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41-2
- Story
of Alaaddeen:
Alaaddeen Meets the Genie
1. Alaaddeen
Meets a Magician
2. Alaaddeen Meets the Genie
3. Alaaddeen Gets Married
4. Alaadeen Kills the Magician
5. Alaaddeen and the Magician's Brother
Alaaddeen
jumped into that hole, opened the door, climbed down the steps, crossed
the halls, crossed the garden, picked the lamp, threw its wick and the oil
and put it under his robe. As he was coming down the terrace, he stopped
to see the fruits around there. All the trees were laden with
extraordinary fruits of different colors on each tree. Some were yellow,
some white, some green, some blue, some orange. The white ones were
pearls, the clear ones were diamonds, the deep red ones were rubies, and the
green ones were emeralds. All of them were so big that he had never seen
such big fruits before this. He was completely ignorant of their values,
and would have preferred figs or grapes instead.
He
took some of them just for their size and colors and beauty to fill his
two large pockets and the two new purses his uncle bought for him. He
wrapped some in the skirts of his robe and some he put in his breast
pocket. Then he came back to the steps and climbing up he said to the magician
- "Uncle, give me a hand to come up." Magician said -
"First you give me the lamp." "I will give it to you as soon as I come
up." But Alaaddeen was so heavy with fruits that he was unable to
climb up without help. So the magician again threw the incense into the
fire, said two magical words upon it and the door of the cave got shut and the
earth spread over it like before.
He
learned about this lamp in Africa and it brought him to this part of the
country. He knew that he had to get it through some other person, so he
chose Alaaddeen, but when he was about to get the lamp, and in hurry in
the fear lest somebody sees them quarreling, he shut the cave. He thought
to leave China for Africa the same day but stayed there for a day or two
more.
There was no definite sign of Alaaddeen being heard from that cave, but
he forgot to take the ring he put on Alaaddeen's finger which guarded him,
although he did not know its importance.
Alaaddeen
cried and cried for help but his cries could not be heard. When he got
tired of crying, he went back to the same garden from where he came. But
its door which got opened by magic was now closed. He sat down on the steps
and started crying in a loud voice. He remained there for two days without
eating or drinking. The third day, in despair he started rubbing his
hands, and while doing this he rubbed the ring also unknowingly. As the
ring got rubbed a terrible huge Genie appeared from the earth. He said to
the boy - "What do I do for you? I am the slave of who have the ring
on their finger."
If
there were some other time, Alaaddeen would have been frightened, but in
this time of danger, he immediately said - "Take me out of this place
if you can." As soon as he finished his words, the earth opened up
and he found himself out of the cave from where he entered the cave. With
a little effort he could make out where he was and then he ran away towards
his house. As he reached his house he fell in his mother's lap and the
mother who thought him lost or dead was very happy to see him. She gave
him food and he told her whatever happened to him since Friday. He
showed her his lamp and various color fruits which he brought from there.
His mother also did not know about those fruits. As Alaaddeen finished his
story, she abused his uncle as traitor, barbarian, deceiver and much
more.
Next
day as Alaaddeen rose he asked for food. Mother said - "I don't have
any food left now, I have spun some cotton, I will sell it in the market
and buy some bread for our dinner." Alaaddeen said - "Keep it
for some other time, bring my lamp, I will sell it and get some money out
of it for our food at least for a couple of days." His mother brought
the lamp and looking at it said - "It is very dirty, let me clean it,
maybe you can get some more money for the cleaned lamp."
She
took some sand and water and as she started rubbing the lamp with it, a
huge Genie appeared before her. He said to her - "What do I do for
you? I am the slave who have the lamp in their hands." Alaaddeen's mother
got frightened to see him and got fainted, but Alaaddeen had already seen
such thing before, so he immediately said - "We are hungry, get some
food for us." The Genie disappeared immediately and within a moment
he reappeared with a large silver plate on his head and 12 covered plates,
6 large loaves on another plate, two bottles of wine and two silver cups
in his hands. He kept all these things on a table and disappeared again
before Alaaddeen's mother gained consciousness.
His
mother was very surprised to see all this and asked him - "Has
Sultaan made this available for us?" So both sat down and ate to
their satisfaction, but his mother kept looking and admiring the plates.
After eating the mother asked Alaaddeen to tell him all that happened when
she was unconscious. Alaaddeen told her that this Genie was not the same
he saw in the cave. That was ring's Genie and this was lamp's Genie. But
his mother was very frightened with that Genie that she asked him to sell
the lamp. But Alaaddeen pacified her saying that that Genie will do
anything for them, so she need not to worry about. And he will never take
off this ring also, because without it she had never seen him again.
Next
day Alaaddeen thought to sell the plate for food, so he took the plate to
market and showed it to a man in private if he would buy it. The man
immediately knew that it was a good silver, so he asked the price for that
plate, but since Alaaddeen did not know about that metal, he said,
"Whatever you will give, I will take it." The man was not
expected this answer so he gave him a gold coin for that plate and bought
it. This price
was actually the 60th part of the price of that plate, but Alaaddeen took
it and ran away to his home. On the way he bought a bread and gave rest of the money
to his mother. Thus he sold all the plates to the same man for the same
price. Now it was the turn of the large plate which was 10 times heavier
than the previous plates. So the man gave him 10 gold pieces and bought
the plate. This money was enough for him. They lived on that money for a
few days.
After
some time, he again needed food to eat so he again rubbed the lamp and when
the
Genie appeared before him, he asked him to bring some food for them. He brought the
food for like before. After eating the food he again started selling the
plates. When he was going to sell it, an honest goldsmith saw him going
hiding something, so
he called him and said - "I have been seeing you for a few days carrying something
and then coming without it. I think you are selling something to him. He
is the most wicked person here around. I assure you, if you will show me
the thing you are selling to him, I may give you its full price or send you to an appropriate
person."
At
this Alaaddeen showed him the plate. The goldsmith could make out that it
was made of the finest silver he had ever seen. Alaaddeen told him
that he had sold 12 such plates to him for a gold coin each. He abused him
a lot, weighed the plate and told its price 60 gold coins and gave them
immediately to him. Alaaddeen was so grateful to him that he sold all the
plates to him and never went at any other place to sell his plates.
Now
this money was enough for them for some time. During this period,
Alaaddeen visited shops of many other merchants where they sold costly
things. He came to know that those fruits he gathered from the cave were
not the fruits but were the costly stones of extraordinary value. And
those stones he saw in the shops were very small and not so beautiful
also. He decided not to say anything to anybody about them.
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