Chapter III

One day, as Aladdin was walking about the town, he heard an order proclaimed that the people should close their shops and houses and keep within doors while the Princess Buddir al Buddoor, the Sultan's daughter, should go to the bath and return. Aladdin was filled with an eager desire to see the face of the princess, and contrived to place himself behind the door of the bath. When she was a few paces away from it she removed her veil, and Aladdin saw for a moment one of the most beautiful faces in the world. When she passed by him he quitted his hiding-place, and went home thoughtful and grave.

"Are you ill?" asked his mother.

"No," he answered, "but I love the princess more than I can express, and am resolved that I will ask her in marriage of the Sultan."

His mother thought him mad, but Aladdin said, "I have the slaves of the lamp and the ring to help me," and then told her for the first time what riches he possessed in the jewels brought from the underground palace. "These," he said, "will secure the favor of the Sultan. You have a large porcelain dish fit to hold them; fetch it, and let us see how they will look when we have arranged them according to their different colors."

Their eyes were dazzled by the splendor of the jewels when they were arranged in the dish, and Aladdin's mother consented at once to take them to the Sultan, and ask his daughter's hand for her son.

Early the next morning she wrapped the dish in two fine napkins and set out for the palace. Though the crowd was great, she made her way into the divan, or audience hall, and placed herself just before the Sultan, the Grand Vizier, and other lords who sat beside him. But there were many cases for him to hear and judge, and her turn did not come that day. She told Aladdin that she was sure the Sultan saw her, and that she would try again.

For six days more she carried the jewels to the divan, and stood in the same place. On the sixth the Sultan, as he was leaving the hall, said to the Grand Vizier, "For some time I have observed a certain woman standing near me every day with something wrapped in a napkin. If she comes again, do not fail to call her, that I may hear what she has to say."

On the next day, therefore, she was called forward. She bowed her head till it touched the carpet on the platform of the throne. Then the Sultan bade her rise and said,--

"Good woman, I have observed you many days. What business brings you here?"

"Monarch of monarchs," she replied, "I beg you to pardon the boldness of my petition."

"Well," said the Sultan, "I will forgive you, be it what it may, and no hurt shall come to you. Speak boldly."

This gave her heart to tell the errand on which her son had sent her. The Sultan listened without anger till she was done, and then asked what she had brought tied up in the napkin. She took the china dish, which she had set down at the foot of the throne, untied it, and presented it to the Sultan.

His wonder knew no bounds when he looked upon the jewels. Not until he received the gift from the woman's hands could he find words to say, "How rich! how beautiful!"

Then he turned to the Grand Vizier and said, "Behold, admire, wonder! and confess that your eyes never beheld jewels so rich and beautiful before. What sayest thou to such a present? Is it not worthy of the princess, my daughter? Ought I not to bestow her on one who values her at so great a price?"

"I cannot but own," replied the Grand Vizier, "that the present is worthy of the princess. But wait for three months. Before that time I hope my son, whom you regard with favor, will be able to make a nobler present than this Aladdin, of whom your majesty knows nothing."

The Sultan granted this request, and said to Aladdin's mother,--

"Good woman, go home, and tell your son that I agree to what you have proposed, but I cannot marry the princess, my daughter, for three months. At the end of that time come again."

The news which Aladdin's mother brought home filled him and her with joy. From that time forth he counted every week, day, and hour as they passed. When two of the three months were gone, Aladdin's mother went out one evening to buy some oil, and found the streets full of joyful people, and officers busy with preparations for some festival.

"What does it mean?" she asked the oil merchant.

"Whence came you, good woman," said he, "that you do not know that the Grand Vizier's son is to marry the Princess Buddir al Buddoor, the Sultan's daughter, to-night?"

Home she ran to Aladdin and cried, "Child, you are undone! the Sultan's fine promises will come to nought. This night the Grand Vizier's son is to marry the Princess Buddir al Buddoor."

Aladdin was thunderstruck, but wasted no time in idle words against the Sultan. He went at once to his chamber, took the lamp, rubbed it in the same place as before, when instantly the genie appeared, and said to him,--

"What wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave,--I and the other slaves of the lamp."

"Hear me," said Aladdin; "thou hast hitherto obeyed me, but now I am about to impose on thee a harder task. The Sultan's daughter, who was promised me as my bride, will this night be wed to the son of the Grand Vizier. Bring them both hither to me when they are married."

"Master," replied the genie, "I obey you."

Aladdin did not have to wait long after supping with his mother and going to his chamber to be shown again that the genie was indeed his faithful slave. On this night and the next the princess and the Grand Vizier's son were borne away from the Sultan's palace in a manner which none could understand, not even they themselves. The strange event was told to few, but the Sultan was one of them. He consulted with the Grand Vizier, and, as both of these parents feared to expose the young couple to further dangers from unseen foes, the marriage was canceled, and all the merrymaking in honor of it was stopped. None but Aladdin knew the cause of all the trouble, and he kept his secret to himself. Least of all did the Sultan and Grand Vizier, who had quite forgotten Aladdin, suspect that he had a hand in the matter.