazed at all he saw and heard the magician say of the treasure, which was to make him happy for ever, forgot what was past, and rising up, said to the magician: 'Well, uncle, what is to be done? Command me; I am ready to obey you.'
'I am overjoyed, child,' said the African magician, embracing him, 'to see you make the resolution: come, take hold of the ring, and lift up that stone.'
'Indeed, uncle,' replied Aladdin, 'I am not strong enough to lift it; you must help me.'
'You have no occasion for my assistance,' answered the magician; 'if I help you, we shall not be able to do anything; you must lift it up yourself; take hold of the ring, only pronounce the names of your father and grandfather, then lift it up, and you will find it will come easily.' Aladdin did as the magician bade him, and raised the stone with a great deal of ease, and laid it on one side.
When the stone was pulled up, there appeared a cavity of about three or four feet deep, with a little door, and steps to go down lower.
'Observe, my son,' said the African magician, 'what I am going to say to you: go down into that cave, and when you are at the bottom of those steps you will find a door open, which will lead you into a large vaulted place, divided into three great halls, in each of which you will see four large brass vessels placed on each side, full of gold and silver; but take care you do not meddle with them. Before you go into the first hall, be sure to tuck up your gown, and wrap it well about you, and then go through the second into the third without stopping. Above all take care that you do not touch the walls, so much as with your clothes; for if you do, you will die instantly. At the end of the third hall, you will find a door which leads into a garden planted with fine trees loaded with fruit; walk direct across the garden by a path which will lead you to five steps that will bring you upon a terrace, where you will see a niche before you, and in that niche a lighted lamp. Take the lamp down, and put it out; when you have thrown away the wick, and poured out the liquor, put it in your breast and bring it to me. Do not be afraid that the liquor will spoil your clothes, for it is not oil; and the lamp will be dry as soon as it is thrown out. If you have a mind for any of the fruit in the garden, you may gather as much as you please.'
After these words, the magician drew a ring off his finger, and put it upon one of Aladdin's, telling him that it was a charm against all evil, so long as he observed what he had prescribed to him. After these instructions he said, 'Go down boldly, child, and we shall both be rich all our lives.'
Aladdin jumped into the cave, went down the steps, and found the three halls just as the African magician had described them. He went through them with all the precaution the fear of death could inspire; crossed the garden without stopping, took down the lamp from the niche, threw out the wick and the liquor, and, as the magician told him, put it in his bosom. But as he came down from the terrace, he stopped in the garden to observe the fruit, which he had only had a glimpse of in crossing it. All the trees were loaded with extraordinary fruit, of different colours on each tree. Some bore fruit entirely white, and some clear and transparent as crystal; some pale red, and others deeper; some green, blue, and purple, and others yellow: in short there were fruits of all colours. The white were pearls; the clear and transparent, diamonds; the deep red, rubies; the paler, ballas rubies; the green; emeralds ; the blue, turquoises; the purple, amethysts; and those that were of yellow cast, sapphires; and so on with the rest. All these fruits were so large and beautiful that nothing was ever seen like them. Aladdin was altogether ignorant of their value, and would have preferred figs and grapes, or any other fruits instead. And though he took them only for coloured glass of little value, yet he was so pleased with the colours and the beauty and extraordinary size of the fruit, that he gathered some of every sort; and accordingly filled his two pockets, and the two new purses his uncle had bought for him with the clothes; and as he could not put them in his pockets, he fastened them to his girdle. Some he wrapped up in the skirts of his gown, which was of silk, large and wrapping, and crammed his breast as full as it could hold.
Having thus loaded himself with riches he knew not the value of, Aladdin returned through the three halls with the same precaution, and made all the haste he could, that he might not make his uncle wait, and soon arrived at the mouth of the cave, where the African magician awaited him with the utmost impatience. As soon as Aladdin saw him, he cried out, 'Pray, uncle, lend me your hand, to help me out.'
'Give me the lamp first,' replied the magician, 'it will be troublesome to you.'
' Indeed, uncle,' answered Aladdin, 'I cannot now; it is not troublesome to me: but I will as soon as I am up.'
The African magician was so obstinate, that he would have the lamp before he would help him up; and Aladdin, who had encumbered himself so much with his fruit that he could not well get at it, refused to give it to him till he was out of the cave. The African magician, provoked at this obstinate refusal of the lad, flew into a terrible passion, and threw a little of his incense into the fire, which he had taken care to keep in, and no sooner had he pronounced two magical words than the stone which had closed the mouth of the cave moved into its place, with the earth over it, in the same manner as it had been at the arrival of the magician and Aladdin.
This action of the African magician plainly showed him to be neither Aladdin's uncle, nor Mustapha the tailor's brother; but a true African. For as Africa is a country whose inhabitants delight more in magic than those of any other part of the whole world, he had applied himself to it from his youth; and after about forty years' experience in enchantments, fumigations, and reading of magic books, he had found out that there was in the world a wonderful lamp, the possession of which, if he could obtain it, would render him more powerful than any monarch in the world; and by a recent operation he found out that this lamp lay concealed in a subterranean place in the midst of China. Fully persuaded of the truth of this discovery, he set out from the furthest part of Africa; and after a long and fatiguing journey, he came to the town nearest to this treasure. But though he had a certain knowledge of the place where the lamp was, he was not permitted to take it himself, nor to enter the subterranean place where it was, but must receive it from the hands of another person. For this reason he addressed himself to Aladdin, whom he looked upon as a young lad of no consequence, and fit to serve his purpose, resolving, as soon as he got the lamp into his hands, to sacrifice poor Aladdin to his avarice and wickedness by making the fumigation mentioned before, and saying those two magical words, the effect of which was to remove the stone into its place again, that he might have no witness of what he had done.
The blow he gave Aladdin, and the authority he assumed over him, were only to accustom him to fear him, and to make him obey the more readily, and give him the lamp as soon as he asked for it. But his too great hurry in executing his wicked intention on poor Aladdin, and his fear lest somebody should come that way during their dispute and discover what he wished to keep secret, produced an effect quite contrary to what he proposed.
When the African magician saw that all his great hopes were frustrated for ever, he started that same day for Africa; but went quite round the town, and at some distance from it, for fear lest any persons who had seen him walk out with the boy should see him come back without him, entertain suspicions, and stop him.
According to all appearances there was no prospect of Aladdin being heard of any more. But when the magician plotted his death, he had forgotten the ring he put on his finger, which preserved him, though he knew not its virtue; and it is amazing that the loss of that, together with the lamp, did not drive the magician to despair; but magicians are so much used to misfortunes that they do not lay them to heart, but still feed themselves, all their lives, with unsubstantial notions.
As for Aladdin, who never suspected this bad usage from his pretended uncle, after all his caresses and what he had done for him, his surprise is more easily imagined than described. When he found himself buried alive, he cried, and called out to his uncle, to tell him he was ready to give him the lamp; but all in vain, since his cries could not be heard, and he remained in this dark abode. At last, when he had quite tired himself out with crying, he went to the bottom of the steps, to get into the garden, where it was light; but the door, which was opened before by enchantment, was now shut by the same means. Then he redoubled his cries and tears, and sat down on the steps, without any hope of ever seeing the light again, and in a melancholy certainty of passing from the present darkness into a speedy death.
Aladdin remained in this state for two days, without eating or drinking, and on the third day looked upon death as inevitable. Clasping his hands with entire resignation, he said, 'There is no strength or power but in the great and high God.' In joining his hands he rubbed the ring which the magician had put on his finger, and of which he knew not yet the virtue, and immediately a genie of enormous size and frightful look rose out of the earth, his head reaching the vault, and said to him, 'What wouldst thou? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all who have the ring on thy finger; I and the other slaves of that ring.'
At another time, Aladdin, who had not been used to such visions, would have been so frightened, that he would not have been able to speak; but the danger he was in made him answer without hesitation, 'Whoever thou art, deliver me from this place, if thou art able.' He had no sooner made an end of these words, than the earth opened, and he found himself on the very spot where the magician had first brought him.
It was some time before Aladdin's eyes could bear the light, after having been so long in total darkness: but after he had endeavoured by degrees to look about him, he was very much surprised not to find the earth open, and could not comprehend how he had got so soon out of it. There was nothing to be seen but the place where the fire had been, by which he could nearly judge whereabouts the cave was. Then turning towards the town, he perceived it in the midst of the gardens that surrounded it, and knew the way back by which the magician had brought him; then, returning God thanks to see himself once more in the world, where he had never expected to be, he made the best of his way home. When he got to his mother's door, his joy at seeing her, and his faintness for want of food for three days, made him swoon, and he remained for a long time as dead. His mother, who had given him over for lost or dead, seeing him in this condition, omitted nothing to bring him to himself again. As soon as he recovered, the first words he spake, were, 'Pray, mother, give me something to eat, for I have not put a morsel of anything into my mouth these three days.' His mother brought what she had, and set it before him. 'My son,' said she, 'be not too eager, for it is dangerous; eat but a little at a time, and take care of yourself. Besides, I would not have you talk; you will have time enough to tell me what has happened to you, when you have recovered. It is a great comfort to me to see you again, after the grief I have been in since Friday, and the pains I have taken to learn what had become of you, ever since night came, and you had not returned.'
Aladdin took his mother's advice, and ate and drank moderately. When he had done, 'Mother,' said he, 'you believed he was my uncle, as well as I; and what other thoughts could we entertain of a man who was so kind to me? But I must tell you, mother, he is a rogue and a cheat, and only did what he did, and made me all those promises, to accomplish my death; but for what reason neither you nor I can guess. For my part, I can assure you I never gave him any cause to deserve the least ill treatment from him. You shall judge of it yourself, when you have heard all that passed from the time I left you, till he came to the execution of his wicked plan.'
Then Aladdin began to tell his mother all that had happened to him from the Friday, when the magician took him to see the palaces and gardens about the town, and what happened on the way, till they came to the place between the two mountains, where the strange deeds were performed; how, with incense which the magician threw into the fire, and some magical words which he pronounced, the earth opened, and discovered a cave, which led to an inestimable treasure. He did not forget the blow the magician gave him, and in what manner he softened again, and got him by great promises, putting a ring on his finger, to go down into the cave. He did not omit the least item of what he saw in crossing the three halls and the garden, and in taking the wonderful lamp, which he showed to his mother, as well as the transparent fruit of different colours, which he had gathered in the garden as he returned. But, though these fruits were precious stones, brilliant as the sun, she was as ignorant of their worth as her son, and cared nothing for them. She had been brought up in a middling rank of life, and her husband's poverty prevented his being possessed of such things, nor had she, or her relations or neighbours, ever seen them; so that we must not wonder that she looked on them as things of no value, and only pleasing to the eye by the variety of their colours.
Aladdin put them behind one of the cushions of the sofa he sat upon, and continued his story. When he came to the end, he said to his mother, 'I need say no more; you know the rest. This is my adventure, and the danger I have been exposed to since you saw me.'
Aladdin's mother heard, with patience, this surprising and wonderful story, though it caused no small affliction to a mother who loved her son tenderly; but yet in the part which disclosed the perfidy of the African magician, she could not help showing, by the greatest indignation how much she detested him; and when Aladdin had finished his story, she broke out into a thousand reproaches against that vile impostor. She called him perfidious traitor, barbarian, assassin, deceiver, magician, and an enemy and destroyer of mankind. 'Without doubt, child,' added she, 'he is a magician, and they are plagues to the world, and by their enchantments and sorceries have commerce with the Evil One. Bless God for preserving you from his wicked designs; for your death would have been inevitable, if you had not called upon Him, and implored His assistance.' She said a great deal more against the magician's treachery; but finding that whilst she talked her son Aladdin began to nod, she put him to bed.
Aladdin, who had not had one wink of sleep while he was in the subterranean abode; slept very heartily all that night, and never waked till late the next morning; when the first thing he said to his mother was, he wanted something to eat. 'Alas! child,' said she, 'I have not a bit of bread to give you; you ate up all the provisions I had in the house yesterday; but have a little patience, and it shall not be long before I will bring you some: I have a little cotton, which I have spun; I will go and sell it, and buy bread, and something for our dinner.'
'Mother,' replied Aladdin, 'keep your cotton for another time, and give me the lamp I brought home with me yesterday; I will go and sell that, and the money I shall get for it will serve both for breakfast and dinner, and perhaps supper too.'
Aladdin's mother took the lamp, and said to her son, 'Here it is, but it is very dirty; if it was a little cleaner I believe it would fetch something more.' She took a little fine sand and water to clean it; but no sooner had she begun to rub it than a hideous genie of gigantic size appeared before her, and said in a voice like thunder, '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; I, and the other slaves of the lamp.'
Aladdin's mother was not able to speak at the sight of this frightful genie, but fainted away; when Aladdin, who had seen such a genie in the cavern, without losing time on reflection, snatched the lamp out of his mother's hands, and said to the genie boldly, 'I am hungry; bring me something to eat.' The genie disappeared immediately, and in an instant returned with a large silver basin on his head, and twelve covered plates of the same metal, which contained excellent meats; six large white loaves on two other plates, two bottles of wine, and two silver cups in his hands. All these things he placed upon a table, and disappeared; and all this was done before Aladdin's mother came out of her swoon.
Aladdin went and fetched some water, and threw it on her face, to recover her. Whether that or the smell of the meats the genie procured brought her to life again, it was not long before she came to herself. 'Mother,' said Aladdin, 'do not mind this; it is nothing at all; get up, and come and eat; do not let such fine meat get cold, but fall to.'
His mother was very much surprised to see the great basin, twelve plates, six loaves, and the two bottles and cups, and to smell the delicious odour which exhaled from the plates. 'Child,' said she to Aladdin, 'to whom are we indebted for this great plenty? Has the sultan been made acquainted with our poverty, and had compassion on us?'
'It is no matter, mother,' said Aladdin; 'let us sit down and eat; for you are in almost as much need of a good breakfast as myself; when we have done, I will tell you.' Accordingly both mother and son sat down, and ate with first-rate appetites. But all the time Aladdin's mother could not forbear looking at and admiring the basin and plates, though she could not well tell whether they were silver or any other metal, so little accustomed were she and her son to see such things.
In short, the mother and son sat at breakfast till it was dinnertime, and then they thought it would be best to put the two meals together; yet after this they found they should have enough left for supper, and two meals for the next day.
When Aladdin's mother had taken away and set by what was left, she went and sat down by her son on the sofa. 'Aladdin,' said she, 'I expect now that you should tell me exactly what passed between the genie and you while I was in a swoon'; which he at once complied with.
She was in as great amazement at what her son told her as at the appearance of the genie; and said to him, 'But, son, what have we to do with genies? I never in my life heard that any of my acquaintance had ever seen one. How came that vile genie to address himself to me, and not to you, to whom he had appeared before in the cave?'
'Mother,' answered Aladdin, 'the genie you saw is not the same who appeared to me, though he resembles him in size; no, they had quite a different appearance and habits; they belong to different masters. If you remember, he that I first saw called himself the slave of the ring on my finger; and this one you saw called himself the slave of the lamp you had in your hand: but you did not hear him, for I think you fainted away as soon as he began to speak.'
'What!' cried his mother, 'was your lamp the occasion of that cursed genie's addressing himself to me rather than to you. Ah! my son, take it out of my sight, and put it where you please. I will never touch it. I had rather you would sell it than run the risk of being frightened to death again by touching it: and if you would take my advice, you would part also with the ring, and not have anything to do with genies, who, as our prophet has told us, are only devils.'
'With your leave, mother,' replied Aladdin, 'I shall take care how I sell a lamp which may be so serviceable both to you and me. Have you not seen what it has procured us? It shall still continue to furnish us with subsistence. My false and wicked uncle would not have taken so much pains, and undertaken so long and tedious a journey, if it had not been to get into his possession this wonderful lamp, which he preferred before all the gold and silver which he knew was in the halls, and which I have seen with my own eyes. He knew too well the merit and worth of this lamp; and since chance has shown the virtue of it to us, let us make a profitable use of it, without making any great stir, and drawing the envy and jealousy of our neighbours upon us. However, since the genies frighten you so much, I will take it out of your-sight, and put it where I may find it when I want it. As for the ring, I cannot resolve to part with that either, for without that you would never have seen me again; and though I am alive now, perhaps, if it was gone, I might not be so some moments hence; therefore I hope you will give me leave to keep that, and to wear it always on my finger. Who knows what dangers you and I may be exposed to, which neither of us can foresee, and from which it may deliver us?'
As Aladdin's arguments were just, and had great weight, his mother had nothing to say against them; but only replied, that he might do what he pleased, but for her part she would have nothing to do with genies, but would wash her hands of them, and never say anything more about them.
By the next day they had eaten all the provisions the genie had brought; and the next day Aladdin, who could not bear the thought of hunger, took one of the silver plates under his coat and went out early to sell it, and addressing himself to a Jew whom he met in the streets, took him aside, and pulling out the plate, asked him if he would buy it. The cunning Jew took the plate and examined it, and no sooner found that it was good silver than he asked Aladdin at how much he valued it. Aladdin, who knew not the value of it, and never had been used to such traffic, told him he would trust to his judgment and honour. The Jew was somewhat taken aback at this plain dealing; and, doubting whether Aladdin understood the material or the full value of what he offered him, he took a piece of gold out of his purse and gave it him, though it was but the sixtieth part of the worth of the plate. Aladdin took the money very eagerly, and as soon as he got it in his pocket, retired with so much haste, that the Jew, not content with his exorbitant profit, was vexed he had not penetrated into Aladdin's ignorance, and was going to run after him to get some change out of the piece of gold; but Aladdin ran so fast, and had got so far, that it would have been impossible to overtake him.
Before Aladdin went home to his mother, he called at a baker's, bought a loaf, changed his money, and went home, and gave the rest to his mother, who went and bought provisions enough to last them some time. After this manner they lived, till Aladdin had sold the twelve plates, one at a time, to the Jew, for the same money; who, after the first time, durst not offer him less, for fear of losing so good a customer. When he had sold the last plate, he had recourse to the basin, which weighed ten times as much as the plate, and would have carried it to his old purchaser, except that it was too large and cumbersome; therefore he was obliged to bring him home with him to his mother's, where, after the Jew had examined the weight of the basin, he laid down ten pieces of gold, with which Aladdin was very well satisfied.
They lived on these ten pieces in a frugal manner a good while; and Aladdin, though formerly used to an idle life, had left off playing with young lads of his own age ever since his adventure with the African magician. He spent his time in walking about, and talking with people with whom he had got acquainted. Sometimes he would stop at the best merchants' shops, where people of distinction met, and listen to their talk, by which he gained some little knowledge of the world.
When all the money was spent, Aladdin had recourse again to the lamp. He took it in his hand, looked for the place where his mother had rubbed it with the sand, and rubbed it also, and the genie immediately appeared, and said, 'What wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of those who have that lamp in their hands; I, and the other slaves of the lamp.'
'I am hungry,' said Aladdin; 'bring me something to eat.'
The genie disappeared, and presently returned with a basin, and the same number of covered plates, etc., and set them down on a table, and vanished again.
Aladdin's mother, knowing what her son was going to do, went out at that time about some business, on purpose to avoid being in the way when the genie came; and when she returned, which was not long afterwards, and found the table and sideboard so furnished a second time, she was almost as much surprised as before at the prodigious effect of the lamp. However she sat down with her son, and when they had eaten as much as they wanted, she set enough by to last them two or three days.
As soon as Aladdin found that their provisions and money were spent, he took one of these plates, and went to look for the Jew again; but as he passed by the shop of a goldsmith, who had the character of a very fair and honest man, the goldsmith called to him, and said, 'My lad, I have often observed you go by, loaded as you are at present, and talk with a certain Jew, and then come back again empty handed. I imagine that you carry something to sell to him; but perhaps you do not know what a rogue he is; he is the greatest rogue among all the Jews, and is so well known that nobody will have anything to do with him. What I tell you is for your own good. If you will show me what you now carry, and if it is to be sold, I will give you the full value of it; or I will direct you to other merchants who will not cheat you.'
The hope of getting more money for his plate induced Aladdin to pull it from under his coat and show it to the goldsmith. The old man, who at first sight saw that it was made of the finest silver, asked him if he had sold any such as that to the Jew, and Aladdin told him plainly that he had sold him twelve such for a piece of gold each.
'What a villain!' cried the goldsmith; 'but,' added he, 'my son, what is passed cannot be recalled. By showing you the value of this plate, which is of the finest silver we use in our shops, I will let you see how much the Jew has cheated you.'
The goldsmith took a pair of scales, weighed the plate, and after he had told Aladdin how much an ounce of fine silver was worth, he showed him that his plate was worth by weight sixty pieces of gold, which he paid him down immediately. 'If you dispute my honesty,' said he, 'you may go to any other of our trade, and if he gives you any more, I will forfeit twice as much.'
Aladdin thanked him for his good advice, so greatly to his advantage, and never after went to any other person, but sold him all his plates and the basin, and had as much for them as the weight came to.
Though Aladdin and his mother had an inexhaustible treasure of money in their lamp, and might have had whatever they had a mind to, yet they lived with the same frugality as before, except that Aladdin went more neat; as for his mother, she wore no clothes but what she earned by spinning cotton. Hence the money for which Aladdin had sold the plates and basin was sufficient to maintain them some time. They went on for many years by the help of the produce that Aladdin, from time to time, made of his lamp.
During this time Aladdin frequented the shops of the principal merchants, where they sold cloth of gold and silver, and linens, silk stuffs and jewellery, and oftentimes joining in their conversation, acquired a complete knowledge of the world, and assumed its manners. From his acquaintance with the jewellers, he came to know that the fine fruit which he had gathered, when he took the lamp, was not coloured glass, but stones of extraordinary value. For as he had seen all sorts of jewels bought and sold in the shops, but none so beautiful or so large as his, he found that instead of coloured glass he possessed an inestimable treasure; but he had the prudence not to say anything of it to any one.
One day, as Aladdin was walking about the town, he chanced to see the Princess Badroulboudour, the sultan's daughter, attended by a great crowd of ladies, slaves, and attendants, just at a moment when she unveiled her face. Aladdin had never seen any woman unveiled except his mother, and the princess was so beautiful that he was filled with amazement, and could think of nothing else for several days and nights. At last his mother inquired why he was so silent and absent-minded. 'Mother,' said Aladdin, 'I cannot live without the beautiful and amiable Princess Badroulboudour, and I am firmly resolved to ask her in marriage from her father.'
Aladdin's mother listened with attention to what her son told her; but when he talked of asking the Princess Badroulboudour in marriage of the sultan, she could not help bursting out into a loud laugh. Aladdin would have gone on, but she interrupted him: 'Alas! child,' said she, 'what are you thinking of? you must be mad to talk so.'
'I assure you, mother,' replied Aladdin, 'that I am not mad, but in my right senses: I foresaw that you would reproach me for folly and extravagance; but I must tell you once more, that I am resolved to demand the Princess Badroulboudour of the sultan in marriage, and your remonstrances shall not prevent me.'
'Indeed, son,' replied his mother, seriously, 'I cannot help telling you that you have quite forgotten yourself; and I do not see who you can get to venture to propose it for you.'
'You, yourself,' replied he immediately.
'I go to the sultan!' answered his mother, amazed and surprised. 'I shall take good care how I engage in such an affair. Why, who are you, son,' continued she, 'that you can have the assurance to think of your sultan's daughter? Have you forgotten that your father was one of the poorest tailors in the capital, and that I am of no better extraction; and do not you know that sultans never marry their daughters but to princes, sons of sultans like themselves?'
'Mother,' answered Aladdin, ' I have already told you that I foresaw all that you have said, or can say: and tell you again that neither your discourse nor your remonstrances shall make me change my mind. I have told you that you must ask the Princess Badroulboudour in marriage for me: it is a favour I request with all the respect I owe you; and I beg of you not to refuse me, unless you would rather see me in my grave, than by so doing give me new life.'
The good old woman was very much embarrassed, when she found Aladdin so obstinately persisting in so foolish a design. 'My son,' said she again, 'I am your mother, and there is nothing reasonable that I would not readily do for you. If I were to go and treat about your marriage with some neighbour's daughter, whose circumstances were equal to yours, I would do it with all my heart; and even then they would expect you to have some little estate or fortune, or be of some trade. When such poor folks as we err marry, the first thing they ought to think of is how to live. But without reflecting on your lowly birth, and the little merit and fortune you have to recommend you, you aim at the highest; you demand in marriage the daughter of your sovereign, who with one single word can crush you to pieces. How could so extraordinary a thought come into your head, as that I should go to the sultan, and make a proposal to him to give his daughter in marriage to you? Suppose I had, not to say the boldness, but the impudence to present myself before the sultan and make so extravagant a request, to whom should I address myself to be introduced to his majesty? Do you not think the first person I should speak to would take me for a mad woman, and chastise me as I should deserve? Of course, I know there is no difficulty to those who go to ask justice, which he distributes equally among his subjects; I know too that to those who ask some favour he grants it with pleasure when he sees that it is deserved, and the persons are worthy of it. But is that your case? And do you think you have deserved the favour you would have me ask for you? Are you worthy of it? What have you done, either for your prince or country? How have you distinguished yourself? If you have done nothing to merit so great a favour, nor are worthy of it, with what face shall I ask it? How can I open my mouth to make such a proposal to the sultan? His majestic presence and the splendour of his court would immediately silence me. There is another reason, my son, which you do not think of; nobody ever goes to ask a favour of the sultan without a present. But what presents have you to make? And if you had any that was worthy of the least attention of so great a monarch, what proportion could it bear to the favour you would ask? Therefore, reflect well on what you are about, and consider that you aspire to a thing which it is impossible for you to obtain.'
Aladdin heard very calmly all that his mother could say to dissuade him from his design, and made answer: 'I own, mother, it is great rashness in me to presume so far; and a great want of consideration to ask you with so much suddenness to go and make the proposal of my marriage to the sultan, without first taking proper measures to procure a favourable reception; I therefore beg your pardon. But be not surprised that I did not at first sight see everything that it was necessary to do to procure me the happiness I seek after. I love the Princess Badroulboudour beyond everything you can imagine; and shall always persevere in my design of marrying her, which is a thing I have determined and resolved on. I am much obliged to you for the hint you have given me, and look upon it as the first step I ought to take.
'You say it is not customary to go to the sultan without a present, and that I have nothing worthy: of his acceptance. As to what you say about the present, do you not think, mother, that what I brought home with me the day on which I was delivered from certain death, may be an agreeable present? I mean those things you and I both took for coloured glass; they are jewels of inestimable value, and fit for the greatest monarch. I know the worth of them through frequenting the jewellers' shops; and you may take my word for it, all the jewels that I have seen in the best jewellers' shops were not to be compared to those we have, either for size or beauty. Neither you nor I know the value of ours; but I am persuaded that they will be received very favourably by 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 colours.'
Aladdin's mother fetched the china dish, and he took the jewels out of the two purses in which he had kept them, and placed them in the dish. But the brightness and lustre they had in the daytime, and the variety of the colours, so dazzled the eyes of both mother and son that they were astonished beyond measure; for they had only seen them by the light of a lamp; and though Aladdin had seen them hang on the trees like fruit, beautiful to the eye, yet as he was then but a boy, he did not take much notice of them.
After they had admired the beauty of this present some time, Aladdin said to his mother, 'Now you cannot excuse yourself from going to the sultan, under the pretext of not having a present to make him, since here is one which will gain you a favourable reception.'
Though Aladdin's mother did not believe it to be so valuable as her son esteemed it, she thought it might nevertheless be agreeable to the sultan, and found that she had not anything to say against it, but kept thinking of the request Aladdin wanted her to make to the sultan. 'My son,' said she, 'I cannot conceive that your present will have its desired effect, and that the sultan will look upon me with a favourable eye; and I am sure, if I attempt this message of yours, I shall have no power to open my mouth; and, therefore, I shall not only lose my labour, but the present, which you say is so extraordinarily valuable, and shall return home again in confusion. I have told you the consequences, and you ought to believe me; but,' added she, ' I will do my best to please you; though certainly he will either laugh at me, or send me back like a fool, or be in so great a rage as to make us both the victims of his fury.'
She used a great many more arguments to make him change his mind; but Aladdin persisted, and his mother, as much out of tenderness as for fear he should be guilty of some worse piece of extravagance, consented.
As it was now late, and the time for going to the sultan's palace was past, it was put off till the next day. The mother and son talked of different matters the remaining part of the day; and Aladdin took a great deal of pains encourage his mother in the task she had undertaken; while she, notwithstanding all his arguments, could not persuade herself that she could ever succeed; and it must be confessed she had reason enough to doubt. 'Child,' said she to Aladdin, 'if the sultan should receive me as favourably as I wish for your sake, and hear my proposal with calmness, and after this kind reception should think of asking me where lie your riches and your estate (for he will sooner inquire after these than your person), if, I say, he should ask me the question, what answer would you have me give him?'
'Let us not be uneasy, mother,' replied Aladdin, 'about what may never happen. First, let us see how the sultan receives you, and what answer he gives. If it should so happen that he desires to be informed of all that you mention, I have thought of an answer, and am confident that the lamp, which has assisted us so long, will not fail me in time of need.'
Aladdin's mother could not say anything against what her son then proposed; but reflected that the lamp might be capable of doing greater wonders than merely providing food for them. This satisfied her, and at the same time removed all the difficulties which might have prevented her from undertaking the service she had promised her son; when Aladdin, who penetrated into his mother's thoughts, said to her, 'Above all things, mother, be sure to keep the secret, for thereon depends the success ;' and after this caution, Aladdin and his mother parted to go to bed. Aladdin rose at daybreak, and went and awakened his mother, begging her to get dressed to go to the sultan's palace, and to get in first, as the grand vizier, the other viziers, and all the great officers of state went in to take their seats in the divan, where the sultan always presided in person.
Aladdin's mother did all that her son desired. She took the china dish, in which they had put the jewels the day before, tied up in two napkins, one finer than the other, and set out for the sultan's palace, to the great satisfaction of Aladdin. When she came to the gates, the grand vizier, and the other viziers and most distinguished lords of the court, were just gone in; and, notwithstanding the crowd of people who had business there, which was extraordinarily great, she got into the divan, which was a large spacious hall. She placed herself just before the sultan, the grand vizier, and the great lords, who sat in that council, on his right and left hand. Several cases were called, according to their order, and pleaded and adjudged, until the time the divan generally broke up, when the sultan rising, dismissed the council, and returned to his apartment, attended by the grand vizier; the other viziers and ministers of state returned, as also did all those whose business called them thither; some pleased with gaining their cases, others dissatisfied at the sentences pronounced against them, and some in expectation of theirs being heard at the next sitting.
Aladdin's mother, seeing the sultan rise and retire, and all the people go away, rightly judged that he would not come again that day, and resolved to go home. When Aladdin saw her return with the present, he knew not at first what to think, and from the fear he was in lest she should bring him some bad news, he had not courage enough to ask her any questions, till his mother, who had never set foot in the sultan's palace before, and knew not what was done there every day, freed him from his embarrassment, and said 'Son, I have seen the sultan, and am very well persuaded he has seen me too; for I placed myself just before him, and nothing could hinder him from seeing me; but he was so much taken up with all those who talked on all sides of him, that I pitied him, and wondered at his patience to hear them. At last I believe he was heartily tired, for he rose up suddenly, and would not hear a great many who were prepared to speak to him, but went away, at which I was very well pleased, for indeed I began to lose all patience, and was extremely tired with staying so long. But there is no harm done; I will go again to-morrow; perhaps the sultan may not be so busy.'
Though Aladdin was very violent, he was forced to be satisfied with this, and to fortify himself with patience. He had at least the satisfaction of finding that his mother had got over the greatest difficulty, which was to procure access to the sultan, and hoped that the example of those whom she saw speak to him would embolden her to acquit herself better when a favourable opportunity offered.
The next morning she went to the sultan's palace with the present, as early as the day before, but when she came there, she found the gates of the divan shut, and understood that the council only sat every other day, and that therefore she must come again the next. This news she carried her son, whose only relief was patience. She went six times afterwards on the days appointed, placed herself always directly before the sultan, but with as little success as on the first time, and might have perhaps come a thousand times to as little purpose, if the sultan himself had not taken particular notice of her.
At last, after the council had broken up, and when the sultan returned to his own apartment, he said to his grand vizier, 'I have for some time observed a certain woman, who comes constantly every day that I go into council, and has something wrapped up in a napkin: she always stands up from the beginning to the breaking up of the council, and places herself just before me. Do you know what she wants?'
'Sir,' replied the grand vizier, who knew no more than the sultan, but did not like to seem uninformed, 'perhaps this woman has come to complain to your majesty that somebody has sold her some bad flour, or some such trifling matter.' The sultan was not satisfied with this answer, but replied, 'If this woman comes again next council-day, do not fail to call her, that I may hear what she has to say.' The grand vizier made answer by kissing his hand, and lifting it up above his head, signifying his willingness to lose it if he failed.
By this time, Aladdin's mother was so much accustomed to go to the council, and stand before the sultan, that she did not think it any trouble, if she could but satisfy her son that she neglected nothing that lay in her power: so the next council-day she went to the divan, and placed herself before the sultan as usual; and before the grand vizier had made his report of business, the sultan perceived her, and compassionating her for having waited so long, he said to the vizier 'Before you enter upon any business, remember the woman I spoke to you about: bid her come near, and let us hear and despatch her business first.' The grand vizier immediately called the chief of the officers; and pointing to her, bid him go to the woman, and tell her to come before the sultan.
The chief of the officers went to Aladdin's mother, and at a sign she followed him to the foot of the sultan's throne, where he left her, and retired to his place by the grand vizier. Aladdin's mother, following the example of a great many others whom she saw salute the sultan, bowed her head down to the carpet, which covered the steps of the throne, and remained in that posture till the sultan bade her rise, which she had no sooner done than the sultan said to her, 'Good woman, I have observed you a long time; what business brings you here?'
At these words, Aladdin's mother prostrated herself a second time; and when she got up again, said, 'Monarch of monarchs, before I tell your majesty the extraordinary and almost incredible business which brings me before your high throne, I beg of you to pardon the boldness or rather impudence of the demand I am going to make, which is so uncommon that I tremble, and am ashamed to propose it to my sultan.' In order to give her the more freedom to explain herself, the sultan ordered everybody to go out of the divan but the grand vizier and then told her she might speak without restraint.
Aladdin's mother, notwithstanding this favour of the sultan's to save her the trouble and confusion of speaking before so many people, was not a little apprehensive; therefore, she said, 'I beg your majesty, if you should think my demand the least injurious or offensive, to assure me first of your pardon and forgiveness.'
'Well,' replied the sultan, ' I will forgive you, be it what it will, and no hurt shall come to you: speak boldly.'
When Aladdin's mother had taken all these precautions, for fear of the sultan's anger, she told him faithfully how Aladdin had seen the princess Badroulboudour, and had fallen in love with her, the declaration he had made to her when he came home, and what she had said to dissuade him, 'But,' continued she, 'my son, instead of taking my advice and reflecting on his boldness, was so obstinate as to threaten me with some desperate act if I refused to come and ask the princess in marriage of your majesty; and it was not till after doing violence to my feelings that I was forced to come, for which I beg your majesty once more to pardon not only me, but Aladdin my son for entertaining such a rash thought.'
The sultan hearkened mildly, without showing the least anger; but before he gave her any answer, he asked her what she had brought tied up in that napkin. She took the china dish, which she had set down at the foot of the throne, before she prostrated herself before him; she untied it, and presented it to the sultan.
The sultan's amazement and surprise were inexpressible, when he saw so many large, beautiful, and valuable jewels collected in one dish. He remained for some time motionless with admiration. At last, when he had recovered himself, he received the present from Aladdin's mother's hand, crying out in a transport of joy. 'How rich and how beautiful!' After he had admired and handled all the jewels, one after another, he turned about to his grand vizier and showing him the dish, said. 'Look here, and confess that your eyes never beheld anything so rich and beautiful before.' The vizier was charmed. 'Well,' continued the sultan, 'what sayest thou to such a present? Is it not worthy of the princess my daughter? And ought I not to bestow her on one who values her at so great a price?'
These words put the grand vizier into a great fright. The sultan had some time before signified to him his intention of bestowing the princess his daughter on a son of his; therefore he was afraid, and not without grounds, that the sultan might change his mind. Thereupon, going up to him, and whispering he said, 'Sir, I cannot but own that the present is worthy of the princess; but I beg of your majesty to grant me three months before you come to a decision. I hope before that time that my son, on whom you have had the goodness to look with a favourable eye, will be able to make a nobler present than Aladdin, who is an entire stranger to your majesty.'
Though the sultan was very sure that it was not possible for the vizier to provide so considerable a present for his son to make, he hearkened to him, and granted the favour. So turning to Aladdin's mother, he said to her, 'Good woman, go home, and tell your son that I agree to the proposal you have made me; but I cannot marry the princess my daughter till some furniture I intend for her be got ready, which cannot be finished for three months; but at the end of that time come again.'
Aladdin's mother returned home much more overjoyed than she could have imagined, and told Aladdin all that had happened.
Aladdin thought himself the most happy of all men at hearing this news, and thanked his mother for all the pains she had taken. When two of the three months were past, his mother one evening went to light the lamp, and finding no oil in the house, went out to buy some, and when she came into the city, found a, general rejoicing. The shops, instead of being shut up, were open. The streets were crowded with officers in robes of ceremony, mounted on horses richly caparisoned, each attended by a great many footmen. Aladdin's mother asked the oil-merchant what was the meaning of all these doings. 'Whence come you, good woman,' said he, 'that you don't know that the grand vizier's son is to marry the Princess Badroulboudour, the sultan's daughter, to-night? These officers that you see are to assist at the procession to the palace, where the ceremony is to be solemnised.'
This was news enough for Aladdin's mother. She ran till she was quite out of breath home to her son, who little suspected any such thing. 'Child,' cried she, 'you are undone! you depend upon the sultan's fine promises, but they will come to nothing.' Aladdin was terribly alarmed at these words. ' Mother,' replied he, 'how do you know the sultan has been guilty of breaking his promise?'
'This night,' answered his mother, 'the grand vizier's son is to marry the Princess Badroulboudour.' She then related how she had heard it; so that he had no reason to doubt the truth of what she said.
At this Aladdin was thunderstruck. Any other man would have sunk under the shock; but soon he bethought himself of the lamp, which had till then been so useful to him; and without venting his rage in empty words against the sultan, the vizier, or his son, he only said, 'Perhaps, mother, the vizier's son may not be so happy to-night as he thinks: while I go into my room, do you go and get supper ready.' She accordingly went about it, and guessed that her son was going to make use of the lamp, to prevent the marriage if possible.
When Aladdin had got into his room, he took the lamp, and rubbed it in the same place as before, and immediately the genie appeared, and said to him, '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; I and the other slaves of the lamp.'
'Hear me,' said Aladdin; ' thou hast hitherto brought me whatever I wanted as to provisions; but now I have business of the greatest importance for thee to execute. I have demanded the Princess Badroulboudour in marriage of the sultan her father; he promised her to me, but only asked three months' time; and instead of keeping that promise, he has planned to marry her to the grand vizier's son. I have just heard this, and have no doubt of it. What I ask of you is, that you bring them both hither to me.'
'Master,' replied the genie, 'I will obey you. Have you any other commands?'
'None at present,' answered Aladdin; and then the genie disappeared.
Aladdin went downstairs to his mother, with the same tranquillity of mind as usual; and after supper talked of the princess's marriage as of an affair wherein he had not the least concern; and afterwards sat up till the genie had executed his orders.
In the mean time, everything was prepared with the greatest magnificence in the sultan's palace to celebrate the princess's wedding; and the evening was spent with all the usual ceremonies and great rejoicings.
Suddenly the genie, as the faithful slave of the lamp, to the great amazement of bride and bridegroom, took them up, and transported them in an instant to Aladdin's house, where he set them down.
Aladdin had waited impatiently for this moment. 'Take this man,' said he to the genie, 'and shut him up, and come again tomorrow.' The genie took the vizier's son and carried him away; and after he had breathed upon him, which prevented his stirring, he left him.
Great as was Aladdin's love for the Princess Badroulboudour, he did not talk much to her, but only said, 'Fear nothing, adorable princess; you are in safety. If I have been forced to come to this extremity, it is not with any intention of affronting you, but to prevent an unjust rival's marrying you contrary to the sultan your father's promise to me.'
The princess, who knew nothing of these particulars, gave very little attention to what Aladdin said. The fright and amazement of so surprising and unexpected an adventure had put her into such a condition that he could not get one word from her.
Next morning the genie came at the hour appointed, and said to him,' I am here, master; what are your commands?'
'Go,' said Aladdin, 'fetch the vizier's son out of the place where you left him, and then take them back to the sultan's palace.' The genie presently returned with the vizier's son, and in an instant they were transported into the palace. But we must observe, that all this time the genie never appeared to either the princess or the grand vizier's son. His hideous form would have made them die with fear. Neither did they hear anything of the discourse between Aladdin and him; they only perceived the motion, and their transportation from one place to another; which we may well imagine was enough to frighten them.
Next day the princess was very melancholy and alarmed, and the sultan and his wife thought she must either be mad, or else have had a bad dream.
The rejoicings lasted all that day in the palace, and the sultaness, who never left the princess, did all she could to divert her.
But the princess continued so gloomy and ill-tempered that the sultan, provoked with his daughter, said to her in a rage, with his sabre in his hand, 'Daughter, tell me what is the matter, or I will cut off your head immediately.'
The princess, more frightened at the menaces and tone of the enraged sultan than at the sight of the drawn sabre, at last broke silence, and said, with tears in her eyes, 'My dear father and sultan, I ask your majesty's pardon if I have offended you, and hope you will have compassion on me, when I have told you what a dreadful thing has happened.' Then she told him all.
The sultan felt extreme uneasiness at so surprising an adventure. 'Daughter,' said he, 'efface all these troublesome ideas out of your memory; I will take care and give orders that you shall have no more such disagreeable and insupportable adventures.'
As soon as the sultan got back to his own apartment, he sent for the grand vizier. 'Vizier,' said he, 'have you seen your son, and has he told you anything?'
The vizier replied 'No.'
Then the sultan related all that the Princess Badroulboudour had told him, and said, 'I do not doubt that my daughter has told me the truth; but nevertheless I should be glad to have it confirmed by your son; therefore go and ask him.'
The grand vizier went immediately to his son, and communicated what the sultan had told him, and enjoined him to conceal nothing, but to tell him the whole truth.
'I will disguise nothing from you, father,' replied the son, 'for indeed all that the princess says is true. All this ill-usage does not in the least lessen the respect and gratitude I entertain for the princess, and of which she is so deserving; but I must confess that notwithstanding all the honour and splendour that attends my marrying my sovereign's daughter, I would much rather die than marry her if I must undergo again what I have already endured. I do not doubt but that the princess entertains the same sentiments, and that she will readily agree to part, which is so necessary both for her repose and mine. Therefore, father, I beg you to get the sultan's consent that our marriage may be broken off.'
Notwithstanding the grand vizier's ambition to have his son allied to the sultan, the firm resolution which he saw he had formed to be separated from the princess made him go and give the sultan an account of what he had told him, assuring him that all was out too true, and begging him to give his son leave to retire from the palace, alleging, for an excuse, that it was not just that the princess should be a moment longer exposed to so terrible a persecution upon his son's account.
The grand vizier found no great difficulty in obtaining what he asked. From that instant the sultan, who had determined upon it already, gave orders to put a stop to all rejoicings in the palace and town, and sent post-haste to all parts of his dominions to countermand his first orders; and in a short time all rejoicings ceased.
This sudden and unexpected change gave rise, in both the city and kingdom, to various speculations and inquiries; but no other account could be given of it except that both the vizier and his son went out of the palace very much dejected. Nobody but Aladdin knew the secret. He rejoiced over the happy success procured for him by his lamp. But neither the sultan nor the grand vizier, who had forgotten Aladdin and his request, had the least thought that he had any hand in the enchantment which caused the marriage to be broken off.
Nevertheless, Aladdin waited till the three months were completed, which the sultan had appointed for the marriage between the Princess Badroulboudour and himself; but the next day sent his mother to the palace to remind the sultan of his promise.
Aladdin's mother went to the palace, as her son had bidden her, and stood before the divan in the same place as before. The sultan no sooner cast his eyes upon her than he knew her again, and remembered her business, and how long he had put her off: therefore when the grand vizier was beginning to make his report, the sultan interrupted him, and said, 'Vizier, I see the good woman who made me the present some months ago; forbear your report till I have heard what she has to say.' The vizier presently perceived Aladdin's mother, and sent the chief of the officers for her.
Aladdin's mother came to the foot of the throne, and prostrated herself as usual, and when she rose up again, the sultan asked her what she wanted. 'Sir,' said she, 'I come to represent to your majesty, in the name of my son Aladdin, that the three months, at the end of which you ordered me to come again, are expired; and to beg you to remember your promise.'
The sultan had little thought of hearing any more of a marriage which he imagined would be very disagreeable to the princess, when he considered only the meanness and poverty of Aladdin's mother, and this summons for him to be as good as his word was somewhat embarrassing to him; he declined giving an answer till he had consulted his vizier.
The grand vizier freely told the sultan his thoughts on the matter, and said to him, 'In my opinion, sir, there is one certain way for your majesty to avoid so unequal a match without giving Aladdin any cause of complaint; which is, to set so high a value upon the princess, that were he never so rich, he could not come up to it. This is the only way to make him desist from so bold, not to say rash, an undertaking.'
The sultan, approving of the grand vizier's advice, turned about to Aladdin's mother, and after some reflection, said to her, 'Good woman, it is true sultans ought to be as good as their word, and I am ready to keep mine, by making your son happy by his marriage with the princess my daughter. But as I cannot marry her without some valuable present from your son, you may tell him, I will fulfil my promise as soon as he shall send me forty basins of messy gold, brim-full of the same things you have already made me a present of, and carried by the like number of black slaves, who shall be led by as many young and handsome white slaves, all dressed magnificently. On these conditions I am ready to bestow the princess my daughter on him; therefore, good woman, go and tell him so, and I will wait till you bring me his answer.'
Aladdin's mother prostrated herself a second time before the sultan's throne, and retired. On her way home she laughed to herself at her son's foolish imagination. 'Where,' said she, 'can he get so many large gold basins, and enough of that coloured glass to fill them? Must he go again to that subterranean abode, the entrance into which is stopped up, and gather them off the trees? But where will he get so many slaves such as the sultan requires? It is altogether out of his power, and I believe he will not be so well satisfied with my embassy this time.' When she came home, full of these thoughts, she said to her son, 'Indeed, child, I would not have you think any further of your marriage with the Princess Badroulboudour. The sultan received me very kindly, and I believe he was well disposed to you; but if I am not very much deceived, the grand vizier has made him change his mind.' Then she gave her son an exact account of what the sultan said to her, and the conditions on which he consented to the match. Afterwards she said to him, 'The sultan expects your answer immediately; but,' continued she, laughing, 'I believe he may wait long enough.'
'Not so long, mother, as you imagine,' replied Aladdin; 'the sultan is mistaken if he thinks by this exorbitant demand to prevent my entertaining thoughts of the princess; his demand is but a trifle to what I could have done for her. But go and get us something for dinner, and leave the rest to me.'
As soon as Aladdin's mother was gone out to market, Aladdin took the lamp, and rubbed it; the genie appeared, and offered his services as usual. 'The sultan,' said Aladdin to him, 'demands forty large basins of messy gold, brim-full of the fruits of the garden from whence I took this lamp you are slave to; and these he expects to have carried by as many black slaves, each preceded by a young, handsome, well-made white slave, richly clothed. Go and fetch me this present as soon as possible, that I may send it to him before the divan breaks up.' The genie told him his command should be immediately obeyed, and disappeared.
A little while afterwards the genie returned with forty black slaves, each bearing on his head a basin of messy gold of twenty marks' weight, full of pearls, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, all larger and more beautiful than those presented to the sultan before. Each basin was covered with a silver stuff, embroidered with flowers of gold: all these, and the white slaves, quite filled the house, which was but a small one, and the little court before it, and a little garden behind. The genie asked Aladdin if he had any other commands. Aladdin told him that he wanted nothing further then, and the genie disappeared.
When Aladdin's mother came from market, she was greatly surprised to see so many people and such vast riches. As soon as she had laid down her provisions, Aladdin said, 'Mother, let us lose no time; before the sultan and the divan rise, I would have you return to the palace, and go with this present as the dowry he asked for the Princess Badroulboudour, that he may judge by my diligence and exactness how anxious I am to procure the honour of this alliance' Without waiting for his mother's reply, Aladdin opened the street-door, and made the slaves walk out; a white slave followed always by a black one with a basin on his head. When they were all out, the mother followed the last black slave, and he shut the door, full of hope that the sultan, after this present, which was such as he required, would at length receive him as his son-in-law.
The first white slave that went out of the house made all the people, who were going by and saw him, stop; and before they were all out of the house, the streets were crowded with spectators, who ran to see so extraordinary and noble a sight. The dress of each slave was so rich, both from the stuff and the jewels, that those who were dealers in them valued each at no less than a million of money. Besides the neatness and propriety of the dress, the good grace, noble air, and beauty of each slave was unparalleled; their grave walk at an equal distance from each other, the lustre of the jewels, which were large, and curiously set in their girdles of messy gold, and the precious stones in their hats, put the crowds of spectators into such great admiration that they could not weary of gazing at them, and. following them with their eyes as far as possible; but the streets were so crowded with people, that none could move out of the spot they stood on. As the procession had to pass through a great many streets to get to the palace, a great part of the city had an opportunity of seeing them. As soon as the first of the slaves arrived at the palace-gate, the porters formed themselves into order, and took him for a king, and were going to kiss the hem of his garment; but the slave, who was instructed by the genie, prevented them, and said, 'We are only slaves; our master will appear at the proper time.'
Then this slave, followed by the rest, advanced into the second court, which was very spacious, and in which the sultan's household was ranged during the sitting of the divan. The magnificence of the officers, who stood at the head of the troops, was very much eclipsed by the slaves who bare Aladdin's present, of which they themselves made a part. Nothing was ever seen so beautiful and brilliant in the sultan's palace before; and all the lustre of the lords of his court was not to be compared to them.
As the sultan, who had been informed of their coming to the palace, had given orders for them to be admitted when they came, they met with no obstacle, but went into the divan in good order, one part filing to the right, and the other to the left. After they had all entered, and had formed a great semicircle before the sultan's throne, the black slaves laid the basins on the carpet, and all prostrated themselves, touching the carpet with their foreheads, and the white slaves did the same. When they all rose again, the black slaves uncovered the basins, and then all stood with their arms crossed over their breasts.
In the meantime Aladdin's mother advanced to the foot of the throne, and having paid her respects, said to the sultan, 'Sir, my son Aladdin is aware that this present, which he has sent your majesty, is much below the Princess Badroulboudour's worth; but hopes, nevertheless, that your majesty will accept it.'
The sultan was not able to give the least attention to this compliment of Aladdin's mother. The moment he cast his eyes on the forty basins, brim-full of the most precious, brilliant, and beautiful jewels he had ever seen, and the fourscore slaves, who looked, from the comeliness of their persons and the richness and magnificence of their dress, like so many kings, he was so struck that he could not recover from his admiration; but, instead of answering the compliment of Aladdin's mother, addressed himself to the grand vizier, who could no more than the sultan comprehend from whence such a profusion of riches could come. 'Well, vizier said he aloud, 'who do you think it can be that has sent me so extraordinary a present? Do you think him worthy of the Princess Badroulboudour, my daughter?'
The vizier notwithstanding his envy and grief to see a stranger preferred to his son, dared not say so. Aladdin's present was more than sufficient, therefore he returned this answer: 'I am so far, sir, from thinking that the person who has made your majesty so noble a present is unworthy of the honour you would do him, that I should be bold to say he deserved much more, if I was not persuaded that the greatest treasure in the world ought not to be put on a level with the princess your majesty's daughter.' This advice was applauded by all the lords who were then in council.
The sultan no longer hesitated, nor thought whether Aladdin was endowed with the qualifications requisite in one who aspired to be his son-in-law. The sight alone of such immense riches, and Aladdin's diligence in satisfying his demand without the least difficulty, easily persuaded him that he lacked nothing to render him accomplished, and such as he desired. Therefore, to send Aladdin's mother back with all the satisfaction she could desire, he said to her, 'Good woman, go and tell your son that I wait to receive him with open arms, and the more haste he makes to come and receive the princess my daughter from my hands, the greater pleasure he will do me.'
As soon as Aladdin's mother retired, overjoyed to see her son raised beyond all expectation to such great honour, the sultan put an end to the audience for that day; and rising from his throne, ordered that the princess's servants should come and carry the basins into their mistress' apartment, whither he went himself to examine them with her at his leisure. The fourscore slaves were not forgotten, but were conducted into the palace; and some time after, the sultan, telling the Princess Badroulboudour of their magnificent appearance, ordered them to be brought before her apartment, that she might see them through the lattice.
In the mean time Aladdin's mother got home, and showed in her face the good news she brought her son. 'My son,' said she to him, 'you have now all the reason in the world to be pleased. Not to keep you too long in suspense, the sultan, with the approbation of the whole court, has declared that you are worthy to marry the Princess Badroulboudour, and waits to embrace you, and arrange your marriage; therefore lose no time in going him.'
Aladdin, charmed with this news, made very little reply, but retired to his room. There, after he had rubbed his lamp, the obedient genie appeared. ' Genie,' said Aladdin, 'I want to bathe immediately, and you must afterwards provide me the richest and most magnificent robe ever worn by a monarch.' No sooner were the words out of his mouth, than the genie rendered him, as well as himself, invisible, and transported him into a bath of the finest marble of all sorts of colours; where he was undressed, without seeing by whom, in a neat and spacious hall. From the hall he was led to the bath, and there rubbed and washed with all sorts of scented water. After he had passed through several degrees of heat, he came out, quite a different man from what he was before. When he returned into the hall, he found, instead of his own clothes, a suit the magnificence of which very much surprised him. The genie helped him to dress, and when he had done, transported him back to his own room, where he asked him if he had any other commands. 'Yes,' answered Aladdin, 'I expect you to bring me, as soon as possible, a horse that surpasses in beauty and goodness the best in the sultan's stables, with a saddle, bridle, and harness worth a million of money. I want also twenty slaves, as richly clothed as those who carried the present 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 to wait on her, as richly dressed at least as any of the Princess Badroulboudour's, each loaded with a complete suit fit for any sultaness. I want also ten thousand pieces of gold in ten purses. Go, and make haste.'
As soon as Aladdin had given these orders, the genie disappeared and presently returned with the horse, the forty slaves, ten of whom carried each a purse with one thousand pieces of gold, and six women-slaves, each carrying on her head a different dress for Aladdin's mother, wrapped up in a piece of silver stuff, and presented them all to Aladdin.
Of ten purses Aladdin took but four, which he gave to his mother, telling her that those were to supply her with necessaries; the other six he left in the hands of the slaves who brought them, with an order to throw them by handfuls among the people as they went to the sultan's palace. The six slaves who carried the purses, he ordered likewise to march before him, three on the right hand and three on the left. Afterwards he presented the six women-slaves to his mother, telling her they were her slaves, and that the dresses they had brought were for her use.
When Aladdin had thus settled matters, he told the genie he would call for him when he wanted him, and thereupon the genie disappeared. Aladdin's thoughts now were only of answering, as soon as possible, the desire the sultan had shown to see him. He despatched one of the forty slaves to the palace, with an order to address himself to the chief of the officers, to know when he might have the honour to come and throw himself at the sultan's feet. The slave soon acquitted himself of his message, and brought for answer that the sultan waited for him with impatience.
Aladdin immediately mounted his horse, and began his march in the order we have already described; and though he never was on a horse's back before, he rode with such extraordinary grace that the most experienced horseman would not have taken him for a novice. The streets through which he was to pass were almost instantly filled with an enormous crowd of people, who made the air echo with their shouts, especially every time the six slaves who carried the purses threw handfuls of gold into the air on both sides. Those who knew him once when he played in the streets like a vagabond, did not know him again; those who had seen him but a little while before hardly knew him, so greatly were his features altered: such were the effects of the lamp.
Much more attention was paid to Aladdin than to the pomp and magnificence of his attendants, which had been taken notice of the day before, when the slaves walked in procession with the present to the sultan. Nevertheless the horse was very much admired by good judges. who knew how to discern his beauties without being dazzled with the jewels and richness of the harness: and when the report was everywhere spread about that the sultan was going to give the Princess Badroulboudour in marriage to him, nobody thought of his birth, nor envied his good fortune, so worthy he seemed of it.
When he arrived at the palace everything was prepared for his reception; and when he came to the second gate, he would have alighted off his horse, agreeable to the custom observed by the grand vizier the generals of the armies, and governors of provinces of the first rank; but the chief of the officers who waited on him by the sultan's order prevented him, and attended him to the council-hall, where he helped him to dismount. The officers formed themselves into two ranks at the entrance of the hall. The chief put Aladdin on his right hand, and through the midst of them led him to the sultan's throne.
As soon as the sultan perceived Aladdin, he was surprised to see him more richly and magnificently clothed than ever he had been himself. Besides, he had a certain air of unexpected grandeur, very different from the poverty his mother had appeared in.
But notwithstanding, his surprise did not hinder him from rising off his throne, and descending two or three steps, quick enough to prevent Aladdin's throwing himself at his feet. He embraced him with all the demonstrations of friendship. After this, Aladdin would have cast himself at his feet again; but the sultan held him fast by the hand, and obliged him to sit between him and the grand vizier.
Then Aladdin said, 'I receive, sir, the honour which your majesty out of your great goodness is pleased to confer on me; but permit me to tell you that I have not forgotten that I am your slave; that I know the greatness of your power, and that I am not unaware how much my birth is below the splendour and lustre of the high rank to which I am raised. I ask your majesty's pardon for my rashness, but I cannot dissemble that I should die with grief if I should lose my hope of marrying the princess.'
'My son,' answered the sultan, embracing him a second time, 'you would wrong me to doubt my sincerity for a moment.'
After these words the sultan gave a signal, and immediately the air echoed with the sound of trumpets and hautboys, and other musical instruments: and at the same time the sultan led Aladdin into a magnificent hall, where there was prepared a noble feast. The sultan and Aladdin ate by themselves; the grand vizier and the great lords of the court, according to their dignity and rank, waited all the time. The conversation turned on different subjects; but all the while the sultan hardly ever took his eyes off him; and throughout all their conversation Aladdin showed so much good sense, that it confirmed the sultan in the good opinion he had of him.
After the feast, the sultan sent for the chief judge of his capital, and ordered him to draw up immediately a contract of marriage between the Princess Badroulboudour, his daughter, and Aladdin.
When the judge had drawn up the contract in all the requisite forms, the sultan asked Aladdin if he would stay in the palace, and solemnise the ceremonies of marriage that day. To which he answered, 'Sir, though great is my impatience, yet I beg of you to give me leave to defer it till I have built a palace fit to receive the princess in; I therefore desire you to grant me a convenient spot of ground near your palace, that I may come the more frequently to pay my respects to you, and I will take care to have it finished with all diligence.'
'Son,' said the sultan, 'take what ground you think proper; there is land enough before my palace.' After these words he embraced Aladdin again, who took his leave with as much politeness as if he had always lived at court.
Aladdin mounted his horse again, and returned home in the order he came, with the acclamations of the people, who wished him all happiness and prosperity. As soon as he dismounted he retired to his own room, took the lamp, and called the genie as before. 'Genie,' said Aladdin, 'I have had all the reason in the world to commend you hitherto, but now if you have any regard for the lamp your mistress, you must show, if possible, more zeal and diligence than ever. I want you to build me, as soon as you can, a palace at a proper distance from the sultan's, fit to receive my wife the Princess Badroulboudour. I leave the choice of the materials to you, that is to say, porphyry, jasper, agate, lapis lazuli, and the finest marble of the most varied colours; and the style of the building. But in the highest story of this palace you shall build me a large hall with a dome and four equal fronts; and instead of layers of bricks, the walls shall be made of messy gold and silver, laid alternately; each front shall contain six windows, the lattices of all of which shall be so enriched with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds that they shall exceed everything of the kind that has ever been seen in the world. I would have an inner and outer court before this palace, and a garden, but above all things take care that there be laid in a place, which you shall point out to me, a treasure of gold and silver coin. This palace must be well provided with kitchens and offices, store-houses, and rooms in which to keep choice furniture for every season of the year. I must have stables full of the finest horses, with their equerries and grooms, and hunting equipage. There must be officers to attend the kitchens and offices, and women-slaves to wait on the princess. You understand what I mean? therefore go about it, and come and tell me when all is finished.'
By the time Aladdin had instructed the genie with his intentions respecting the building of his palace, the sun was set. The next morning by break of day, Aladdin was no sooner up than the genie presented himself, and said, 'Sir, your palace is finished; come and see how you like it.' The genie transported him thither in an instant, and he found it so much beyond his expectation that he could not enough admire it. The genie led him through all the apartments, where he met with nothing but what was rich and magnificent, with officers and slaves, all dressed according to their rank and the services to which they were appointed. Then the genie showed him the treasury, which was opened by a treasurer, where Aladdin saw heaps of purses of different sizes, piled up to the top of the ceiling. The genie assured him of the treasurer's fidelity, and thence led him to the stables, where he showed him some of the finest horses in the world, and the grooms busy dressing them. from thence they went to the store-houses, which were filled with all necessary provisions, for both the food and ornament of the horses.
When Aladdin had examined the palace from top to bottom, and particularly the hall with the four-and-twenty windows, and found it much beyond whatever he could have imagined, he said to the genie, 'Genie, no one can be better satisfied than I am, and indeed I should be very much to blame if I found any fault. There is only one thing wanting, which I forgot to mention. That is, to lay from the sultan's palace to the door of the apartment designed for the princess, a carpet of fine velvet for her to walk upon. The genie immediately disappeared, and Aladdin saw what he desired executed that minute. Then the genie returned, and carried Aladdin home before the gates of the sultan's palace were opened.
When the porters, who had always been used to an open view, came to open the gates, they were amazed to find it obstructed, and to see a carpet of velvet spread. They did not immediately see what it meant, but when they saw Aladdin's palace distinctly, their surprise was increased. The news of so extraordinary a wonder spread through the palace. The grand vizier, who came soon after the gates were open, was no less amazed than the others, but ran and told the sultan, and endeavoured to make him believe it to be all enchantment. 'Vizier,' replied the sultan, 'why do you say it is enchantment? You know as well as I that it is Aladdin's palace, which I gave him leave to build to receive my daughter in. After the proof we have had of his riches, can we think it strange that he should build a palace in so short a time? He intends to surprise us, and let us see what wonders are to be done with ready money every day. Confess sincerely to me that that enchantment you talk of proceeds from a little envy.'
When Aladdin had been conveyed home, and had dismissed the genie, he found his mother up, and dressing herself in one of the suits that were brought her. By the time the sultan came from the council, Aladdin had prepared his mother to go to the palace with her slaves, and desired her, if she saw the sultan, to tell him she came to do herself the honour of attending the princess towards evening to her palace. Accordingly she went, but though she and the women-slaves who followed her were all dressed like sultanesses, yet the crowd was nothing like so great, because they were all veiled. As for Aladdin, he mounted his horse, and took leave of his paternal house for ever, taking care not to forget his wonderful lamp, and went to the palace with the same pomp as the day before.
As soon as the porters of the sultan's palace saw Aladdin's mother, they went and informed the sultan, who presently ordered the bands of trumpets, cymbals, drums, fifes and hautboys, placed in different parts of the palace, to play and beat, so that the air resounded with sounds which inspired the whole city with joy; the merchants began to adorn their shops and houses with fine carpets and cushions, and bedeck them with boughs, and prepare illuminations for the night. The artists of all sorts left their work, and the people all repaired to the great space between the sultan's and Aladdin's palaces; which last drew all their attention, not only because it was new to them, but because there was no comparison between the two buildings. But they could not imagine by what unheard-of miracle so magnificent a palace could be so soon built, it being apparent to all that there were no prepared materials, or any foundations laid the day before.
Aladdin's mother was received in the palace with honour, and introduced into the Princess Badroulboudour's apartment. As soon as the princess saw her, she went and saluted her, and desired her to sit down on her sofa: and while her women finished dressing her, and adorning her with the jewels with which Aladdin had presented her, a collation was served up. At the same time the sultan, who wanted to be as much with his daughter as possible before he parted with her, came and paid her great respect. The sultan, who had always seen Aladdin's mother dressed very meanly, not to say poorly, was surprised to find her as richly and magnificently clothed as the princess his daughter. This made him think Aladdin equally prudent and wise in whatever he undertook.
When it was night, the princess took leave of the sultan her father, and set out for Aladdin's palace, with his mother on her left hand, followed by a hundred women-slaves, dressed with surprising magnificence. All the bands of music, which played from the time Aladdin's mother arrived, joined together and led the procession. Four hundred of the sultan's young pages carried torches on each side, which, together with the illuminations of the sultan's and Aladdin's palaces, made it as light as day.
At length the princess arrived at the new palace. Aladdin ran with all imaginable joy to receive her at the entrance. His mother had taken care to point him out to the princess, in the midst of the officers that surrounded him, and she was charmed as soon as she saw him. 'Adorable princess,' said Aladdin to her, saluting her respectfully, 'if I have displeased you by my boldness in aspiring to so lovely a princess, and my sultan's daughter, I must tell you that you ought to blame yourself, not me.'
'Prince (as I may now call you),' answered the princess, 'I am obedient to the will of my father; and it is enough for me to have seen you, to tell you that I obey without reluctance.'
Aladdin, charmed with so agreeable and satisfactory an answer, would not keep the princess standing after she had walked so far, but took her by the hand, which he kissed with joy, and led her into a large hall, illuminated with an infinite number of wax candles, where, by the care of the genie, a noble feast was served up. The plates were of messy gold. The vases, basins, and goblets, with which the sideboard was furnished, were gold also, and of exquisite workmanship. The princess, dazzled to see so much riches collected in one place, said to Aladdin, 'I thought, Prince, that nothing in the world was so beautiful as the sultan my father's palace; but the sight of this hall alone is enough to show that I was deceived.'
Then Aladdin led the princess to the place appointed for her, and as soon as she and his mother were sat down, a band of the most harmonious instruments, accompanied with the voices of beautiful ladies, began a concert, which lasted without intermission to the end of the repast. The princess was so charmed that she declared she never heard anything like it in the sultan her father's court; but she knew not that these musicians were fairies chosen by the genie, slaves of the lamp.
When the supper was ended, and the table taken away, there entered a company of dancers. At length, Aladdin, according to the custom of that time in China, rose up and presented his hand to the Princess Badroulboudour to dance with her, and to finish the ceremonies. They danced with so good a grace that they were the admiration of all the company. Thus ended the ceremonies and rejoicings at the marriage of Aladdin with the Princess Badroulboudour.
Aladdin and his wife had lived happily after this manner for several years, when the African magician, who undesignedly had been the means of raising him to such good fortune, bethought himself of him in Africa, whither, after his expedition, he had returned. And though he was almost persuaded that Aladdin had died miserably in the subterranean abode where he left him, he had the curiosity to learn about his end with certainty. As he was a great magician, he took out of a cupboard a square covered box, which he made use of in his observations; then sat himself down on his sofa, set it before him, and uncovered it. After he had prepared and levelled the sand which was in it, to discover whether or no Aladdin died in the subterranean abode, he cast the points, drew the figures, and formed a horoscope, by which, when he came to examine it, he found that Aladdin, instead of dying in the cave, had escaped out of it, lived splendidly, was very rich, had married a princess, and was very much honoured and respected.
The magician no sooner understood by the rules of his diabolical art that Aladdin had arrived at that height of good fortune, than a colour came into his face, and he cried out in a rage, 'This poor sorry tailor's son has discovered the secret and virtue of the lamp! I believed his death to be certain, but find too plainly he enjoys the fruit of my labour and study! But I will prevent his enjoying it long, or perish in the attempt.' The next morning the magician mounted a horse which was in his stable, set out, and stopped only to refresh himself and horse till he arrived at the capital of China. He alighted, took up his lodging in a khan, and stayed there the remainder of the day and the night, to rest after so long a journey.
The next day his first object was to inquire what people said of Aladdin; and, taking a walk through the town, he went to the most public and frequented places, where people of the highest distinction met to drink a certain warm liquor, which he had drunk often when he was there before. As soon as he sat down he was given a glass of it, which he took; but listening at the same time to the discourse of the company on each side of him, he heard them talking of Aladdin's palace. When he had drunk off his glass, he joined them, and taking the opportunity, asked them what palace it was they spoke so well of. 'From whence come you?' said the person to whom he addressed himself; 'you must certainly be a stranger not to have seen or heard talk of Prince Aladdin's palace (for he was called so after his marriage with the Princess Badroulboudour). I do not say,' continued the man, 'that it is one of the wonders of the world, but that it is the only wonder of the world; since nothing so grand, rich, and magnificent was ever seen. Certainly you must have come from a great distance, not to have heard of it; it must have been talked of all over the world. Go and see it, and then judge whether I have told you more than the truth.'
'Forgive my ignorance,' replied the African magician; 'I arrived here but yesterday, and came from the furthest part of Africa, where the fame of this palace had not reached when I came away. For the affair which brought me hither was so urgent, that my sole object was to get here as soon as I could, without stopping anywhere, or making any acquaintance. But I will not fail to go and see it; I will go immediately and satisfy my curiosity, if you will do me the favour to show me the way.'
The person to whom the African magician addressed himself was pleased to show him the way to Aladdin's palace. When he came to the palace, and had examined it on all sides, he doubted not that Aladdin had made use of the lamp to build it; for he knew that none but the genies, the slaves of the lamp, could have performed such wonders; and piqued to the quick at Aladdin's happiness and greatness, he returned to the khan where he lodged.
The next thing was to learn where the lamp was; if Aladdin carried it about with him, or where he kept it; and this he was able to discover by an operation of magic. As soon as he entered his lodging, he took his square box always carried with him when he travelled, performed some operations, he knew that the lamp was in Aladdin's palace, and so great was his joy at the discovery that he could hardly contain himself. 'Well,' said he, 'I shall have the lamp, and I defy Aladdin to prevent my carrying it off and making him sink to his original meanness, from which he has taken so high a flight.'
It was Aladdin's misfortune at that time to have gone hunting for eight days, of which only three were past. After the magician had performed the operation which gave him so much joy, he went to the master of the khan, entered into talk with him on indifferent matters, and among the rest, told him he had been to see Aladdin's palace; and added, 'and I shall not be easy till I have seen the person to whom this wonderful edifice belongs.'
'That will be no difficult matter,' replied the master of the khan; 'there is not a day passes but he gives an opportunity when he is in town, but at present he is not at home, and has been gone these three days on a hunting-match, which will last eight.'
The magician wanted to know no more: he took leave of the master of the khan, and returning to his own chamber, said to himself, 'This is an opportunity I ought by no means to let slip.' For this purpose he went to a maker and seller of lamps, and asked for a dozen copper lamps: the master of the shop told him he had not so many by him, but if he would have patience till the next day, he would get them for him. The magician appointed his time, and bid him take care that they should be handsome and well polished. After promising to pay him well, he returned to his inn.
The next day the magician called for the twelve lamps, paid the man his full price for them, put them into a basket which he bought on purpose, and with the basket hanging on his arm, went straight to Aladdin's palace; and when he came near it he began crying, 'Who will change old damps for new ones?' As he went along, he gathered a crowd of children about him, who hooted at him, and thought him, as did all who chanced to be passing by, mad or a fool, to offer to change new lamps for old ones.
The African magician never minded all their scoffs and hootings, but still continued crying, 'Who will change old lamps for new ones?' He repeated this so often, walking backwards and forwards about the Princess Badroulboudour's palace, that the princess, who was then in the hall with the four-and-twenty windows, hearing a man cry something, and not being able to distinguish his words, by reason of the hooting of the children and increasing mob about him, sent one of her women-slaves down to know what he cried.
It was not long before the slave returned, and ran into the hall, laughing heartily. 'Well, giggler,' said the princess, 'will you tell me what are you laughing at?'
'Madam,' answered the slave, laughing still, 'who can help laughing to see a fool with a basket on his arm, full of fine new lamps, ask to change them for old ones; the children and mob, crowding about him so that he can hardly stir, make all the noise they can by deriding him.'
Another woman-slave, hearing this, said, 'Now you speak of lamps, I know not whether the princess has observed it, but there is an old one on the shelf, and whoever owns it will not be sorry to find a new one in its stead. If the princess has a mind she may have the pleasure of trying if this fool is so silly as to give a new lamp for an old one without taking anything for the exchange.'
The lamp this slave spoke of was Aladdin's wonderful lamp, which he, for fear of losing, had laid on the shelf before he went hunting, which precaution he had taken several times before, but neither the princess, the slaves, nor the attendants had ever taken any notice of it. At all other times he carried it about with him, and then indeed he might have locked it up, but other people have been guilty of oversights as great, and will be so to the end of time.
The Princess Badroulboudour, who knew not the value of this lamp, and the importance for Aladdin, not to mention herself, of keeping it safe from everybody else, entered into the joke, and bade an attendant take it, and go and make the exchange. The attendant obeyed, went out of the hall, and no sooner got to the palace gates than he saw the African magician, called to him, and showing him the old lamp, said to him, 'Give me a new lamp for this.'
The magician never doubted but this was the lamp he wanted. There could be no other like it in this palace, where all was gold or silver. He snatched it eagerly out of the man's hand, and thrusting it as far as he could into his breast, offered him his basket, and bid him choose which he liked best. The man picked out one, and carried it to the Princess Badroulboudour, but the exchange was no sooner made than the place rang with the shouts of the children, deriding the magician's folly.
The African magician gave everybody leave to laugh as much as they pleased. He stayed not long about Aladdin's palace, but made the best of his way back without crying any longer 'New lamps for old ones.' His end was answered, and by his silence he got rid of the children and the mob.
As soon as he got out of the square between the two palaces he skulked down the streets which were the least frequented, and having no more need for his lamps or basket, set them all down in the midst of a street where nobody saw him; then scouring another street or two, he walked till he came to one of the city gates, and pursuing his way through the suburbs, which were very long, he bought some provisions before he left the city, got into the fields, and turned into a road which led to a lonely remote place, where he stopped for a time to execute the design he came about, never thinking about his horse, which he had left at the khan, but considering himself perfectly compensated by the treasure he had acquired.
In this place the African magician passed the remainder of the day, till the darkest time of night, when he pulled the lamp out of his breast and rubbed it. At that summons 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 transport me immediately and the palace which thou and the other slaves of the lamp have built in this town, just as it is, with all the people in it, to a place in Africa.' The genie made no reply, but with the assistance of the other genies, the slaves of the lamp, transported him and the palace entire immediately to Africa, where we will leave the magician, palace, and the Princess Badroulboudour, to speak of the surprise of the sultan.
As soon as the sultan rose the next morning, according to custom, he looked out of window to have the pleasure of contemplating and admiring Aladdin's palace. But when he first looked that way, and instead of a palace saw an empty space such as it had been before the palace was built, he thought he was mistaken, and rubbed his eyes. He looked again, and saw nothing more the second time than the first, though the weather was fine, the sky clear, and the daybreak had made all objects very distinct. He looked through the two openings on the right and left, and saw nothing more than he had formerly been used to see out of them. His amazement was so great that he stood for some time turning his eyes to the spot where the palace had stood, but where it was no longer to be seen. He could not comprehend how so large a palace as Aladdin's, which he saw plainly every day, and but the day before, should vanish so soon and not leave the least trace behind. 'Certainly,' said he, to himself, 'I am not mistaken. It stood there. If it had tumbled down, the materials would have lain in heaps, and if it had been swallowed up by an earthquake there would be some mark left.' Though he was convinced that no palace stood there, he could not help staying there some time, to see whether he might not be mistaken. At last he retired to his apartment, not without looking behind him before he quitted the spot, and ordered the grand vizier to be fetched in all haste, and in the meantime sat down, his mind agitated by many different thoughts.
The grand vizier did not make the sultan wait long for him, but came with so much haste that neither he nor his attendants as they passed by missed Aladdin's palace; neither did the porters, when they opened the palace gates, observe any alteration.
When he came into the sultan's presence, he said to him, 'Sir, the haste with which your majesty has sent for me makes me believe something very extraordinary has happened, since you know this is council-day, and I should not fail to attend you there very soon.'
'Indeed,' said the sultan, 'it is something very extraordinary, as you say, and you will allow it to be so. Tell me what has become of Aladdin's palace.'
'Aladdin's palace!' replied the grand vizier, in great amazement, 'I thought, as I passed by, that it stood in its usual place; such substantial buildings are not so easily removed.'
'Go to my window,' said the sultan, 'and tell me if you can see it.'
The grand vizier went to the window, where he was struck with no less amazement than the sultan had been. When he was well assured that there was not the least appearance of this palace, he returned to the sultan. 'Well,' said the sultan, 'have you seen Aladdin's palace?'
'Sir,' answered the vizier, 'your majesty may remember that I had the honour to tell you that that palace, which was the subject of your admiration, with all its immense riches, was only the work of magic and a magician, but your majesty would not pay the least attention to what I said.'
The sultan, who could not deny what the grand vizier had represented to him, flew into a great passion. 'Where is that impostor, that wicked wretch,' said he, 'that I may have his head cut off immediately?'
'Sir,' replied the grand vizier, 'it is some days since he came to take his leave of your majesty; he ought to be sent to to know what is become of his palace, since he cannot be ignorant of what has been done.'
'That is too great a favour,' replied the sultan: 'go and order a detachment of thirty horse, to bring him to me loaded with chains.' The grand vizier went and gave orders for a detachment of thirty horse, and instructed the officer who commanded them how they were to act, that Aladdin might not escape them. The detachment pursued their orders; and about five or six leagues from the town met him returning from hunting. The officer went up to him, and told him that the sultan was so impatient to see him, that he had sent them to accompany him home.
Aladdin had not the least suspicion of the true reason of their meeting him, but pursued his way hunting; but when he came within half a league of the city, the detachment surrounded him, and the officer addressed himself to him, and said, 'Prince Aladdin, it is with great regret that I declare to you the sultan's order to arrest you, and to carry you before him as a criminal; I beg of you not to take it ill that we acquit ourselves of our duty, and to forgive us.'
Aladdin, who felt himself innocent, was very much surprised at this declaration, and asked the officer if he knew what crime he was accused of; who replied he did not. Then Aladdin, finding that his retinue was much smaller than this detachment, alighted off his horse, and said to the officer, 'Execute your orders; I am not conscious that I have committed any crime against the sultan's person or government.' A large long chain was immediately put about his neck, and fastened round his body, so that both his arms were pinioned down; then the officer put himself at the head of the detachment, and one of the troopers took hold of the end of the chain, and proceeding after the officer, led Aladdin, who was obliged to follow him on foot, into the town.
When this detachment entered the suburbs, the people who saw Aladdin thus led as a state criminal, never doubted but that his head was to be cut off; and as he was generally beloved, some took sabres and other arms; and those who had none, gathered stones, and followed the detachment. The last five of the detachment faced about to disperse them; but their number presently increased so much that the detachment began to think that it would be well if they could get into the sultan's palace before Aladdin was rescued; to prevent which, according to the different extent of the streets, they took care to cover the ground by extending or closing. In this manner they arrived at the palace square, and there drew up in a line, and faced about till their officer and the troopers that led Aladdin had got within the gates, which were immediately shut.
Aladdin was carried before the sultan, who waited for him attended by the grand vizier in a balcony; and as soon as he saw him, he ordered the executioner, who waited there on purpose, to cut off his head, without hearing him, or giving him leave to clear himself.
As soon as the executioner had taken off the chain that was fastened about Aladdin's neck and body, and laid down a skin stained with the blood of the many criminals he had executed, he made Aladdin kneel down, and tied a bandage over his eyes. Then drawing his sabre, he prepared to strike the blow by flourishing it three times in the air, waiting for the sultan's signal to separate his head from his body.
At that instant the grand vizier, perceiving that the populace had forced the guard of horse, and crowded the great square before the palace, and were scaling the walls in several places and beginning to pull them down to force their way in, said to the sultan, before he gave the signal, 'I beg of your majesty to consider what you are going to do, since you will risk your palace being forced; and who knows what fatal consequences may attend it?'
'My palace forced!' replied the sultan; 'who can have such boldness?'
'Sir,' answered the grand vizier, 'if your majesty will but cast your eyes towards the great square, and on the palace walls, you will know the truth of what I say.'
The sultan was so frightened when he saw so great a crowd, and perceived how enraged they were, that he ordered the executioner to put his sabre in the scabbard immediately, and to unbind Aladdin; and at the same time bade the officers declare to the people that the sultan had pardoned him and that they might retire.
Then all those who had already got upon the walls and were witnesses of what had passed, got quickly down, overjoyed that they had saved the life of a man they dearly loved, and published the news among the rest, which was presently confirmed by the officers from the top of the terraces. The justice which the sultan had done to Aladdin soon disarmed the populace of their rage; the tumult abated, and the mob dispersed.
When Aladdin found himself at liberty, he turned towards the balcony, and perceiving the sultan, raised his voice, and said to him in a moving manner, 'I beg of your majesty to add one favour more to that which I have already received, which is, to let me know my crime.'
'Your crime!' answered the sultan; 'perfidious wretch! do you not know it? Come up hither, and I will show you.'
Aladdin went up, and presented himself to the sultan, who walked in front, without looking at him, saying, 'Follow me ;' and then led him into his room. When he came to the door, he said, 'Go in; you ought to know whereabouts your palace stood; look round, and tell me what has become of it.'
Aladdin looked round, but saw nothing. He perceived very well the spot of ground his palace had stood on; but not being able to divine how it had disappeared, this extraordinary and surprising event threw him into such great confusion and amazement that he could not answer one word.
The sultan growing impatient, said to him again, 'Where is your palace, and what has become of my daughter?'
Then Aladdin, breaking silence, said to him, 'Sir, I see very well, and own that the palace which I have built is not in the place where it was, but is vanished; neither can I tell your majesty where it may be, but I can assure you I have had no hand in it.'
'I am not so much concerned about your palace,' replied the sultan; 'I value my daughter ten thousand times before it, and would have you find her out, otherwise I will cause your head to be struck off, and no consideration shall prevent it.'
'I beg your majesty,' answered Aladdin, 'to grant me forty days to make my inquiries; and if in that time I have not the success I wish for, I will come again and offer my head at the foot of your throne, to be disposed of at your pleasure.'
'I give you the forty days you ask for,' said the sultan; 'but think not to abuse the favour I show you by imagining you shall escape my resentment; for I will find you out in whatsoever part of the world you are.'
Aladdin went out of the sultan's presence with great humiliation, and in a condition worthy of pity. He crossed the courts of the palace, hanging down his head, and in such great confusion that he dared not lift up his eyes. The principal officers of the court, who had all professed themselves his friends, and whom he had never disobliged, instead of going up to comfort him, and offer him a refuge in their houses, turned their backs on him to avoid seeing him, lest he should know them. But had they accosted him with a word of comfort or offer of service, they would not have known Aladdin. He did not know himself, and was no longer in his senses, as plainly appeared by his asking everybody he met, at every house, if they had seen his palace, or could tell him any news of it.
These questions made everybody believe that Aladdin was mad. Some laughed at him, but people of sense and humanity, particularly those who had had any connection of business or friendship with him, really pitied him. For three days he rambled about the city after this manner, without coming to any decision, or eating anything, but what some good people forced him to take out of charity.
At last, as he could no longer, in his unhappy condition, stay in a city where he had formerly made so fine a figure, he quitted it, and took the road to the country; and after he had traversed several fields in frightful uncertainty, at the approach of night he came to a river-side. There, possessed by his despair, he said to himself, 'Where shall I seek my palace? In what province, country, or part of the world, shall I find that and my dear princess? I shall never succeed; I had better free myself at once from so much fruitless fatigue and such bitter grief.' He was just going to throw himself into the river, but, as a good Mussulman, true to his religion, he thought he could not do it without first saying his prayers. Going to prepare himself, he went first to the river-side to wash his hands and face, according to custom. But that place being steep and slippery, owing to the water's beating against it, he slid down, and would certainly have fallen into the river, but for a little rock which projected about two feet out of the earth. Happily also for him, he still had on the ring which the African magician put on his finger before he went down into the subterranean abode to fetch the precious lamp. In slipping down the bank he rubbed the ring so hard, by holding on the rock, that immediately the genie appeared whom he saw in the cave where the magician left 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, agreeably, surprised at an apparition he so little expected, replied, 'Save my life, genie, a second time, either by showing me to the place where the palace I have caused to be built now stands, or by immediately transporting it back to where it first stood.'
'What you command me,' answered the genie, 'is not in my power; I am only the slave of the ring; you must address yourself to the slave of the lamp.'
'If it be so,' replied Aladdin, ' I command thee, by the power of the ring, to transport me to the place where my palace stands, in what part of the world soever it is, and to set me down under the Princess Badroulboudour's window.' These words were no sooner out of his mouth than the genie transported him into Africa, to the midst of a large meadow, where his palace stood, a small distance from a great city, and set him exactly under the windows of the princess's apartment, and then left him. All this was done almost in an instant.
Aladdin, notwithstanding the darkness of the night, knew his palace and the Princess Badroulboudour's apartment again very well; but as the night was far advanced, and all was quiet in the palace, he retired to some distance, and sat down at the foot of a large tree. As he had not slept for five or six days, he was not able to resist the drowsiness which came upon him, but fell fast asleep where he was.
The next morning, as soon as the dawn appeared, Aladdin was agreeably awakened not only by the singing of the birds which had roosted in the tree under which he had passed the night, but of all those which perched in the thick trees of the palace garden. When he cast his eyes on that wonderful building, he felt an inexpressible joy to think he should soon be master of it again, and once more see his dear Princess Badroulboudour. Pleased with these hopes, he immediately got up, went toward the princess's apartment, and walked under her window, in expectation of her rising, that he might see her. Meanwhile, he began to consider with himself from whence his misfortune proceeded; and after mature reflection, he no longer doubted that it was owing to his having put his lamp out of his sight. He accused himself of negligence, and the little care he took of it, to let it be a moment away from him. But what puzzled him most was that he could not imagine who had been so jealous of his happiness. He would soon have guessed this, if he had known that both he and his palace were in Africa, the very name of which would soon have made him remember the magician, his declared enemy; but the genie, the slave of the ring, had not made the least mention of the name of the place, nor had Aladdin asked him.
The Princess Badroulboudour rose earlier that morning than she had done since her transportation into Africa by the magician, whose presence she was forced to endure once a day, because he was master of the palace; but she had always treated him so harshly that he dared not reside in it. As she was dressing, one of the women looking through the window perceived Aladdin, and ran and told her mistress. The princess, who could not believe the news, went herself to the window, and seeing Aladdin, immediately opened it. The noise the princess made in opening the window made Aladdin turn his head that way, and, knowing the princess, he saluted her with an air that expressed his joy. 'To lose no time,' said she to him, 'I have sent to have the private door opened for you; enter, and come up.' She then shut the window.
The private door, which was just under the princess's apartment, was soon opened, and Aladdin was conducted up into the princess's room. It is impossible to express their joy at seeing each other after a separation which they both thought was for ever. They embraced several times, and these embracings over, they sat down, shedding tears of joy, and Aladdin said, 'I beg you, Princess, before we talk of anything else, to tell me, both for your own sake, the sultan your father's, and mine, what is become of an old lamp which I left upon the shelf in the hall of the four-and-twenty windows, before I went hunting?'
'Alas! dear husband,' answered the princess, 'I am afraid our misfortune is owing to that lamp: and what grieves me most is that I have been the cause of it.'
'Princess,' replied Aladdin, 'do not blame yourself, since it was entirely my fault, and I ought to have taken more care of it. But let us now think only of repairing the loss; tell me what has happened, and into whose hands it has fallen.'
Then the Princess Badroulboudour gave Aladdin an account of how she changed the old lamp for a new one, which she ordered to be fetched, that he might see it, and how the next morning she found herself in the unknown country they were then in, which she was told was Africa by the traitor who had transported her thither by his magic art.
'Princess,' said Aladdin, interrupting her, 'you have informed me who the traitor is, by telling me we are in Africa. He is the most perfidious of all men; but this is neither the time nor the place to give you a full account of his villanies. I desire you only to tell me what he has done with the lamp, and where he has put it.'
'He carries it carefully wrapt up in his bosom,' said the princess: 'and this I can assure you, because he pulled it out before me, and showed it to me in triumph.'
'Princess,' said Aladdin, 'do not be displeased that I trouble you with so many questions, since they are equally important both to you and me. But tell me, I implore you, how so wicked and perfidious a man treats you.'
'Since I have been here,' replied the princess, 'he comes once a day to see me; and I am persuaded that the little satisfaction he receives from his visits makes him come no oftener. All his discourse tends to persuade me to break that faith I have pledged to you, and to take him for a husband; giving me to understand that I ought not to entertain any hope of ever seeing you again, for that you were dead, and had had your head struck off by the sultan my father's order. He added, to justify himself, that you were an ungrateful wretch; that your good fortune was owing to him, and a great many other things which I forbear to repeat: but, as he received no other answer from me but grievous complaints and tears, he was always forced to retire with as little satisfaction as he came. I doubt not his intention is to allow me time to vanquish my grief, in the hope that I may change my mind; and if I persevere in an obstinate refusal, to use violence. But my dear husband's presence removes all my disquiet.'
'I think,' replied Aladdin, 'I have found means to deliver you from your enemy and mine: to execute this design, it is necessary for me to go to the town. I shall return by noon, and will then communicate my plan to you, and tell you what you must do to ensure success. But that you may not be surprised, I think it proper to tell you that I shall change my apparel, and beg you to give orders that I may not wait long at the private door, but that it may be opened at the first knock,' all of which the princess promised to observe.
When Aladdin had got out of the palace by that door, he looked round about him on all sides, and perceiving a peasant going into the country, he hastened after him; and when he had overtaken him, made a proposal to him to change clothes, which the man agreed to. They made the exchange; the countryman went about his business, and Aladdin to the city. After traversing several streets, he came to that part of the town where all sorts of merchants and artisans had their particular streets, according to their trades. He went into that of the druggists; and going into one of the largest and best shops, asked the druggist if he had a certain powder which he named.
The druggist regarding Aladdin from his clothes as very poor, told him he had it, but that it was very dear; upon which Aladdin, penetrating into his thoughts, pulled out his purse, and showing him some gold, asked for half a drachm of the powder, which the druggist weighed, and wrapped up in a piece of paper, and gave him, telling him the price was a piece of gold. Aladdin put the money into his hand, and staying no longer in the town, except just to get a little refreshment, returned to the palace, where he waited not long at the private door. When he came into the princess' apartment, he said to her, 'Princess, perhaps the aversion you tell me you have for the magician may hinder your doing what I am going to propose; but give me leave to tell you, it is proper that you should dissemble a little, and do violence to your feelings, if you would deliver yourself from him, and give the sultan your father the satisfaction of seeing you again.
'If you will take my advice,' continued he, 'dress yourself this moment in one of your richest robes, and when the African magician comes, give him the best reception; receive him with an open countenance, without constraint. From your conversation, let him suppose that you strive to forget me. Invite him to sup with you, and give him to understand you should be glad to taste of some of the best wines of his country. He will go and fetch you some. During his absence, put this powder into one of the cups, and setting it by, charge the slave who attends you to bring you that cup at a signal you shall agree on with her. When the magician and you have eaten and drunk as much as you choose, let her bring you the cup, and change cups with him. He will take it as so great a favour that he will not refuse you, and will drain the cup; but no sooner will he have drunk it off than you will see him fall backwards.'
When Aladdin had finished, 'I own,' answered the princess, 'I shall do myself great violence in consenting to make the magician such advances as I see are absolutely necessary for me to make; but what cannot one resolve to do against a cruel enemy? I will therefore follow your advice.' After the princess had agreed to the measures proposed by Aladdin, he took his leave of her, and went and spent the rest of the day in the neighbourhood of the palace till it was night, when he might safely return to the private door.
The Princess Badroulbouclour, who was inconsolable at being separated not only from her dear husband, but also from the sultan her father, had, ever since that cruel separation, lived in great neglect of her person. She had almost forgotten to keep herself neat, particularly after the first time the magician paid her a visit; for she learned from some of the women, who knew him again, that it was he who took the old lamp in exchange for a new one, which notorious cheat rendered the sight of him more abhorrent. However, the opportunity of punishing him as he deserved made her resolve to gratify Aladdin. As soon, therefore, as he was gone, she sat down at her toilet, and was dressed by her women to the best advantage, in the richest robes. Her girdle was of the finest and largest diamonds set in gold, which she matched with a necklace of pearls, six on a side, so well setting off the one in the middle, which was the largest and most valuable, that the greatest sultanesses and queens would have been proud to be adorned with only two of the smallest. Her bracelets were of diamonds and rubies intermixed.
When the Princess Badroulboudour was completely dressed, she consulted her glass and her women as to how she looked, and when she found she would easily be able to flatter the foolish magician, she sat down on a sofa, awaiting his arrival.
The magician came at the usual hour, and as soon as he entered the great hall, where the princess waited to receive him, she rose up and pointed with her hand to the most honourable place, waiting till he sat down, that she might sit at the same time, which was a piece of civility she had never shown him before.
The African magician was very much surprised. The majestic and graceful air with which she received him, so opposed to her former behaviour, quite bewildered him.
When he had sat down, the princess, to free him from his embarrassment, broke silence first, and said, '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 tell you that I am naturally of a disposition so opposed to melancholy and grief, sorrow and uneasiness, that I always strive to put them as far away as possible when I find the reason 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 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. 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 except those of China, I have a great desire to taste the African wine, and doubt not you will get some of the best.'
The African magician, who had 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 enough to express his gratitude: but to put an end the sooner to a conversation which would have embarrassed him, 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 that 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 hope, flew rather than ran, and returned quickly with the wine. The princess, not doubting in the least but that 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 sideboard. The princess presented him with the best on the table, and said to him, 'If it pleases you, 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 were right to commend your wine, since I never tasted 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.'
Presently, 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 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 greater pleasure because 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, 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 of this barefaced foolishness 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. Then he fell backwards lifeless.
The princess had no occasion to order the back-door to be opened to Aladdin; for her women were so arranged from the great hall to the foot of the staircase, that the word was no sooner given that the African magician was fallen backwards than the door was 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 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 quickly as you were brought from thence.'
When the princess, her women and attendants, had gone out of the hall, Aladdin shut the door, and going to the dead body of the magician, opened his vest, and took out the lamp carefully wrapt up; and on his unfolding and rubbing it, the genie immediately appeared. 'Genie,' said Aladdin, 'I command thee, on the part of thy good mistress this lamp, to transport this palace directly into China.' 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' 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 finished supper, guessed that Aladdin might be hungry, and ordered the meats that were served up in the great hall, and were scarcely touched, to be brought down. The princess and Aladdin ate as much as they thought fit, and drank in like manner of the African magician's old wine; then they retired to rest.
From the time of the transportation of Aladdin's palace, and of the Princess Badroulboudour in it, the sultan, that princess's father, was inconsolable. He hardly slept night or day, and instead of taking measures to avoid everything that could keep up his affliction, he indulged it; he went now many times in the day to renew his tears, and plunged himself into the deepest melancholy.
The very morning of the return of Aladdin's palace, the sultan went, at break of day, into his room to indulge his sorrows. Centred 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. Perceiving that vacancy filled up, he at first imagined it to be the effect of a fog; but looking more attentively, he was convinced beyond the power of doubt that it was his son-in-law's palace. Then joy and gladness succeeded to sorrow and grief. He immediately ordered a horse to be saddled, 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 robes 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. She had 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. The sultan embraced her with his face bathed in tears of joy.
At last the sultan broke silence, and said, 'You have undergone a great deal; for a large palace cannot be so suddenly transported, as yours has been, without great fright and terrible anguish. Tell me all that has happened, and conceal nothing from me.'
The princess, who took great pleasure in complying, gave the sultan a full account of 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 the 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 when he had the boldness to pay her the first visit after the success of his audacious enterprise, to propose that she should marry him; how he persecuted her till Aladdin's arrival; how he and she concerted measures together to get the lamp again, which he carried about him, and the success they had; and how she had invited him to supper, and had given 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 into the great hall, where I found the magician lying dead on the sofa. As soon as I was alone, and had taken the lamp out of the magician's breast, I made use of the same secret as 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 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, and when he saw the African magician dead, he embraced Aladdin with great tenderness, and said, 'My son, be not displeased at my proceedings against you; they arose from my love for my daughter, and therefore you ought to forgive the excesses to which it hurried me.'
'Sir,' replied Aladdin, 'I have not the least reason to complain of your majesty's conduct, since you did nothing but what your duty required of you. This infamous magician, the basest of men, was the sole cause of my misfortune. When your majesty has leisure, I will give you an account of another villainous action he was guilty of to me, which was no less black and base than this, from which I was preserved in a very strange manner.'
'I will take an opportunity, and that very shortly', replied the sultan, 'to hear it; but in the meantime let us think only of rejoicing, and the removal of this odious object.'
Aladdin ordered the magician's dead carcass to be removed. In the meantime the sultan commanded the drums, trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of music to sound, and a feast of ten days to be proclaimed for joy at the return of the Princess Badroulboudour, and Aladdin with his palace.
Thus Aladdin escaped a second time the danger of losing his life.
But the African magician had a younger brother, who was as great a necromancer, and even surpassed him in villainy and pernicious designs. As they did not live together, or in the same city, but oftentimes when one was in the east the other was in the west, they each failed not every year to discover by their art where the other was, and whether he stood in need of any 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, was anxious 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 with him, he prepared the sand, cast the points, and drew the figures. On examining the 'houses' he found that his brother was no longer living, that he had been poisoned, and died suddenly; that it had happened in the capital of the kingdom of China, and that the person who had poisoned him was of low birth, and married to a princess, a sultan's daughter.
When the magician had after this manner learned his brother's fate, he lost no time in useless regret, which could not restore him to life again, but resolving immediately to avenge his death, he took horse, and set out for China, where, after crossing plains, rivers, mountains, deserts, and a long tract of country, without stopping, he arrived after incredible fatigue.
When he came to the capital of China, which his knowledge of geomancy pointed out to him, he took a lodging. The next day he went out and walked through the town, not so much to observe its beauties, to which he was indifferent, as to take proper measures to execute his pernicious design. He went into the most frequented places, where he listened to everybody's conversation. In a place where people went to play at all sorts of games, he heard some persons talking of the virtue and piety of a woman called Fatima, who had retired from the world, and of the miracles she performed. As he fancied that this woman might be serviceable to him for the project he had in his head, he took one of the company aside, and desired him to tell him more particularly who this holy woman was, and what sort of miracles she performed.
'What!' said the person whom he addressed, 'have you never seen or heard of her? She is the admiration of the whole town, for her fasting, her austerities, and her exemplary life. Except on Mondays and Fridays, she never stirs out of her little cell; and the days on which she comes into the town she does an infinite deal of good; for there is not a person who has the headache who is not cured by her laying her hand upon him.'
The magician wanted no further information. He only asked in what part of the town this holy woman's cell was. After he had been told, he determined on a detestable design; and, that he might know the way again, and be fully informed, he watched her steps the first day she went out after he had made this enquiry, and never lost sight of her till evening, when he saw her re-enter her cell. Then he went to one of those houses where they sell a certain hot liquor, and where any person may pass the night, particularly during the great heats, when the people of that country prefer lying on a mat to going to bed. About midnight, after the magician had paid the master of the house for what little he had called for, he went direct to the cell of Fatima, the holy woman. He had no difficulty in opening the door, which was only fastened with a latch, and he shut it again after he had got in, without any noise. When he entered the cell he perceived Fatima in the moonlight lying 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. 'If you cry out,' he said, '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 frightened,' said the magician; 'I only want your gown: give it me at once, and take mine.' Accordingly Fatima and he changed clothes. Then he said, 'Colour my face as yours is, that I may look like you;' but perceiving that the poor creature could not help trembling, he said, 'I tell you again, you need not fear anything; I will not take away your life. Fatima lighted her lamp, and made him come into the cell; and taking a pencil, and dipping it in a certain liquor, she rubbed it over his face and assured him that the dye would not change, and that his face was of the same colour 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, about his neck she put a long string of beads, which hung down to his waist, and, giving him the stick she was accustomed to walk with, she brought him a looking-glass, and bade him see if he were not as like her as possible. The magician found himself as much disguised as he wished to be; but he did not keep the promise he so solemnly gave to the good Fatima, for he killed her at once.
The magician, thus disguised like the holy woman, spent the remainder of the night in the cell. The next morning, two hours after sunrise, though it was not the day the holy woman used to go out, he crept out of the cell, being well persuaded that nobody would ask him any question about it; or, if they should, he had an answer ready for them. As one of the first things he had done after his arrival was to find out Aladdin's palace, he went straight thither.
As soon as the people saw the holy woman, as they imagined him to be, they gathered about him in a great crowd. Some begged his blessing, others kissed his hand, and some, more reserved, only the hem of his garment; while others, if their heads ached, or they desired to be preserved against headache, stooped for him to lay his hands upon them; which he did, muttering some words in form of a prayer. In short, he counterfeited so well that everybody took him for the holy woman.
After stopping frequently to satisfy these people, who received neither good nor harm from his 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 near. There were such quarrels and so great a noise that the princess, who was in the hall of the four-and-twenty windows, heard it, and asked what was the matter; but nobody being able to give an account, she ordered them to go and see. One of her women looked out of a window, and told her that a great crowd of people was gathered about the holy woman, to be cured of the headache by the imposition of her hands.
The princess, who had for a long time heard a great deal of this holy woman, but had never seen her, felt great curiosity to have some conversation with her, and immediately sent four chamberlains for the pretended holy woman.
As soon as the crowd saw the chamberlains coming, they made way, and the magician advanced to meet them, overjoyed to find his plot work so well. 'Holy woman,' said one of the officers, 'the princess wants to see you, and has sent us for you.'
'The princess does me too great an honour,' replied the false Fatima, 'but I am ready to obey her command,' and he followed the chamberlains into the palace.
When the magician, who under a holy garment disguised such 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' health and prosperity, and that she might have everything she desired. Then he displayed all his deceitful, hypocritical rhetoric, to insinuate himself into the princess' 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. Come and sit by me.' The false Fatima sat down with affected modesty: then the princess 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 teach me your way of living, and that I may learn from your good example.'
'Princess,' said the counterfeit Fatima, 'I beg of you not to ask what I cannot consent to, without neglecting my prayers and devotions.
'That shall be no hindrance to you,' answered the princess, ' I have a great many apartments unoccupied; you shall choose which you like best, and shall have as much liberty to perform your devotions as if you were in your own cell.'
The magician, who wanted nothing better than to introduce himself into Aladdin's palace, where it would be a much easier matter for him to execute his pernicious design, 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 resolutions a poor wretched woman, such as I am, may have made to renounce the pomp and grandeur of this world, I dare not presume to oppose the will and command of so pious and charitable a princess.'
Upon this the princess rose up and said, 'come along with me, I will show you what empty apartments I have, that you may make choice of those which you like best.' The magician followed the Princess Badroulboudour, and made choice of that which was the most poorly furnished, saying, 'It is too good for me; I only accept it to please you.'
Then the princess wished to take him back again into the great hall to dine with her; but considering that then he would be obliged to show his face, which he had all the time taken care to hide, and fearing that the princess might find out that he was not Fatima, he begged her earnestly to dispense with him, telling her that he never ate anything but bread and dried fruits, and that he desired to eat a slight repast in his own room. This 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 shall expect you as soon as you have finished.'
After the princess had dined, the false Fatima 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 that I am speaking of this palace, pray how do you like it? And before I show you the rest, tell me first what you think of this hall.'
At this question the counterfeit Fatima, who, to act his part the better, pretended to hang down his head, without so much as ever once lifting it, at last looked up; and, surveying the hall from one end to the other, he said to the princess, 'As far as such a solitary being as I can judge, this hall is truly admirable and most beautiful; it lacks but one thing.'
'What is that, good mother?' answered the Princess Badroulboudour, 'tell me, I implore you. For my part, I have always believed and have heard that it lacked nothing; but if it does, that want shall be supplied.'
'Princess,' said the false Fatima, with great dissimulation, 'forgive me for the liberty I have taken; but if my opinion can be of any importance, it is that if a roc's egg were hung up in the middle of the 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 is a roc, and where could I 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 she could not forget the roc's egg, of which she determined to tell Aladdin 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 room. As soon as he arrived, Aladdin went straight up to the princess' apartment, and saluted and embraced her. She seemed to receive him coldly. 'My princess,' said he, ' I think you are not so cheerful as usual. Has anything happened during my absence to give you any trouble or dissatisfaction? If so, 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 should not have thought you would perceive it in my countenance. But since you have unexpectedly discovered it, I will no longer disguise a matter of so little consequence from you.
'I always believed, as you did,' continued the Princess Badroulboudour, 'that our palace was the most superb, magnificent, and complete one in the world, but I will tell you now what I find fault with upon examining the hall of four-and-twenty windows. Do you not think, with me, that it would be better if a roc's egg were hung up in the midst of the dome?'
'Princess,' replied Aladdin, 'it is enough that you think it needs such a thing. You shall see by my diligence that there is nothing which I would not do for your sake.'
Aladdin left the Princess Badroulboudour that very moment, and went up into the hall of four-and-twenty windows. Pulling out of his bosom the lamp, which, after the danger he had been exposed to, he always carried about with him, he rubbed it, upon which the genie immediately appeared. 'Genie,' said Aladdin, 'there ought to be a roc's egg 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 than the genie gave so loud and terrible a cry that the hall shook, and Aladdin could scarcely stand upright. 'What! wretch,' said the genie, in a voice that would have made the most undaunted man tremble, 'is it not enough that I and my companions have done everything for you, that you, with 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. You are fortunate, however, in not being the real author of this request. 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 has 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 of the holy woman Fatima, and how she could cure the headache. He returned to the princess' 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 this the princess immediately ordered the holy woman to be fetched, and then told Aladdin how she had come to the palace.
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. I hope you will not refuse me that kindness which you have done to so many persons afflicted with the headache.' 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. Aladdin saw this, and, seizing his hand, 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 accuse me of killing, and disguised himself in her clothes, to come and murder me. He is the brother of the African magician.' Then Aladdin told her how he came to know these particulars, and afterwards ordered the dead body to be taken away.
Thus was Aladdin delivered from the persecution of the two magicians. Within a few years afterwards, the sultan died in a good old age, and the Princess Badroulboudour, as lawful heir of the crown, succeeded him. She shared her power with Aladdin, and they reigned together many years, and left a numerous and illustrious posterity behind them.