Volume 3 — ALAEDDIN; OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP. (continued 6)

When 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, and took out the lamp carefully wrapt up, as the princess told him, and unfolding and rubbing it the genie immediately appeared. “Genie,” said Aladdin, “I have called thee to command thee, on the part of thy good mistress of this lamp, to transport this palace presently into China to the same place from whence it was brought hither.” The genie bowed his head in token of obedience, and disappeared. Immediately the palace was 257transported 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’s 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 supped, guessing that Aladdin might be hungry, ordered the meats that were served up in the great hall, and were scarce 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: during which time their discourse could not be any otherwise than satisfactory, and then they retired to their own chamber.

From the time of the transportation of Aladdin’s palace, and of the princess Badr-oul-boudour in it, the sultan, that princess’s father, was inconsolable for the loss of her, as he considered it. He hardly slept night or day and instead of taking measures to avoid everything that could keep off his affliction, he, on the contrary, indulged in it; for whereas before he used to go every morning into his closet, to please himself with that agreeable prospect, he went now many times in the day, to renew his tears, and plunge himself into the deepest melancholy, by the idea of no more seeing that which once gave him so much pleasure, and reflecting how he had lost what was the most dear to him in this world.

The very morning of the return of Aladdin’s palace, the sultan went by break of day into his closet, to indulge his sorrows. Collected 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; but 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 returned immediately into his apartment, and ordered a horse to be saddled and brought to him in all haste, 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 habits 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 Badr-oul-boudour’s apartment, who, having 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, had just done dressing herself. The sultan embraced her with his face bathed in tears of joy; and the princess, on her side, gave him all the testimonies of the extreme pleasure the sight of him gave her.

258The sultan was 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, after seeing her father, let fall tears of joy.

At last the sultan broke silence, and said, “I would believe, daughter, your joy to see me makes you seem so little changed, as if no misfortune had befallen you; for a large palace cannot be so suddenly transported as yours has been, without great fright and terrible anguish. 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, “Sir, 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; and the happiness of seeing and embracing whom has almost recovered me to my former state of health. But my greatest trouble was only to find myself forced from your majesty and my dear husband; not only in respect to the inclination I bore to my husband, but from the uneasiness I laboured under besides, for fear that he, though innocent, should feel the effects of your anger, to which I knew he was left exposed. I suffered but little from the insolence of the wretch who had carried me off; for having secured the ascendant over him, I always put a stop to his disagreeable discourse, and was as little constrained as I am at present.

“As to what relates to my transportation, Aladdin had no hand in it; I myself am the innocent cause of it.” To persuade the sultan of the truth of what she said, she gave him a full account 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 that 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 and the eunuch who made the exchange of the lamp, when he had the boldness to pay her the first visit, after the success of his audacious enterprise, to propose himself for her husband; how he persecuted her till Aladdin’s arrival; how he and she concerted measures together to get the lamp from him again, which he carried about him; and the success they had; and particularly by her dissimulation, 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 give you an account.”

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; 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 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 259that your majesty may not think that I impose upon you, if you will give yourself the trouble to 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, 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 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 by the grace of God in a very particular 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 and thrown on the dunghill, for the birds and beasts to prey upon. In the meantime the sultan commanded the drums, trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments of music, to announce the public joy, and a feast of ten days to be proclaimed for joy of the return of the princess Badr-oul-boudour, and Aladdin with his palace.

Thus Aladdin escaped a second time the almost inevitable danger of losing his life: but this was not the last, since he ran as great a hazard a third time, the circumstances of which I shall relate.

The African magician had a younger brother, who was a great 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 failed not every year to inform themselves, by their art of necromancy, where each other was, how they did, and whether they stood in need of each other’s 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, had the curiosity 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 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; by another house, that he had been poisoned, and died suddenly; and by another, that it was in the capital of the kingdom of China; and that the person who poisoned him was of mean birth, and married to a princess, a sultan’s daughter.

When the magician had after this manner informed himself of his brother’s 260fate, he lost no time in useless regret, which could not restore him to life again; but resolving immediately to revenge his death, he took horse, and set forwards for China: where, after crossing plains, rivers, mountains, deserts, and a long tract of country without stopping, he arrived after incredible fatigues.

When he came to the capital of China, which his knowledge of geomancy pointed out to him, and being certain he had not mistaken any other kingdom for it, he took a lodging. The next day he went out, and walked through the town, not so much to observe the beauties, which were indifferent to him, but with an intention to take proper measures to execute his pernicious designs. He introduced himself into the most frequented places, where he listened to everybody’s discourse. In a place where people resorted to divert themselves with all sorts of games, and where some are conversing while others play, he heard some persons talk 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 in the project he had in his head, he took one of the company aside, and desired him to tell him more particularly who that holy woman was, and what sort of miracles she performed.

“What!” said the person to whom he addressed himself, “have you never seen or heard talk of her? She is the admiration of the whole town, for her fasting, her austerities, and her exemplary life. Except Mondays and Fridays, she never stirs out of her little cell; and on those 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, but is cured by her laying her hand upon them.”

The magician wanted no further information. He only asked the person in what part of the town this holy woman’s cell was. After he had shewn him it, and he had concluded and determined on the detestable design he had in his head, and that he might know the way again, and be fully informed, he watched all her steps the first day she went out after he had made this inquiry, without losing sight of her till evening, when he saw her re-enter her cell. When he had fully observed the place, he went to one of those houses where they sell a certain hot liquor, and where any person may pass the night, particularly in the great heats, when the people of that country prefer lying on a mat to a bed. About midnight, after the magician had satisfied the master of the house for what little he had called for, he went out, and proceeded directly to the cell of Fatima, the holy woman, the name she was known by throughout the town. 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; and when he entered the cell, perceived Fatima by moonlight lying in the air 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, and who said to her, “If you cry out, 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. 261“Do not be so much frightened,” said the magician, “I only want your habit: give it me presently, and take mine.” Accordingly Fatima and he changed clothes. Then he said, “Colour my face as yours is, that I may be like you;” but perceiving that the poor creature could not help trembling, to encourage her, he said, “I tell you again you need not fear anything: I swear by the name of God I will not take away your life.” Fatima lighted her lamp, made him come into the cell, and taking a pencil and dipping it into a certain liquor, rubbed it over his face, and assured him the colour would not change, and that his face was of the same dye 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, she put a long string of beads about his neck which hung down to the middle of his body, and giving him the stick she used to walk with, in his hand, brought him a looking-glass, and bid him look if he was not as like her as possible. The magician found himself disguised as he wished to be; but he did not keep the oath he so solemnly swore to the good Fatima; but instead of stabbing her, for fear the blood might discover him, he strangled her; and when he found she was dead, threw her body into a cistern just by the cell.

The magician, thus disguised like the holy woman Fatima, spent the remainder of the night in the cell, after he had committed so horrid a murder. The next morning, two hours after sunrise, though it was not a day the holy woman used to go out on, he crept out of the cell, being well persuaded that nobody would ask him any questions about it; or, if they should, he had an answer ready for them. As one of the first things he did after his arrival was to find out Aladdin’s palace, where he was to execute his designs, he went directly thither.

As soon as the people saw the holy woman, as they imagined him to be, they presently gathered about him in a great crowd. Some begged his blessing, others kissed his hand, and others, more reserved, only the hem of his garment: while others, whether their heads ached, or they had a mind to be preserved against that distemper, stooped for him to lay his hands upon them; which he did, muttering some words in form of prayer, and, in short, counterfeited so well, that everybody took him for the holy woman.

After frequently stopping to satisfy these kind of people, who received neither good nor harm from this 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 room. There were such quarrels, and so great a noise, that the princess, who was in the hall of four-and-twenty windows, heard it, and asked what was the matter; but nobody being able to give her an account, she ordered them to go and see, and inform her. One of her women looked out of a window, and then told her it was a great crowd of people that were gathering about the holy woman, to be cured of the headache by the imposition of her hands.

262The princess, who had for a long time heard a great deal of this holy woman, but had never seen her, conceived a great curiosity to have some conversation with her, which the chief of the eunuchs perceiving, told her it was an easy matter to bring her to her, if she desired and commanded it; and the princess shewing a desire, he immediately sent four eunuchs for the pretended holy woman.

As soon as the crowd saw the eunuchs coming, they made way, and the magician perceiving also that they were coming for him, advanced to meet them, overjoyed to find his plot took so well. “Holy woman,” said one of the eunuchs, “the princess wants to see you, and has sent us for you.” “The princess does me too great an honour,” replied the false Fatima; “I am ready to obey her command,” and at the same time followed the eunuchs to the palace.

When the magician, who under a holy garment disguised a wicked heart, was introduced into the great hall, and perceived the princess, he began a prayer, which contained a long enumeration of vows and good wishes for the princess’s health and prosperity, and that she might have everything she desired. Then he displayed all his deceitful, hypocritical rhetoric, to insinuate himself into the princess’s favour under the cloak of piety, which it was no hard matter for him to do; for as the princess herself was naturally good she was easily persuaded that all the world was like her, especially those who made profession of serving God in solitary retreat.

When the pretended-Fatima had made an end of his long harangue, the princess said to him, “I thank you, good mother, for your prayers; I have great confidence in them, and hope God will hear them. Come and sit by me.” The false Fatima sat down with affected modesty: then the princess, resuming her discourse, said, “My good mother, I have one thing to ask you, which you must not refuse me; which is, to stay with me, that you may entertain me with your way of living; and that I may learn from your good example how to serve God.” “Princess,” said the counterfeit Fatima, “I beg of you not to ask what I cannot consent to, without neglecting my prayers and 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 more than to introduce himself into Aladdin’s palace, where it would be a much easier matter for him to execute his pernicious designs, under the favour and protection of the princess, than if he had been forced to come and go from the cell to the palace, did not urge much to excuse himself from accepting the obliging offer the princess made him. “Princess,” said he, “whatever resolution a poor wretched woman, as I am, may have made to renounce the pomp and grandeur of this world, I dare not presume to oppose the will and commands of so pious and charitable a princess.”

Upon this the princess, rising up, said, “Come along with me, I will shew 263you what empty apartments I have, that you may make choice of which you like best.” The magician followed the princess Badr-oul-boudour, and of all the apartments she shewed him, made choice of that which was the worse furnished, saying it was too good for him, and that he only accepted of it to please her.

Afterwards the princess would have brought him back again into the great hall to make him dine with her: but he considering that then he should be obliged to show his face, which he had always taken care to hide; and fearing that the princess should find out that he was not Fatima, he begged of her earnestly to dispense with him, telling her that he never ate anything but bread and dried fruits, and desiring to eat that slight repast in his own apartment; that the princess granted him, saying, “You may be as free here, good mother, as if you were in your own cell: I will order you a dinner, but remember I expect you as soon as you have finished your repast.”

After the princess had dined, and the false Fatima had been informed by one of the eunuchs that she had risen from the table, he failed not to wait upon her. “My good mother,” said the princess, “I am overjoyed to have the company of so holy a woman as yourself, who will confer a blessing upon this palace. But now I am speaking of this palace, pray how do you like it? And before I shew you it all, tell me first what you think of this hall.”

Upon this question, the counterfeit Fatima, who, to act his part the better, affected to hang down his head, without so much as ever once lifting it up, at last looked up, and surveying the hall from one end to the other, when he had examined it well, said to the princess, “As far as such a solitary being as I can judge, who am unacquainted with what the world calls beautiful; this hall is truly admirable and most beautiful: there wants but one thing.” “What is that, good mother?” answered the princess Badr-oul-boudour; “tell me, I conjure you. For my part I always believed, and have heard say, it wanted nothing; but if it does, it shall be supplied.”

“Princess,” said the false Fatima, with great dissimulation, “forgive me for the liberty I have taken; but my opinion is, if it can be of any importance, that if a roc’s egg was hung up in the middle of this dome, this hall would have no parallel in the four quarters of the world, and your palace would be the wonder of the universe.”

“My good mother,” said the princess, “what bird is a roc, and where may one get an egg?” “Princess,” replied the pretended Fatima, “it is a bird of prodigious size, which inhabits the top of mount Caucasus; the architect who built your palace can get you one.”

After the princess Badr-oul-boudour had thanked the false Fatima for what she believed her good advice, she conversed with her upon other matters; but could not forget the roc’s egg, which she made account to tell Aladdin of when he returned from hunting. He had been gone six days, which the magician knew and therefore took advantage of his absence; but he returned that evening after the false Fatima had taken leave of the princess, and retired to his apartment. As soon as he arrived, he went directly up to the princess’s apartment, saluted 264and embraced her, but she seemed to receive him coldly. “My princess,” said he, “I think you are not so cheerful as you used to be. Has anything happened during my absence which has displeased you, or given you any trouble or dissatisfaction? In the name of God do not conceal it from me. I will leave nothing undone that is in my power to please you.” “It is a trifling matter,” replied the princess, “which gives me so little concern that I could not have thought you could have perceived it in my countenance; but since you have unexpectedly discovered some alteration, I will no longer disguise a matter of so little consequence from you.

“I always believed, as well as you,” continued the princess Badr-oul-boudour, “that our palace was the most superb, magnificent, and complete in the world; but I will tell you now what I find fault with, upon examining the hall of four-and-twenty windows. Do not you think with me, that it would be complete if a roc’s egg was hung up in the midst of the dome?” “Princess,” replied Aladdin, “it is enough that you think there wants such a thing. You shall see by the diligence used to repair that deficiency, that there is nothing which I would not do for your sake.”

Aladdin left the princess Badr-oul-boudour that moment, and went up into the hall of four-and-twenty windows, where pulling out of his bosom the lamp, which after the danger he had been exposed to, he always carried about him, he rubbed it; upon which the genie immediately appeared. “Genie,” said Aladdin, “there wants a roc’s egg to be hung up in the midst of the dome. I command thee, in the name of this lamp, to repair the deficiency.” Aladdin had no sooner pronounced these words, but the genie gave so loud and terrible a cry, that the hall shook, and Aladdin could scarce stand upright. “What! wretch,” said the genie, in a voice that would have made the most undaunted man tremble, “is it not enough that I and my companions have done everything for you, but you, by an unheard-of ingratitude, must command me to bring my master, and hang him up in the midst of this dome? This attempt deserves that you, your wife, and your palace, should be immediately reduced to ashes; but you are happy in not being the author of this request, and that it does not come from yourself. Know, then, that the true author is the brother of the African magician, your enemy, whom you have destroyed as he deserved. He is now in your palace, disguised in the clothes of the holy woman Fatima, whom he murdered: and it is he who has suggested to your wife to make this pernicious demand. His design is to kill you, therefore take care of yourself.” After these words, the genie disappeared.

Aladdin lost not a word of what the genie had said. He had heard talk of the holy woman Fatima, and how she pretended to cure the headache. He returned to the princess’s apartment, and without mentioning a word of what had happened, he sat down, and complained of a great pain which had suddenly seized his head; upon which the princess ordered the holy woman to be presently fetched, and then told him how that holy woman came to the palace, and that she had appointed her an apartment.

265When the pretended Fatima came, Aladdin said, “Come hither, good mother, I am glad to see you here at so fortunate a time: I am tormented with a violent pain in my head, and request your assistance, by the confidence I have in your good prayers, and hope you will not refuse me that favour which you do to so many persons afflicted with this distemper.” So saying, he rose up, but held down his head. The counterfeit Fatima advanced towards him, with his hand all the time on a dagger concealed in his girdle under his gown; which Aladdin observing, he seized his hand before he had drawn it, pierced him to the heart with his own dagger, and then threw him down on the floor dead.

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

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

“Sir,” said the sultaness Scheherazade, after she had finished the story of the Wonderful Lamp, “your majesty without doubt has observed in the person of the African magician a man abandoned to the unbounded passion for possessing immense treasures by the most unworthy means. On the contrary, your majesty sees in Aladdin a person of mean birth raised to the regal dignity by making use of the same treasures, which came to him without his seeking, but just as he had an occasion for them to compass the end proposed; and in the sultan you will have learnt what dangers a just and equitable monarch runs, even to the risk of being dethroned, when, by crying injustice, and against all the rules of equity, he dares by an unreasonable precipitation, condemn an innocent person to death, without giving him leave to justify himself. In short, you must abhor those two wicked magicians, one of whom sacrificed his life to attain great riches, the other his life and religion to revenge him, and both received the chastisements they deserved.”^[233]

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