Arabs -- Folklore; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Arab countries; Folklore -- Arab countries; Tales -- Arab countries
As soon as the tailor's widow had retired, overjoyed to see her son
raised to such exalted fortune, the sultan put an end to the audience;
and rising from his throne, ordered that the princess's eunuchs should
come and carry the trays into their mistress's apartment, whither he
went himself to examine them with her at his leisure. The fourscore
slaves were conducted into the palace; and the sultan, telling the
princess of their magnificent appearance, ordered them to be brought
before her apartment, that she might see through the lattices that he
had not exaggerated in his account of them.
In the meantime, Aladdin's mother got home, and shewed in her
countenance 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. The
sultan, with the approbation of the whole court, has declared that you
are worthy to possess the Princess Badroulboudour, and waits to embrace
you, and conclude your marriage; therefore, you must think of making
preparations for your interview, which may answer the high opinion he
has formed of your person."
Aladdin, enraptured with this news, made little reply, but retired to
his chamber. There, after he had rubbed the lamp, which had never failed
him, the obedient genie appeared. "Genie," said Aladdin, "I want to
bathe immediately, and you must afterward provide me the richest and
most magnificent habit ever worn by a monarch." No sooner were the words
out of his mouth than the genie rendered him invisible, and transported
him into a bath of the finest marble, where he was undressed, without
seeing by whom, in a magnificent and spacious hall. From the hall he was
led to the bath, which was of a moderate heat, and he was there rubbed
with various scented waters. After he had passed through several degrees
of heat, he came out quite a different man from what he was before. His
skin was clear white and red, his body lightsome and free; and when he
returned into the hall, he found, instead of his own, a suit the
magnificence of which astonished him. The genie helped him to dress, and
when he had done, transported him back to his own chamber, where he
asked him if he had any other commands? "Yes," answered Aladdin, "I
expect you to bring me as soon as possible a charger that surpasses in
beauty and goodness the best in the sultan's stables, with a saddle,
bridle, and other caparisons 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 twenty more to go before me in two
ranks. Besides these, bring my mother six women slaves to attend her, as
richly dressed at least as any of the Princess Badroulboudour's, each
carrying a complete dress fit for any sultaness. I want also ten
thousand pieces of gold in ten purses; go, and make haste."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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