The Story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp - Part VI

I am confident my attempts to punish the magician will
not be in vain," replied Aladdin, "since my princess's fears are
removed, and I think I have found the means to deliver you
from both your enemy and mine; to execute this design, it is
necessary for me to go to the town. I shall return by noon, will
then communicate my design, and what must be done by you
to ensure success. But that you may not be surprised, I think
it proper to acquaint you that I shall change my apparel, and beg
of you to give orders that I may not wait long at the private door,
but that it may be opened at the first knock."

When Aladdin was out of the palace, he looked round him
on all sides, and perceiving a peasant going into the country,
hastened after him; and when he had overtaken him, made a
proposal to him to change habits, which the man agreed to.
When they had 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 descriptions of
merchants had their particular streets, according to their trades.
He went into that of the druggists; and going into one of the
largest and best-furnished shops, asked the druggist if he had a
certain powder which he named. The druggist, judging Aladdin
by his habit to be very poor, and that he had not money enough
to pay for it, told him he had it, but that it was very dear ; upon
which Aladdin penetrating his thoughts, pulled out his purse, and
showing him some gold, asked for half a drachm of the powder;
which the druggist weighed, wrapped up in paper, and gave him,
telling him the price was a piece of gold. Aladdin put the money
into his hand, and returned to the palace, where he waited not long
at the private door. When he came into the princess's apartment,
he said to her: "Princess, perhaps the aversion you tell me you
have for your captor may be an objection to your executing what
I am going to propose ; but permit me to say it is proper that you
should dissemble a little, and do violence to your inclinations, if
you would deliver yourself from him.

"If you will take my advice," continued he, "dress yourself
this moment in one of your richest habits, and when the African
magician comes, make no difficulty to give him the best reception ;
so that he may imagine time has removed your disgust at his
addresses. In your conversation let him understand that you
strive to forget me; and that he may be the more fully convinced,
invite him to sup with you, and tell him you should be glad to
taste of some of the best wines of his country. He will presently
go to fetch you some. During his absence, put into one of the
cups which you are accustomed to drink of, this powder, and
setting it by, charge the slave you may order that night to attend
you, on a signal you shall agree upon, to bring that cup to you.
When the magician and you have eaten and drunk as much as you
choose, let her bring you the cup, and then change cups with him.
He will esteem it so great a favour that he will not refuse, but
eagerly quaff it off; but no sooner will he have drunk, than you
will see him fall backward."

When Aladdin had finished, "I own," answered the princess,
*'I shall do myself violence in consenting to make the magician
such advances; but what cannot one resolve to do against a
cruel enemy ? I will therefore follow your advice, since both my
repose and yours depend upon it." After the princess had
agreed to the measures proposed by Aladdin, he took his leave
and went and spent the rest of the day in the neighbourhood of
the palace till it was night, and he might safely return to the
private door.

The princess, who had remained inconsolable at being
parted from her husband, had, ever since their cruel separation,
lived in great neglect of her person. She had almost forgotten
the neatness so becoming persons of her sex and quality, particu-
larly after the first time the magician paid her a visit and she
had understood by some of the women, who knew him again,
that it was he who had taken the old lamp in exchange for a new
one. However, the opportunity of taking the revenge he deserved
made her resolve to gratify Aladdin. As soon, therefore, as he
was gone, she sat down to dress, and was attired by her women
to the best advantage in the richest habit of her wardrobe.
Her girdle was of the finest and largest diamonds set in gold, her
necklace of pearls, six on a side, so well proportioned to that in
the middle, which was the largest ever seen, that the greatest
sultanesses would have been proud to have been adorned with
only two of the smallest. Her bracelets, which were of diamonds
and rubies intermixed, corresponded admirably to the richness
of the girdle and necklace.

When the Princess Badroulboudour was completely dressed,
she consulted her glass and women upon her adjustment; and
when she found she wanted no charms to flatter the foolish
passion of the African magician, she sat down on a sofa expecting
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 with an enchanting grace and smile, 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 civility
she had never shown him before.

The African magician, dazzled more with the lustre of the
princess's eyes than the glittering of her jewels, was much sur-
prised. The smiling air with which she received him, so opposite
to her former behaviour, quite fascinated his heart. When he
was seated, the princess, to free him from his embarrassment,
broke silence first, looking at him all the time in such a manner
as to make him believe that he was not so odious to her as she
had given him to understand hitherto, and said: "You are
doubtless amazed to find me so much altered to-day; but your
surprise will not be so great when I acquaint you, that I am
naturally of a disposition so opposite to melancholy and grief,
that I always strive to put them as far away as possible when I
find the subject of them is past. I have reflected on what you
told me of Aladdin's fate, and know my father's temper so well
that I am persuaded, with you, he could not escape the terrible
effects of the sultan's rage: therefore, should I continue to lament
him all my life, my tears cannot recall him. For this reason,
since I have paid all the duties decency requires of me to his
memory, now he is in the grave I think I ought to endeavour
to comfort myself. These are the motives of the change you see
in me; I am resolved to banish melancholy entirely; and per-
suaded that you will bear me company to-night, I have ordered
a supper to be prepared; but as I have no wines but those of
China, I have a great desire to taste of the produce of Africa,
and doubt not your procuring some of the best."

The African magician, who had looked upon the happiness
of getting so soon and so easily into the Princess Badroulboudour's
good graces as impossible, could not think of words expressive
enough to testify how sensible he was of her favours : but to put
an end the sooner to a conversation which would have embar-
rassed him, if he had engaged farther in it, he turned it upon the
wines of Africa, and said : " Of all the advantages Africa can boast,
that of producing the most excellent wines is one of the principal.
I have a vessel of seven years old, which has never been broached;
and it is indeed not praising it too much to say it is the finest wine
in the world. If my princess," added he, "will give me leave, I
wdll 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; for the longer you stay the greater will be my impatience,
and we shall sit down to supper as soon as you return." The
African magician, full of hopes of his expected happiness, rather
flew than ran, and returned quickly with the wine. The princess,
not doubting but he would make haste, put with her own hand
the powder Aladdin had given her into the cup set apart for that
purpose. They sat down at the table opposite to each other, the
magician's back toward the buffet. The princess presented
him with the best at the table, and said to him: "If you please, I
will entertain you with a concert of vocal and instrumental music ;
but as we are only two, I think conversation may be more agree-
able." This the magician took as a new favour. After they
had eaten some time, the princess called for some wine, drank the
magician's health, and afterward said to him: "Indeed you had
a full right to commend your wine, since I never tasted any so
delicious." "Charming princess," said he, holding in his hand
the cup which had been presented to him, "my wine becomes
more exquisite by your approbation." " 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 fortunate, princess, that I reserved this wine for so happy
an occasion ; and own I never before drank any in every respect
so excellent." When they had each drunk two or three cups
more, the princess, who had completely charmed the African
magician by her 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 magi-
cian a full goblet. When they both had their cups in their hands,
she said to him: "I know not how you express your loves in these
parts when drinking together." With us in China lovers recipro-
cally exchange cups, and drink each other's health": at the same
time she presented to him the cup which was in her hand, and
held out her hand to receive his. He hastened to make the ex-
change with the more pleasure, because he looked upon this
favour as a token of conquest over the princess, which raised his
rapture to the highest pitch. Before he drank, he said to her,
with the cup in his hand: "Indeed, princess, we Africans are not
so refined in the art of love as you Chinese : and your instructing
me in a lesson I was ignorant of, informs me how sensible I
ought to be of the favour done me. I shall never, lovely princess,
forget my recovering, by drinking out of your cup, that life,
which your cruelty, had it continued, must have made me despair
of."

The princess, who began to be tired with his declarations,
interrupted him and said: '*Let us drink first, and then say what
you will afterward"; at the same time she set the cup to her lips,
while the African magician, who was eager to get his wine off
first, drank up the very last drop. In finishing it, he leaned his
head back to show his eagerness, and remained some time in that
state. The princess kept the cup at her lips till she saw his eyes
turn in his head, when he fell backward lifeless on the sofa.
The princess had no occasion to order the private door to be
opened to Aladdin; for her women were so disposed from the
great hall to the foot of the staircase, that the word was no
sooner given that the magician was fallen, than the door was
immediately opened. As soon as Aladdin entered the hall, he
saw the magician stretched backward on the sofa. The princess
rose from her seat, and ran overjoyed to embrace him; but he
stopped her and said: ** Princess, it is not yet time; let me be
left alone a moment, while I endeavour to transport you back to
China as speedily as you were brought from thence." ^Yhen
the princess, her women and eunuchs, were gone out of the hall,
Aladdin shut the door, and, going directly to the dead body of the
magician, opened his vest, took out the lamp which was carefully
wrapped up, as the princess had told him, and unfolding and
rubbing it, the genie immediately appeared. "Genie," said
Aladdin, "I have called to command thee, on the part of thy
good mistress, this lamp, to transport this palace instantly into
China, to the place from whence it was brought hither." The
genie bowed his head in token of obedience, and disappeared.
Immediately the palace was transported into China, and its
removal was only felt by two little shocks, the one when it was
lifted up, the other when it was set down, and both in a very short
interval of time.

From the time of the transportation of Aladdin's palace, the
princess's father had been inconsolable for the loss of her.
Before the disaster he used to go every morning into his closet
to please himself with viewing the palace; he went now many
times in the day to renew his tears, and plunge himself into the
deepest melancholy, by reflecting how he had lost what was most
dear to him in this world.

The very morning of the return to the palace, the sultan
went into his closet to indulge his sorrows. Absorbed in himself,
and in a pensive mood, he cast his eyes toward the spot, expecting
only to see an open space; but perceiving the vacancy filled up,
he at first imagined the appearance to be the effect of a fog;
looking more attentively, he was convinced beyond the power of
doubt that it was his son-in-law's palace. Joy and gladness
succeeded to sorrow and grief. He returned immediately into
his apartment, and ordered a horse to be saddled and brought to
him without delay, which he mounted that instant, thinking he
could not make haste enough to the palace.

Aladdin, who foresaw what would happen, rose that morning
by daybreak, put on one of the most magnificent habits his ward-
robe afforded, and went up into the hall of twenty-four windows,
from whence he perceived the sultan approaching, and got down
soon enough to receive him at the foot of the great staircase.
"Aladdin," said the sultan, "I cannot speak to you till I have
seen and embraced my daughter." The happy father was then
led to the princess's apartment and embraced her with his face
bathed in tears of joy. The sultan v, as some time before he could
open his lips, so great was his surprise and joy to find his daughter
again, after he had given her up for lost; and the princess, upon
seeing her father, let fall tears of rapture and affection.

At last the sultan broke silence, and said: "I would believe,
daughter, your joy to see me makes you seem as little changed as
if no misfortune had befallen you ; yet I cannot be persuaded but
that you have suffered much alarm; for a large palace cannot
be so suddenly transported as yours has been, without causing
great fright and apprehension. I would have you tell me all that
has happened, and conceal nothing from me."

The princess, who took great pleasure in giving the sultan
the satisfaction he demanded, said: "If I appear so little altered,
I beg of your majesty to consider that I received new life yesterday
morning by the presence of my dear husband and deliverer,
Aladdin, whom I looked upon and bewailed as lost to me.
My greatest suffering was to find myself forced not only from
your majesty, but from my dear husband; not only from the
love I bore him, but from the uneasiness I laboured under through
fear that he, though innocent, might feel the effects of your anger.
As to what relates to my transportation, I was myself the innocent
cause of it." To persuade the sultan of the truth of what she
said, she gave him a full account of how the African magician
had disguised himself, and offered to change new lamps for old
ones; how she had amused herself in making that exchange;
how the palace and herself were carried away and transported
into Africa, with the magician, who was recognised by two of
her women and the eunuch who made the exchange of the lamp,
when he had the audacity, after the success of his daring enter-
prise, to propose himself for her husband; how he persecuted
her till Aladdin's arrival; how they had concerted measures to
get the lamp from him again, and the success they had fortunately
met with by her dissimulation in inviting him to supper, and
giving him the cup with the powder prepared for him. "For the
rest," added she, *'I leave it to Aladdin to recount."

Aladdin had not much to tell the sultan, but only said:
"When the private door was opened I went up into the great
hall, where I found the magician lying dead on the sofa; and as
I thought it not proper for the princess to stay there any longer,
I desired her to go down into her own apartment, with her
women and eunuchs. As soon as I was alone, and had taken
the lamp out of the magician's breast, I made use of the same
secret he had done, to remove the palace, and carry off the
princess; and by that means the palace was reconveyed to the
place where it stood before; and I have the happiness to restore
the princess to your majesty. But that your majesty may not
think that I impose upon you, if you will give yourself the trouble
to go up into the hall, you may see the magician punished as he
deserved."

The sultan rose instantly and went into the hall, where,
when he saw the African magician dead, and his face already
livid by the strength of the poison, he embraced Aladdin with
great tenderness, and said: "My son, be not displeased at my
proceedings against you ; they arose from my paternal love ; and
therefore you ought to forgive the excesses to which it hurried
me." "Sir," replied Aladdin, "I have not the least reason to
complain of your majesty's conduct, since you did nothing but
what your duty required. 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 toward me, which was no less
black and base than this." *' 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."

The sultan then commanded the drums, trumpets, cymbals,
and other instruments of music to announce his joy to the public,
and a festival of ten days to be proclaimed for the return of the
princess and Aladdin.

Within a few years afterward, the sultan died in a good old
age, and as he left no male children, the Princess Badroulboudour,
as lawful heir of the throne, succeeded him, and communicating
the power to Aladdin, they reigned together many years, and left
a numerous and illustrious progeny.