LITMIR.BIZ

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And I am very poor, too. So how can you ask about marriage to a daughter of the Sultan?”

      But at last she agreed to go.

      His mother took a napkin and laid in it the magic fruits from the magical garden. They shone like the most beautiful jewels. She entered the palace hall. But the Sultan did not notice her.

      She went every day and stood in the same place.

      On the sixth day the Sultan said to his vizir, “Every day I see a woman. She carries something in a napkin. Who is she? Call her next time, I will see what she wants.”

      Next day the Sultan said to her, “Good woman,[45] tell me what you want.”

      She told him about her son’s love for the princess.

      The Sultan asked her kindly what she had in the napkin. She unfolded the jewels and presented them to him.

      The Sultan was very amazed. The vizir wanted the princess for his own son. So he begged the Sultan to withhold the woman for three months. During that time his son could make a richer present.

      The Sultan told Aladdin’s mother, “I will think about it. But you must not appear before me again for three months. After that your son can marry my daughter.”

      Aladdin waited patiently for nearly two months. But one day he heard the news: the son of the grand-vizir was going to marry the Sultan’s daughter.

      Aladdin rubbed the Lamp. The Jinn appeared and asked, “What is your will?”

      Aladdin replied, “The Sultan broke his promise[46] to me. The vizir’s son is going to marry the princess. My command is: tonight you must bring here the bride and bridegroom.”

      “Master, I obey,” said the Jinn.

      Aladdin went to his room, where the Jinn transported the bed with the vizir’s son and the princess.

      “Take this newly-married man,[47]” said Aladdin, “put him outside[48] in the cold and return in the morning.”

      “Fear nothing,” Aladdin said to the princess. “You are my wife. Your father promised you to me. No harm will come to you.[49]”

      The princess was very afraid. She passed the most miserable night of her life. Aladdin lay down beside her and slept very well.

      In the morning the Jinn returned the bridegroom. He laid him in his place and transported the bed back to the palace.

      The Sultan came to say his daughter good-morning. The unhappy vizir’s son jumped up and hid himself. The princess could not say a word.

      The Sultan asked, “What happened?”

      The princess told how during the night the bed travelled to a strange house. The Sultan did not believe her. He considered it an idle dream.[50]

      The following night exactly the same thing happened.[51] The vizir’s son was very afraid and said, “Your Majesty, I don’t want to marry anymore. Please let me go.”

      The Sultan was very surprised but cancelled the wedding.

      When the three months were over,[52] Aladdin sent his mother to remind the Sultan of his promise.

      The Sultan did not want to see Aladdin. So he asked the vizir’s advice. The vizir said to him, “Just demand more jewels!”

      The Sultan then turned to Aladdin’s mother and said, “Good woman, I remember my promises. But your son must first send me forty basins of jewels carried by forty slaves. Tell him that I wait for his answer.”

      The mother of Aladdin went home. She thought that all was lost.[53]

      “Please calm,” her son said, “I will do that for the princess – and even more!”

      He called the Jinn. In a few moments[54] the eighty slaves arrived. Each was carrying two basins of wonderful jewels.

      Aladdin sent them to the palace. The slaves entered the palace and stood before the Sultan.

      The Sultan was very glad and said, “Good woman, tell your son that I wait for him with open arms.[55]”

      She came back home joyfully. But Aladdin first called the Jinn.

      “I want a beautiful dress,” he said, “a white horse, and twenty slaves. And ten thousand pieces of gold in ten purses.” The Jinn answered, “No problem, my Master.”

      Aladdin mounted his horse and passed through the streets. The slaves were strewing gold.

      When the Sultan saw Aladdin, he came down from his throne and led him into a hall. He wanted to marry him to the princess that very day.[56]

      But Aladdin refused, and said, “I must build a palace for her.”

      At home he said to the Jinn, “Build me a palace of the finest marble, with jasper, agate, and other precious stones.”

      The Jinn finished the palace by next day.

      The Sultan sent musicians with trumpets and cymbals to meet them. The air resounded with music and cheers.

      At night the princess said good-bye to her father. She was charmed at the sight of Aladdin.

      The next day Aladdin invited the Sultan to see the palace.

      Aladdin became the captain of the Sultan’s armies. He won several battles for him but remained modest and courteous. They lived in peace and content for several years.

      But far away in Africa the magician remembered Aladdin. He discovered that Aladdin escaped from the cave, married a princess and was living in great honour and wealth!

      He decided to steal the Lamp. He travelled night and day till he reached the capital. When he was passing through the town, the people everywhere were talking about a marvellous palace.

      “Forgive my ignorance,” he asked, “what is this palace you speak of?[57]”

      “Did you not hear about Prince Aladdin’s palace,” was the reply, “the greatest wonder of the world?”

      The magician saw the palace and became half mad with rage.

      He bought a dozen copper lamps and put them into a basket. Then he went to the palace, crying, “New lamps for old![58]”

      Aladdin was not at the palace at the moment. The princess sent a slave to find out what the noise was about.[59]

      “Your Majesty,” replied the slave, “an old fool offers to exchange fine new lamps for old ones.”

      Another slave said, “We have a very old lamp, let’s change it.”

      But this was the magic Lamp, which Aladdin left there. The princess did not know its value. She went and said to the magician, “Give me a new lamp for this.”

      The wizard immediately exchanged the lamps. After that the wizard went away and rubbed the Lamp. The Jinn appeared. The magician ordered the Jinn to carry him, together with the palace and the princess, to a lonely place in Africa.

      The next morning the Sultan did not see the Aladdin’s palace: it disappeared! He sent thirty men on horseback Скачать книгу