The Story of Aladdin, or The Magic Lamp - 1
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In the capital city of a rich and vast kingdom in China whose name I cannot at the moment recall, there lived a tailor called Mustafa, whose only distinguishing feature was his profession. This Mustafa was very poor, his work hardly producing enough to live on for him, his wife and a son whom God had given him.
The son, who was called Aladdin, had received a very neglected upbringing, which had led him to acquire many depraved tendencies. He was wicked, stubborn and disobedient towards his father and mother, who, once he became little older, could no longer keep him in the house. He would set out first thing in the morning and spend the day playing in the streets and public places with small vagabonds even younger than himself.
As soon as he was of an age to learn a trade, his father, who was not in a position to make him learn any trade other than his own, took him into his shop and began to show him how to handle a needle. But he remained unable to hold his son’s fickle attention, neither by fear of punishment nor by gentle means, and could not get him to sit down and apply himself to his work, as he had hoped. No sooner was Mustafa’s back turned than Aladdin would escape and not return for the rest of the day. His father would punish him, but Aladdin was incorrigible, and so, much to his regret, Mustafa was forced to leave him to his dissolute ways. All this caused Mustafa much distress, and his grief at not being able to make his son mend his ways resulted in a persistent illness of which, a few months later, he died.
Aladdin’s mother, seeing how her son was not going to follow in his father’s footsteps and learn tailoring, closed the shop so that the proceeds from the sale of all the tools of its trade, together with the little she could earn by spinning cotton, would help provide for herself and her son.
Aladdin, however, no longer restrained by the fear of a father, paid so little attention to his mother that he had the effrontery to threaten her when she so much as remonstrated with him, and now abandoned himself completely to his dissolute ways. He associated increasingly with children of his own age, playing with them with even greater enthusiasm. He continued this way of life until he was fifteen, with his mind totally closed to anything else and with no thought of what he might one day become. Such was his situation when one day, while he was playing in the middle of a square with a band of vagabonds, as was his wont, a stranger who was passing by stopped to look at him.
This stranger was a famous magician who, so the authors of this story tell us, was an African, and this is what we will call him, as he was indeed from Africa, having arrived from that country only two days before.
Now it may be that it was because this African magician, who was an expert in the art of reading faces, had looked at Aladdin and had seen all that was essential for the execution of his journey’s purpose, or there might have been some other reason. Whatever the case, he artfully made enquiries about Aladdin’s family and about what sort of fellow he was. When he had learned all that he wanted to know, he went up to the young man and, drawing him a little aside from his companions, asked him: ‘My son, isn’t your father called Mustafa, the tailor?’ ‘Yes, sir,’ replied Aladdin, ‘but he has been dead a long time.’
At these words, the magician’s eyes filled with tears and, uttering deep sighs, he threw his arms round Aladdin’s neck, embracing and kissing him several times. Aladdin, seeing his tears, asked him why he was weeping. ‘Ah, my son,’ exclaimed the magician, ‘how could I stop myself? I am your uncle and your father was my dear brother. I have been travelling for several years and now, just when I arrive here in the hope of seeing him again and having him rejoice at my return, you say that he is dead! I tell you it’s very painful for me to find I am not going to receive the comfort and consolation I was expecting. But what consoles me a little in my grief is that, as far as I can remember them, I can recognize his features in your face, and that I was not wrong in speaking to you.’ Putting his hand on his purse, he asked Aladdin where his mother lived. Aladdin answered him straight away, at which the magician gave him a handful of small change, saying: ‘My son, go and find your mother, give her my greetings and tell her that, if I have time, I will go and see her tomorrow, so that I may have the consolation of seeing where my brother lived and where he ended his days.’
As soon as the magician had left, his newly invented nephew, delighted with the money his uncle had just given him, ran to his mother. ‘Mother,’ he said to her, ‘tell me, please, have I got an uncle?’ ‘No, my son,’ she replied, ‘you have no uncle, neither on your late father’s side nor on mine.’ ‘But I have just seen a man who says he is my uncle on my father’s side,’ insisted Aladdin. ‘He was his brother, he assured me. He even began to weep and embrace me when I told him my father was dead. And to prove I am telling the truth,’ he added, showing her the money he had been given, ‘here is what he gave me. He also charged me to give you his greetings and to tell you that tomorrow, if he has the time, he will come and greet you himself and at the same time see the house where my father lived and where he died.’ ‘My son,’ said his mother, ‘it’s true your father once had a brother, but he’s been dead a long time and I never heard him say he had another brother.’ They spoke no more about the African magician.
The next day, the magician approached Aladdin a second time as he was playing with some other children in another part of the city, embraced him as he had done on the previous day and, placing two gold coins in his hand, said to him: ‘My son, take this to your mother; tell her I am coming to see her this evening and say she should buy some food so we can dine together. But first, tell me where I can find your house.’ Aladdin told him where it was and the magician then let him go.
Aladdin took the two gold coins to his mother, who, as soon as she heard of his uncle’s plans, went out to put the money to use, returning with abundant provisions; but, finding herself with not enough dishes, she went to borrow some from her neighbours. She spent all day preparing the meal, and towards evening, when everything was ready, she said to Aladdin: ‘My son, perhaps your uncle doesn’t know where our house is. Go and find him and, when you see him, bring him here.’
Although Aladdin had told the magician where to find the house, he was nonetheless prepared to go out to meet him, when there was a knock on the door. Opening it, Aladdin discovered the magician, who entered, laden with bottles of wine and all kinds of fruit which he had brought for supper and which he handed over to Aladdin. He then greeted his mother and asked her to show him the place on the sofa where his brother used to sit. She showed him and immediately he bent down and kissed the spot several times, exclaiming with tears in his eyes: ‘My poor brother! How sad I am not to have arrived in time to embrace you once more before your death!’ And although Aladdin’s mother begged him to sit in the same place, he firmly refused. ‘Never will I sit there,’ he said, ‘but allow me to sit facing it, so that though I may be deprived of the satisfaction of seeing him there in person as the head of a family which is so dear to me, I can at least look at where he sat as though he were present.’ Aladdin’s mother pressed him no further, leaving him to sit where he pleased.
Once the magician had sat down in the place he had chosen, he began to talk to Aladdin’s mother. ‘My dear sister,’ he began, ‘don’t be surprised that you never saw me all the time you were married to my brother Mustafa, of happy memory; forty years ago I left this country, which is mine as well as that of my late brother. Since then, I have travelled in India, Arabia, Persia, Syria and Egypt, and have stayed in the finest cities, and then I went to Africa, where I stayed much longer. Eventually, as is natural – for a man, however far he is from the place of his birth, never forgets it any more than he forgets his parents and those with whom he was brought up – I was overcome by a strong desire to see my own family again and to come and embrace my brother. I felt I still had enough strength and courage to undertake such a long journey and so I delayed no longer and made my preparations to set out. I won’t tell you how long it has taken me, nor how many obstacles I have met with and the discomfort I suffered to get here. I will only tell you that in all my travels nothing has caused me more sorrow and suffering than hearing of the death of one whom I have always loved with a true brotherly love. I observed some of his features in the face of my nephew, your son, which is what made me single him out from among all the children with whom he was playing. He will have told you how I received the sad news that my brother was no longer alive; but one must praise God for all things and I find comfort in seeing him again in a son who retains his most distinctive features.’
When he saw how the memory of her husband affected Aladdin’s mother, bringing tears to her eyes, the magician changed the subject and, turning to Aladdin, asked him his name. ‘I am called Aladdin,’ he replied. ‘Well, then, Aladdin,’ the magician continued, ‘what do you do? Do you have a trade?’
At this question, Aladdin lowered his eyes, embarrassed. His mother, however, answered in his place. ‘Aladdin is an idle fellow,’ she said. ‘While he was alive, his father did his best to make him learn his trade but never succeeded. Since his death, despite everything I have tried to tell him, again and again, day after day, the only trade he knows is acting the vagabond and spending all his time playing with children, as you saw for yourself, mindless of the fact that he is no longer a child. And if you can’t make him feel ashamed and realize how pointless his behaviour is, I despair of him ever amounting to anything. He knows his father left nothing, and he can himself see that despite spinning cotton all day as I do, I have great difficulty in earning enough to buy us bread. In fact, I have decided that one of these days I am going to shut the door on him and send him off to fend for himself.’
After she had spoken, Aladdin’s mother burst into tears, whereupon the magician said to Aladdin: ‘This is no good, my nephew. You must think now about helping yourself and earning your own living. There are all sorts of trades; see if there isn’t one for which you have a particular inclination. Perhaps that of your father doesn’t appeal to you and you would be more suited to another: be quite open about this, I am just trying to help you.’ Seeing Aladdin remain silent, he went on: ‘If you want to be an honest man yet dislike the idea of learning a trade, I will provide you with a shop filled with rich cloths and fine fabrics. You can set about selling them, purchasing more goods with the money that you make, and in this manner you will live honourably. Think about it and then tell me frankly your opinion. You will find that I always keep my word.’
This offer greatly flattered Aladdin, who did not like manual work, all the more so since he had enough sense to know that shops with these kinds of goods were esteemed and frequented and that the merchants were well dressed and well regarded. So he told the magician, whom he thought of as his uncle, that his inclination was more in that direction than any other and that he would be indebted to him for the rest of his life for the help he was offering. ‘Since this occupation pleases you,’ the magician continued, ‘I will take you with me tomorrow and will have you dressed in rich garments appropriate for one of the wealthiest merchants of this city. The following day we will consider setting up a shop, as I think it should be done.’
Aladdin’s mother, who up until then had not believed the magician was her husband’s brother, now no longer doubted it after hearing all the favours he promised her son. She thanked him for his good intentions and, after exhorting Aladdin to make himself worthy of all the wealth his uncle had promised him, served supper. Throughout the meal, the talk ran upon the same subject until the magician, seeing the night was well advanced, took leave of the mother and the son and retired.
