hand of the Princess. Now I pray you to forgive not me alone, but my son Aladdin.” The Sultan asked her kindly what she had in the napkin, whereupon she unfolded the jewels and presented them. He was thunderstruck, and turning to the vizier, said: “What sayest thou? Ought I not to bestow the Princess on one who values her at such a price?” The Vizier, who wanted her for his own son, begged the Sultan to withhold her for three months, in the course of which he hoped his son could contrive to make him a richer present. The Sultan granted this and told Aladdin’s mother that, though he consented to the marriage, she must not appear before him again for three months.Aladdin waited patiently for nearly three months, but after two had
elapsed, his mother, going into the city to buy oil, found everyone
rejoicing, and asked what was going on. “Do you not know,” was the
answer, “that the son of the Grand Vizier is to marry the Sultan’s
daughter tonight?” Breathless she ran and told Aladdin, who was
overwhelmed at first, but presently bethought him of the lamp. He
rubbed it and the genie appeared, saying: “What is thy will?” Aladdin
replied: “The Sultan, as thou knowest, has broken his promise to me,
and the vizier’s son is to have the Princess. My command is that
to-night you bring hither the bride and bridegroom.” “Master, I obey,”
said the genie. Aladdin then went to his chamber, where, sure enough,
at midnight the genie transported the bed containing the vizier’s son
and the Princess. “Take this new-married man,” he said, “and put him
outside in the cold, and return at daybreak.” Whereupon the genie took
the vizier’s son out of bed, leaving Aladdin with the Princess. “Fear
nothing,” Aladdin said to her; “you are my wife, promised to me by your
unjust father, and no harm will come to you.” The Princess was too
frightened to speak, and passed the most miserable night of her life,
while Aladdin lay down beside her and slept soundly. At the appointed
hour the genie fetched in the shivering bridegroom, laid him in his
place, and transported the bed back to the palace.

Presently the Sultan came to wish his daughter good-morning. The
unhappy Vizier’s son jumped up and hid himself, while the Princess
would not say a word and was very sorrowful. The Sultan sent her mother
to her, who said: “How comes it, child, that you will not speak to your
father? What has happened?” The Princess sighed deeply, and at last
told her mother how, during the night, the bed had been carried into
some strange house, and what had passed there. Her mother did not
believe her in the least, but bade her rise and consider it an idle

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