Like one walking in a dream Aladdin went home and sat him down in dejection of spirit. For a long time he answered[85] not his mother’s questions as to what ailed him, but continued like one who had beheld a vision so lovely that it had deprived him of his senses. At last, however, he looked up, and said, “O my mother, know that until to-day I had believed that all women were of thy fashion of face, but now I find they are not; for to-day I saw the Sultan’s daughter, and she is more beautiful than all others on earth.” And Aladdin told her how he had hidden behind the door of the Hammam, so that, when Bedr-el-Budur had entered and lifted her veil, he had seen her clearly; and how, on that, a great love had leapt up in his heart and filled him to the exclusion of all else. “And there is no rest for me,” he concluded, “until I win the Lady Bedr-el-Budur, and make her my wife.”

At these daring words Aladdin’s mother regarded him sharply, with fear on her face. “Art thou mad, my son? ” she cried. “For, if such an insane act is thine intention, then God save thee! ” “Nay, O my mother,” he answered, “I am not mad.

But, as I risked my life to see her, so will I risk it again to win her; for, without her, life is of no account to me. I will go to the Sultan and ask him to give me the lovely Bedr-el-Budur for my lawful wife.

Seeing his determination his mother was sore afraid, and knew not what to do. For a long time she reasoned with him anxiously, pointing out what a scandal it would be for the son of a poor tailor to aspire to the Sultan’s daughter—the highest in the land, and one whom the Sultan would scarce bestow upon a King who was his equal. Aladdin listened very quietly, and then replied that his resolve was unshaken; and, though he admitted the truth of all she had said, he would nevertheless carry out his purpose, for the Lady Bedr-el-Budur was the only thing in the world to him,[86] and if he did not win her he would die. In vain she suggested that there were many of his own class he might marry; besides, to approach the Sultan on such a matter meant certain death; unless, indeed, the Sultan thought to bind him on an ass, with his face to the tail, and parade him through the city with the heralds shouting, “Behold the reward of presumption and the payment of impertinence!”

These arguments, and more, his mother put before him; but Aladdin shook his head at all of them, and remained firm in his determination. “And further, O my mother,” he said, “I wish now that thou go thyself to the Sultan and put my request to him, for am I not thy child? And is it not thy duty to perform this office for me?”

“O my son,” she cried in despair, “wilt thou bring me into thy madness? I, a poor woman of humble birth, to go in to the Sultan and demand the princess for my son! Why, if I were to go even to one of our equals and demand his daughter, I should immediately be asked what money and goods we possessed; and, if I could not give a ready reply on that matter to an equal, what reply, do you imagine, could I give the Sultan? Besides all this, O my son, how shall I even gain access to the Sultan’s presence for this purpose without bearing a rich gift to offer him? Out on thee, my son, for thy presumption!

What hast thou done for thy country, or what are thy vast possessions that the Sultan should reward thee with his daughter?

“Mother,” answered Aladdin, “thy words have served me well, for they have called to my recollection a thing which, through excess of love for the Lady Bedr-el-Budur, I had forgotten. Thou sayest that thou canst not approach the Sultan without a rich gift. Then, O my mother, if I[87] place in thy hands an offering richer than any King in the world can make to any other, wilt thou carry out my desire?”

Thinking his words were wild as the wind, and that he could produce no such offering, his mother agreed; but, remembering the Slave of the Lamp, and what had already been done in that way, she stipulated with Aladdin that she would carry out his wish only on condition that it required no further invoking of the Efrite. Aladdin assured her on this and asked her to fetch him a china bowl. Wondering greatly she arose, and brought the bowl to him. Then Aladdin emptied into it all the sparkling jewels which he carried within his garments, and, when they were heaped together in the bowl they shone with a dazzling splendour. Liking well her amazement he explained to his mother how he had learned in the market place that what he had at first thought were mere glass were really the rarest of precious stones, the equal of the least of which could not be found in the treasuries of Kings.

On hearing this, and at sight of the brilliant, flashing gems, his mother was dumbfounded, for she saw that this was indeed a treasure beyond all imagination, and worthy of the Sultan’s acceptance. But, as she had naught to say, Aladdin spoke for her, and held her to her promise.

“Thou seest, O my mother,” he said, “that this is an offering excelling all others. Now, therefore, according to thy promise, arise straightway and go to the Sultan, bearing these wondrous jewels. I am greatly mistaken if he accepteth not the gift. ” “But, O my son,” answered she in dismay, “what can I say to him? The gift is fabulous indeed, but still more fabulous is the request thou desirest me to put to him.

For, if I say I want his daughter for my son, he may[88] be so angered at my impertinence that he will take the jewels and condemn me to death. And then he may search for thee, my son; and, when he hath found thee, and looked upon thy face, we shall assuredly die together.

Aladdin made a gesture of impatience at his mother’s view of the matter. “On my head and eye,” he said angrily, “though thou art my mother thou art verily lacking in sense. I put it to you: What man living, yea, even though he be the Sultan, would refuse to grant thy request when thou comest to him with the price of more than half his kingdom? Nay, my mother,—for such thou art,—thou art surely deficient in wisdom.” And he took up the bowl of glittering jewels and weighed the chances of them in his hand.

But his mother, silenced as she was with his shrewd words, was terrified at the prospect of her visit to the Sultan, and still went on raising difficulties. “Haply, O my son, he will be pleased to see me, because of the gift; but what if he say to me, ‘Who is this, thy son, who seeketh the hand of my daughter? What is his condition and state of life? ’” “How can he ask thee that,” answered Aladdin, “when the jewels in the bowl are crying out my state and my condition? Such a thing will never happen, except in thy mind.

Do thou now arise and go to him, for I will no longer listen to these fanciful excuses. ” “Nay, nay, my son,” she cried, seeing there was no withdrawing from her promise; “I will go, but give me till the morning to strengthen and prepare myself.

So Aladdin curbed his impatience and agreed to wait until the following day; but, since he realised that it was not impossible that the project might fail, and that he might have to seek to the Slave of the Lamp for advice and help in[89] difficulty, he spoke to his mother on the matter. “O my mother,” he said, “it was the condition of thy promise that I should not invoke the Slave of the Lamp in the furtherance of this my desire; yet it must be understood between us that if thou make a blunder—which thou needst not do—then, to extricate us from a dire calamity, I am free to rub the Lamp and see what its Slave can do for our salvation.”

His mother assented to this, for she knew, if she failed with the Sultan, all was lost; and, in such case, even the aid of a demon would be acceptable. “Then,” said Aladdin, “see thou to it that in thy gossip to our neighbours no word of the Lamp escape thy lips, for, if this wonderful possession of ours become known, it will speedily pass out of our hands and its virtues with it. Therefore keep thy counsel, O my mother, and babble not of our secret.” “Fear nothing, my son,” she replied, “the Lamp is our peculiar possession, and no word shall pass my lips concerning it.” And they ceased not to talk of their project, and the saving powers of the Lamp, far into the night.

When morning dawned Aladdin’s mother arose and prepared herself for the visit to the Palace, and, wrapping the bowl of jewels in a cloth, went forth early. When she arrived at the Palace she found herself among the first there assembled, and at once fell to watching the princes and nobles and high officials as they came in. When the audience was full the Sultan came in and seated himself on the royal divan. All bowed down before him, and then stood waiting with folded arms for his permission to be seated. And, when he gave permission, all sat down in their due order of precedence.

Then he listened to their petitions in the same order, and gave his decisions, until the hour[90] grew late, and the audience was declared closed. The Sultan arose and went into the Palace, and the princes, with the nobles and the people, went their ways. Among them went Aladdin’s mother, thinking to herself that this would be a matter of many days.

She hastened home to Aladdin, who, when he saw her with the bowl of jewels just as when she departed, cried, “What is this, O my mother? Hath he refused the jewels, and thy head still on thy shoulders?” “Nay, my son,” she replied; “be patient! There were many before me and I had no opportunity.” And she told him how she had gained a place in the audience, and how it was only a matter of waiting till her turn came to place her petition before the Sultan; perchance to-morrow or the next day.

Aladdin was overjoyed at this; and, though his exceeding love for the Princess probed him sore, yet he resolved to possess his soul in patience against the fulfilment of his desire. But what he momently expected was hourly delayed, and, from that time forth, the daily postponement of his request added fuel to the flame of love in his heart; for, on the following morning, his mother set forth again for the Palace and returned again in the evening but one day nearer to the putting of her petition. And every day thereafter she stood in the audience with the bowl of jewels under her arm and heard the petitions, but dared not for very timidity address the Sultan. And in this way she continued for a whole month, while Aladdin was nursing his impatient soul and waiting on the issue.

Sindbad the Sailor & other Stories from the Arabian Nights illustrated by Edmund Dulac, Part 1

Sindbad the Sailor, & Other Stories from the Arabian Nights

Sindbad the Sailor & other Stories from the Arabian Nights illustrated by Edmund Dulac, Part 1