As soon as Aladdin was freed from his chains he begged speech of the Sultan, and said to him, “O my Lord, I thank thee for thy clemency, though I know not yet wherein my offence lay. ” “O base one,” replied the Sultan; “hitherto I found thee blameless, but now—” he turned to the Grand Vizier, adding, “Lead him to the windows overlooking his[140] palace, and shew him how it sparkles in the light of the sun. ” So the Vizier took Aladdin to the window and bade him look forth. Utter amazement fell upon Aladdin when he saw that his palace had completely disappeared, leaving no vestige to mark the spot where it had stood. He was so dazed and bewildered that he turned in silence and walked back into the Sultan’s presence like one in a dream.

“Well,” said the Sultan, “where is thy palace? And, what is more to me, where is my daughter? ” And Aladdin shook his head sorrowfully and spread his hands in helpless despair; but made no other reply for he was dumbfounded. Again the Sultan spoke: “It was my thought to set thee free so that thou mayest search for my daughter and restore her to me. For this purpose I grant thee a delay of forty days, and, if in that time thou canst not find her, then, by Allah!

I will cut off thy head. ” And Aladdin answered him, “O King of the Age, if I find her not within forty days then I no longer wish to have a head left upon my body.

And Aladdin went forth sad and dejected. The cries of joy with which the people greeted him fell like lead on his aching heart. He escaped from their goodwill and wandered in the City like one distraught, greeting none, nor raising his eyes to any greeting. For two days he neither ate nor drank for grief at what had happened. Finally he wandered beyond the confines of the City into the desert.

There, on the bank of a dark pool, he resolved to drown himself and so end his misery. But, being devout and fearing God, he must first perform his ablutions. So he stooped and took water in his hands and rubbed them together, when lo! a strange thing happened; for as his hands came together, he[141] chanced to rub the ring which was on one of his fingers. In a flash the Slave of the Ring appeared and standing before him, said, “O my master, what is thy desire?

” Aladdin then was seized with great joy, and he cried, “O Slave, I desire my palace and my wife. ” “Alas! ” answered the Slave, “that I cannot bring about, for this matter is protected by the Slave of the Lamp who hath put a seal upon it. ” “Then,” urged Aladdin, “since thou canst not bring the palace and my wife to me, transport me to the palace wherever it may be upon the earth. ” “On the head and the eye,” replied the Slave, and immediately Aladdin found himself borne swiftly through the air and set down by his palace in the land of the Moors.

Although the night had fallen he could recognise it without difficulty, and close at hand was the window of his wife’s chamber. Great joy at this exhausted what little strength remained to him—for he had neither eaten nor slept for many days—and, overcome with fatigue and weakness, he threw himself down beneath a tree hard by and slept.

Awakened at dawn by the singing of birds in the garden, Aladdin arose, and, having bathed in a stream, recited the morning prayer, after which he returned and sat beneath the window of Bedr-el-Budur’s apartment. Now the Lady Bedr-el-Budur, filled with grief at her separation from her husband and her father, could neither sleep nor eat by reason of her keen distress. Each day when dawn leapt into the sky she would arise and sit at her window and weep. And on this morning she came as usual, but did not weep, for she saw Aladdin sitting on the ground outside. And they both cried out and flew to one another; and their greeting was full of joy.

She opened a side door for him,[142] bidding him enter, for she knew it was not the time for the accursed Dervish to come to see her as was his daily wont. Then, when they had embraced and kissed and shed tears of joy, Aladdin said to her, “O my beloved, before all else answer me one question: in my apartment there was an old copper lamp which—,” “Alas,” broke in Bedr-el-Budur, “that lamp was the cause of it all, for the man who obtained it by a stratagem told me of its virtues and how he had achieved this thing by its aid. ” And immediately Aladdin heard this he knew that it was indeed the Dervish who had worked this woe upon him.

“Tell me, how doth this accursed man treat thee? ” he asked. “He cometh once a day,” she replied, “and he would fain win my love and console me for thy loss, for he saith the Sultan, my father, hath struck off thy head, and at the best thou wert of poor family and stole thy wealth from him. But he gets no word from me, only tears and lamentations. ” And Aladdin embraced her again and comforted her for what she had suffered.

“Tell me,” he asked again presently, “where doth this accursed keep the Lamp? ” “Always in his bosom,” she replied, “where he guards it with the greatest care and none knows of it but me. ” Aladdin was overjoyed when he heard this, for he thought he saw a way to obtain the Lamp. “Listen, my beloved,” he said, “I will leave thee now and return shortly in disguise. Bid thy maid stand by the side door to let me in.

Then I will tell thee my plan to slay this accursed one and take the Lamp.

Then Aladdin went forth upon the road that led to the city, and he had not journeyed far before he met a poor peasant proceeding to his daily toil. Stopping him he offered[143] to exchange his own costly garments for those the peasant was wearing. But the man demurred, whereat Aladdin set upon him and effected the exchange by force. Then, leaving the peasant battered and bruised but dressed like a prince, he went on into the city, and, coming to the market, purchased some powder of benj, which is called “the son of an instant,” for it stupefies in a moment. With this he returned to the palace, and, when he came to the side door where the maid was waiting, she recognised him and opened immediately.

Very soon he was exposing his plan to Bedr-el-Budur.

“O my beloved,” he said, “I wish thee to attire thyself gaily, and adorn thyself with jewels in the sparkle of which no grief can live; and, when the accursed cometh, greet him with a smile and a look from thy lovely eyes; for so he will know thou hast turned his wooing over in thy mind and heart, and hast forgotten thy father and thine Aladdin. Then invite him to sup with thee, and, when thou hast aroused a blinding passion in his bosom, he will forget the Lamp which lieth there. See,” he drew forth the powder, “this is benj, the ‘son of an instant. ’ It cannot be detected in red wine. Thou knowest the rest: pledge him in a cup and see to it that the benj is in his and not in thine.

Thou knowest how to ply him till he is careless, how to resist him till he is blinded by thy loveliness, how at last to wish him joy and happiness for ever by thy side so that he will drain the cup. Then, O my beloved, ere he can set it down, he will fall at thy feet like one in death. Thou canst do this?

“Yea,” replied Bedr-el-Budur. “It is difficult, but I will dare all for thee; and well I know that this accursed wretch deserves not to live. Yet will I add something to thy plan from a woman’s wit. Lest he should suspect a[144] trick he shall find me weeping when he cometh; then will I take up some speech of his and dry my tears; and then, in a space—having all things ready—will I appear before him in a manner to dazzle his senses, and then—then—Oh! my Aladdin; fear not, for all will be well.

” And on this assurance Aladdin withdrew to a private chamber and sat him down to wait. He realised his extreme danger, for he knew that if the Dervish so much as suspected his existence in the flesh a rub of the Lamp and a word to the Slave would bring him instant death; but he did not know that Bedr-el-Budur, having learnt the virtues of the Lamp, had exacted a pledge from the Dervish that he would make no further use of it until she had given him her final decision as to whether she would come to him of her own free will and accord, which she maintained was a better thing than subsequently to be compelled by the abominable power of sorcery. Bedr-el-Budur, who in this was merely temporising, had not thought, in the joy and stress of their conversation, to tell Aladdin of it; while, as for the wizard, he had kept his pledge, deeming that a woman’s love freely given was a better thing to have than any that could be acquired by magic spells.

According to the plan set forth for the Dervish’s undoing Bedr-el-Budur ordered her slave girls to prepare everything of jewels and bright attire, ready for a rapid toilet. Then, when the Dervish appeared, she sat weeping as usual, and it was not until, in his protestations of love, he said words that were suitable to her purpose that she paused and half dried her tears as if it needed little more to make her weigh his petition with care. Observing this he drew near and sat by her side, and now, though no longer weeping, she had not yet found words for him. He took her hand, but she snatched[145] it away crying, “No, it cannot be! Never can I forget Aladdin!

” He pleaded with her, and his passion made him eloquent. He showed her the uselessness of longing for a dead man when a living one was by her side. He told her too—and with the Lamp in his bosom she could not doubt the truth of it—that he and she could command the earth and look down on kings. Why had he not already won this as well as her love by means of the Lamp? Because he had pledged himself to wait and win her as a man wins woman.

At this she turned her face to him on a sudden. A faint smile seemed to live in the corners of her bewitching mouth, and a look in her eyes convinced him that he was a much better man than he had thought since he could keep his pledge on so great a matter. On this, he drew still nearer to the lovely Bedr-el-Budur, and this time she did not snatch her hand away, but left it in his, pondering dreamily the while. Presently, on a sudden, she pushed him away petulantly. “Nay, nay,” she cried, “I cannot rein my heart to thee at will.