Aladdin and the Genie. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Magician Seeks Revenge

One day, the city was attacked by the Sultan’s enemies. The Sultan appointed Aladdin as commander of his armies. He fearlessly engaged the enemy, and after a violent battle he put them all to flight. The Sultan declared a festival to celebrate the triumph and the love of the people for Aladdin continued to increase. Meanwhile, the Maghrabi magician discovered that Aladdin and the lamp were no longer entombed in the cavern. He traveled to Al-Kal’as, where he learned of Aladdin’s fame and fortune. Discovering the lamp was kept in Aladdin’s palace and not on his person, the magician began formulating a plan. He visited a coppersmith and had a set of lamps fashioned, which he began exchanging for old lamps in the streets outside Aladdin’s palace.

The Lady Badr al-Budur was sitting near the window when she heard the magician pass by. The princess exchanged Aladdin’s old lamp for a new lamp, not knowing the lamp was inhabited by a Jinni. Recognizing his prize as the enchanted lamp, the Maghrabi immediately left off his exchanging and fled the city. Rubbing the lamp, he commanded the Jinni to remove Aladdin’s palace to his own land in Africa, and it was done.

The Sultan awoke the next morning to find Aladdin’s palace missing. He immediately sent for Aladdin, who was on a hunting trip. The Sultan commanded Aladdin to be beheaded, but the people refused to allow the soldiers near him. Fearing an insurrection, the Sultan granted Aladdin a pardon. Aladdin agreed to a period of forty days to find his wife, after which time he would present himself for beheading.

Aladdin wandered aimlessly for two days. Despairing of ever finding his wife, Aladdin accidentally rubbed the ring on his finger, and the Jinni of the ring appeared. Aladdin asked for his palace and wife to be brought back to him, but the Jinni refused, saying that act depended on the Jinni of the lamp. Aladdin then asked to be taken to the land where his palace was now, and immediately found himself facing his wife’s windows.

The next morning, the princess gazed out her window to find Aladdin seated near the wall. When the magician was gone, she invited Aladdin to enter the palace by a private entrance. The princess told Aladdin of her lamp exchange and of the Maghrabi’s attempts to convince her to marry him. Discovering that the magician carried the lamp on person at all times, Aladdin began devising a plan to kill him.

Aladdin left the palace and exchanged clothes with a poor beggar in a neighboring city. When Aladdin returned, the princess invited the magician to her chambers for dinner, during which she put a sleeping potion in his wine. She then fetched Aladdin, who recovered the lamp and killed the magician. The Jinni transported the palace back to its original location, and Aladdin and his wife spent the night celebrating.

A short time later, the Maghrabi’s brother, also a powerful magician, learned of his death at the hand of Aladdin. Seeking revenge, he traveled to Al-Kal’as where he killed a local holy woman, Fatimah. Dressed as Fatimah, he began working the crowd beneath the walls of Aladdin’s palace. Wishing to see the holy woman, the Lady Badr al-Budur commanded Fatimah be brought to her. She offered Fatimah a room in the palace, which the magician quickly accepted. The magician praised the wonders of the palace, saying they lacked only one thing – the egg of a rukh hanging from the center of the dome.

When Aladdin asked for a rukh’s egg to adorn his palace, the Jinni flew into a rage, only pardoning Aladdin because of his ignorance of the Jinn’s reverence towards the great bird. The Jinni revealed the magician’s disguise to Aladdin, after which Aladdin pretended to have a headache. Fatimah was called and Aladdin killed the magician with his own dagger.

From that time on, Aladdin and his wife were free from danger. When the Sultan died, Aladdin was given the throne, and they lived happily and in peace until their deaths.

Part I · Part II

SOURCES:

This article originally appeared 11 June 2011 on mythsoftheworld.blogspot.com

The Genie Returns with Food. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Aladdin’s Marriage to the Sultan’s Daughter

One day, the Sultan’s daughter, Lady Badr al-Budur, desired to visit the public baths. The merchants all closed shop so that she would have her privacy, but Aladdin hid behind the door of the bathhouse in order to catch a glimpse of her beauty. Upon seeing her face, Aladdin fell in love with the Sultan’s daughter, and spent the rest of the day in a daze. When his mother threatened to call a doctor, Aladdin told her what had happened and that he resolved to ask for the princess’s hand in marriage.

Aladdin sent his mother to ask the Sultan, bearing a gift of jewels gathered from the cavern. After a month of trying, Aladdin’s mother was given an audience with the Sultan. Laughing at her request, the Sultan asked to see what she carried with her. When the Sultan saw the jewels, he would have agreed right then, but the Wazir requested a delay of three months in order to allow his own son to present a gift of equal value.

A short time later, Aladdin’s mother discovered the Sultan was preparing to marry his daughter to the Wezir’s son. Aladdin called forth the Jinni of the lamp to help him stop the marriage. When the bridge and bridegroom went to bed that night, the Jinni bore their bed to Aladdin’s room, where Aladdin had the Wezir’s son placed in the outhouse to sleep for the night. Aladdin explained the Sultan’s promise to Badr al-Budur, and lay beside her on the bed with a scimitar placed between them.

When the morning came, the Jinni restored the couple to their bedroom. The Sultan asked how their night was, but the princess refused to answer, giving him an angry look. When the queen visited her daughter, the princess told her the whole story. The queen counseled her to tell no one, and convinced her to leave her room and join the bridal festivities.

That night, the Jinni again brought the couple to Aladdin’s room, and the events of the previous night were repeated. When the the princess again refused to answer the Sultan, he grew angry and drew his blade. She then told him the story, and the Sultan promised to set a guard for the night. When the Wezir confronted his son, he asked to be set free from the marriage. The Wezir convinced him to see what the coming night would bring, but the Sultan cancelled the wedding before the night came.

The three months passed, and Aladdin sent his mother to remind the Sultan of his promise. The Sultan agreed, on condition that Aladdin would provide him with forty gold platters loaded with gems, borne by forty white slave girls and forty black eunuch slaves. When Aladdin learned of the Sultan’s condition, he again called forth the Jinni of the lamp. The Jinni brought the requested jewels and slaves, and Aladdin immediately sent his mother to the Sultan with the required dowry.

The Sultan was awed by the sight of the dowry, and agreed to keep his bargain. He proclaimed that the marriage would take place that night, and commanded Aladdin to come to him at once. The Jinni took Aladdin to a bath and dressed him in the finest clothing, and provided him with a royal entourage to accompany him to the palace. Arriving at the palace, Aladdin was seated on the Sultan’s right.

After the wedding feast Aladdin rose, intending to build a home for the Lady Badr al-Budur.  The Sultan gave Aladdin whichever spot of land he wished, and Aladdin had the Jinni build on the broad plain facing the palace. When the Sultan arose the next morning, he opened his window to find that Aladdin’s palace was finished. When the princess arrived at Aladdin’s palace that night, she marveled at the beauty of the decorations.

The next morning, Aladdin arose and visited the Sultan, inviting him to dinner. Upon arriving at the palace, the Sultan was also amazed at the construction and beauty. While exploring, the Sultan discovered a window which Aladdin had requested be left unfinished. When asked the reason for the unfinished window, Aladdin replied that due to the suddenness of the wedding he was unable to find artists to finish it. The Sultan decided to finish it himself, but his artisans were unable to duplicate the fine work of the rest of Aladdin’s palace. When Aladdin saw their work, he commanded the artisans to restore the jewels they had used to their previous owners, finishing the window himself.

Part I · Part III

SOURCES:

This article originally appeared 4 June 2011 on mythsoftheworld.blogspot.com

Aladdin in the Magic Garden. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

The Finding of the Lamp

In the city of Al-Kal’as in China, there lived Mustapha, a poor tailor, with his wife and young son, Aladdin. When Aladdin reached his tenth year, the tailor decided to teach him his trade. Aladdin was lazy, and whenever Mustapha left his shop Aladdin would sneak out and play with his friends. This behavior saddened the poor tailor, and he eventually sickened and died. Finding herself a widow, Aladdin’s mother sold the shop and took to spinning cotton into yarn to provide for herself and the boy.

When Aladdin was in his fifteenth year, a dervish from Maghrib came to the city. The dervish was a magician and astrologer who wielded great magic. He saw Aladdin playing in the street with his friends and thought to himself, “This is just the youth I need.” He questioned one of the youths about Aladdin, and after discovering his history, pretended to be the brother of Aladdin’s dead father. He gave Aladdin money and promised to visit him and his mother the next day.

The next day, the Maghrabi again found Aladdin in the streets and gave him money to prepare a supper for that evening. When he arrived for supper, the magician fabricated a story about his travels and enquired what trade Aladdin had learned to provide for his mother. Upon learning of Aladdin’s idleness, the magician offered to finance him in the merchant business.

Over the next couple of days, the magician toured the city with Aladdin, showing him the marketplace, the restaurants, the Sultan’s palace, and the gardens outside the city. When they stopped at a hill beyond the gardens, the Maghrabi told Aladdin to build a fire, and opened a chasm in the ground with magic. At the bottom of the chasm was a golden ring attached to a marble slab. The magician told Aladdin he was the only one who could lift the slab, behind which lay a great treasury.

Once the slab was raised, Aladdin entered the cavern with the magician’s ring on his finger and instructions not to touch any of the treasure until he had the lamp from the far chamber in his hands. While returning to the cavern’s entrance, Aladdin filled his pockets with all manner of jewels. Finding himself burdened by their weight and unable to climb the last step, he asked the magician for help. The Maghrabi told Aladdin to throw him the lamp to lighten his load, but Aladdin couldn’t reach it for all the jewels piled on top in his pockets. In anger, the magician closed the chasm, sealing Aladdin inside.

Realizing the magician’s deception, Aladdin set about looking for another entrance to the cavern. After wandering in the dark for three days, Aladdin discovered the Maghrabi had sealed all of the other doors by magic. He fell to crying and accidentally rubbed the magician’s ring. The slave of the ring, a Marid of the Jinn, appeared, offering to perform whatever task Aladdin required of him. Aladdin wished to be released from the cavern, and immediately found himself standing on the hill near the remains of the fire.

Rushing home, he told his mother of his adventure and showed her the lamp. They determined to sell the lamp to get money for food. When Aladdin’s mother rubbed the lamp to clean it, a Jinni appeared and declared himself the slave of the lamp. Aladdin requested food, which the Jinni quickly brought on gold platters. When they were done eating, Aladdin’s mother advised him to get rid of both the ring and the lamp, but Aladdin refused. When the food was gone, he took the platters and sold them in the market. This continued for some time, and all the while Aladdin spent his days in the market street learning to become a merchant.

Part II · Part III

SOURCES:

This article originally appeared 28 May 2011 on mythsoftheworld.blogspot.com