The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old — John Shaqi
The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 5: Stories that never grow old
Children's literature
The next day the magician found Aladdin playing in another part of
the town, and embracing him as before, put two pieces of gold into
his hand, and said to him, "Carry this, child, to your mother.
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."
Aladdin showed the African magician the house, and carried the two
pieces of gold to his mother, who went out and bought provisions;
and, considering she wanted various utensils, borrowed them of her
neighbors. She spent the whole day in preparing the supper; and at
night, when it was ready, said to her son, "Perhaps the stranger
knows not how to find our house; go and bring him, if you meet
with him."
Aladdin was just ready to go, when the magician knocked at the
door, and came in loaded with wine and all sorts of fruits, which
he brought for a dessert. After he 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 done so, he 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 declined.
"No," said he, "I shall not do that; but give me leave to sit
opposite to it, that, although I see not the master of a family
so dear to me, I may at least behold the place where he used to
sit."
When the magician had made choice of a place, and sat down, he
began to enter into discourse with Aladdin's mother. "My good
sister," said he, "do not be surprised at your never having seen
me all the time you have been 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 afterward crossed over into Africa, where I took up
my abode. At last, as it is natural for a man, I was desirous to
see my native country again, and to embrace my dear brother; and
finding I had strength enough to undertake so long a journey, I
made the necessary preparations, and set out. Nothing ever
afflicted me so much as hearing of my brother's death. But God be
praised for all things! It is a comfort for me to find, as it
were, my brother in a son who has his most remarkable features."
The African magician, perceiving that the widow wept at the
remembrance of her husband, changed the conversation, and turning
toward her son, asked him, "What business do you follow? Are you
of any trade?"
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