"More Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dixons Version)

The good old woman was very much embarrassed, when she found Aladdin so obstinately persisting in so foolish a design. 'My son,' said she again, 'I am your mother, and there is nothing reasonable that I would not readily do for you. If I were to go and treat about your marriage with some neighbour's daughter, whose circumstances were equal to yours, I would do it with all my heart; and even then they would expect you to have some little estate or fortune, or be of some trade. When such poor folks as we err marry, the first thing they ought to think of is how to live. But without reflecting on your lowly birth, and the little merit and fortune you have to recommend you, you aim at the highest; you demand in marriage the daughter of your sovereign, who with one single word can crush you to pieces. How could so extraordinary a thought come into your head, as that I should go to the sultan, and make a proposal to him to give his daughter in marriage to you? Suppose I had, not to say the boldness, but the impudence to present myself before the sultan and make so extravagant a request, to whom should I address myself to be introduced to his majesty? Do you not think the first person I should speak to would take me for a mad woman, and chastise me as I should deserve? Of course, I know there is no difficulty to those who go to ask justice, which he distributes equally among his subjects; I know too that to those who ask some favour he grants it with pleasure when he sees that it is deserved, and the persons are worthy of it. But is that your case? And do you think you have deserved the favour you would have me ask for you? Are you worthy of it? What have you done, either for your prince or country? How have you distinguished yourself? If you have done nothing to merit so great a favour, nor are worthy of it, with what face shall I ask it? How can I open my mouth to make such a proposal to the sultan? His majestic presence and the splendour of his court would immediately silence me. There is another reason, my son, which you do not think of; nobody ever goes to ask a favour of the sultan without a present. But what presents have you to make? And if you had any that was worthy of the least attention of so great a monarch, what proportion could it bear to the favour you would ask? Therefore, reflect well on what you are about, and consider that you aspire to a thing which it is impossible for you to obtain.'
Aladdin heard very calmly all that his mother could say to dissuade him from his design, and made answer: 'I own, mother, it is great rashness in me to presume so far; and a great want of consideration to ask you with so much suddenness to go and make the proposal of my marriage to the sultan, without first taking proper measures to procure a favourable reception; I therefore beg your pardon. But be not surprised that I did not at first sight see everything that it was necessary to do to procure me the happiness I seek after. I love the Princess Badroulboudour beyond everything you can imagine; and shall always persevere in my design of marrying her, which is a thing I have determined and resolved on. I am much obliged to you for the hint you have given me, and look upon it as the first step I ought to take.
'You say it is not customary to go to the sultan without a present, and that I have nothing worthy: of his acceptance. As to what you say about the present, do you not think, mother, that what I brought home with me the day on which I was delivered from certain death, may be an agreeable present? I mean those things you and I both took for coloured glass; they are jewels of inestimable value, and fit for the greatest monarch. I know the worth of them through frequenting the jewellers' shops; and you may take my word for it, all the jewels that I have seen in the best jewellers' shops were not to be compared to those we have, either for size or beauty. Neither you nor I know the value of ours; but I am persuaded that they will be received very favourably by 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 colours.'
Aladdin's mother fetched the china dish, and he took the jewels out of the two purses in which he had kept them, and placed them in the dish. But the brightness and lustre they had in the daytime, and the variety of the colours, so dazzled the eyes of both mother and son that they were astonished beyond measure; for they had only seen them by the light of a lamp; and though Aladdin had seen them hang on the trees like fruit, beautiful to the eye, yet as he was then but a boy, he did not take much notice of them.
After they had admired the beauty of this present some time, Aladdin said to his mother, 'Now you cannot excuse yourself from going to the sultan, under the pretext of not having a present to make him, since here is one which will gain you a favourable reception.'
Though Aladdin's mother did not believe it to be so valuable as her son esteemed it, she thought it might nevertheless be agreeable to the sultan, and found that she had not anything to say against it, but kept thinking of the request Aladdin wanted her to make to the sultan. 'My son,' said she, 'I cannot conceive that your present will have its desired effect, and that the sultan will look upon me with a favourable eye; and I am sure, if I attempt this message of yours, I shall have no power to open my mouth; and, therefore, I shall not only lose my labour, but the present, which you say is so extraordinarily valuable, and shall return home again in confusion. I have told you the consequences, and you ought to believe me; but,' added she, ' I will do my best to please you; though certainly he will either laugh at me, or send me back like a fool, or be in so great a rage as to make us both the victims of his fury.'
She used a great many more arguments to make him change his mind; but Aladdin persisted, and his mother, as much out of tenderness as for fear he should be guilty of some worse piece of extravagance, consented.
As it was now late, and the time for going to the sultan's palace was past, it was put off till the next day. The mother and son talked of different matters the remaining part of the day; and Aladdin took a great deal of pains encourage his mother in the task she had undertaken; while she, notwithstanding all his arguments, could not persuade herself that she could ever succeed; and it must be confessed she had reason enough to doubt. 'Child,' said she to Aladdin, 'if the sultan should receive me as favourably as I wish for your sake, and hear my proposal with calmness, and after this kind reception should think of asking me where lie your riches and your estate (for he will sooner inquire after these than your person), if, I say, he should ask me the question, what answer would you have me give him?'
'Let us not be uneasy, mother,' replied Aladdin, 'about what may never happen. First, let us see how the sultan receives you, and what answer he gives. If it should so happen that he desires to be informed of all that you mention, I have thought of an answer, and am confident that the lamp, which has assisted us so long, will not fail me in time of need.'
Aladdin's mother could not say anything against what her son then proposed; but reflected that the lamp might be capable of doing greater wonders than merely providing food for them. This satisfied her, and at the same time removed all the difficulties which might have prevented her from undertaking the service she had promised her son; when Aladdin, who penetrated into his mother's thoughts, said to her, 'Above all things, mother, be sure to keep the secret, for thereon depends the success ;' and after this caution, Aladdin and his mother parted to go to bed. Aladdin rose at daybreak, and went and awakened his mother, begging her to get dressed to go to the sultan's palace, and to get in first, as the grand vizier, the other viziers, and all the great officers of state went in to take their seats in the divan, where the sultan always presided in person.
Aladdin's mother did all that her son desired. She took the china dish, in which they had put the jewels the day before, tied up in two napkins, one finer than the other, and set out for the sultan's palace, to the great satisfaction of Aladdin. When she came to the gates, the grand vizier, and the other viziers and most distinguished lords of the court, were just gone in; and, notwithstanding the crowd of people who had business there, which was extraordinarily great, she got into the divan, which was a large spacious hall. She placed herself just before the sultan, the grand vizier, and the great lords, who sat in that council, on his right and left hand. Several cases were called, according to their order, and pleaded and adjudged, until the time the divan generally broke up, when the sultan rising, dismissed the council, and returned to his apartment, attended by the grand vizier; the other viziers and ministers of state returned, as also did all those whose business called them thither; some pleased with gaining their cases, others dissatisfied at the sentences pronounced against them, and some in expectation of theirs being heard at the next sitting.
Aladdin's mother, seeing the sultan rise and retire, and all the people go away, rightly judged that he would not come again that day, and resolved to go home. When Aladdin saw her return with the present, he knew not at first what to think, and from the fear he was in lest she should bring him some bad news, he had not courage enough to ask her any questions, till his mother, who had never set foot in the sultan's palace before, and knew not what was done there every day, freed him from his embarrassment, and said 'Son, I have seen the sultan, and am very well persuaded he has seen me too; for I placed myself just before him, and nothing could hinder him from seeing me; but he was so much taken up with all those who talked on all sides of him, that I pitied him, and wondered at his patience to hear them. At last I believe he was heartily tired, for he rose up suddenly, and would not hear a great many who were prepared to speak to him, but went away, at which I was very well pleased, for indeed I began to lose all patience, and was extremely tired with staying so long. But there is no harm done; I will go again to-morrow; perhaps the sultan may not be so busy.'
Though Aladdin was very violent, he was forced to be satisfied with this, and to fortify himself with patience. He had at least the satisfaction of finding that his mother had got over the greatest difficulty, which was to procure access to the sultan, and hoped that the example of those whom she saw speak to him would embolden her to acquit herself better when a favourable opportunity offered.
The next morning she went to the sultan's palace with the present, as early as the day before, but when she came there, she found the gates of the divan shut, and understood that the council only sat every other day, and that therefore she must come again the next. This news she carried her son, whose only relief was patience. She went six times afterwards on the days appointed, placed herself always directly before the sultan, but with as little success as on the first time, and might have perhaps come a thousand times to as little purpose, if the sultan himself had not taken particular notice of her.
At last, after the council had broken up, and when the sultan returned to his own apartment, he said to his grand vizier, 'I have for some time observed a certain woman, who comes constantly every day that I go into council, and has something wrapped up in a napkin: she always stands up from the beginning to the breaking up of the council, and places herself just before me. Do you know what she wants?'
'Sir,' replied the grand vizier, who knew no more than the sultan, but did not like to seem uninformed, 'perhaps this woman has come to complain to your majesty that somebody has sold her some bad flour, or some such trifling matter.' The sultan was not satisfied with this answer, but replied, 'If this woman comes again next council-day, do not fail to call her, that I may hear what she has to say.' The grand vizier made answer by kissing his hand, and lifting it up above his head, signifying his willingness to lose it if he failed.
By this time, Aladdin's mother was so much accustomed to go to the council, and stand before the sultan, that she did not think it any trouble, if she could but satisfy her son that she neglected nothing that lay in her power: so the next council-day she went to the divan, and placed herself before the sultan as usual; and before the grand vizier had made his report of business, the sultan perceived her, and compassionating her for having waited so long, he said to the vizier 'Before you enter upon any business, remember the woman I spoke to you about: bid her come near, and let us hear and despatch her business first.' The grand vizier immediately called the chief of the officers; and pointing to her, bid him go to the woman, and tell her to come before the sultan.
The chief of the officers went to Aladdin's mother, and at a sign she followed him to the foot of the sultan's throne, where he left her, and retired to his place by the grand vizier. Aladdin's mother, following the example of a great many others whom she saw salute the sultan, bowed her head down to the carpet, which covered the steps of the throne, and remained in that posture till the sultan bade her rise, which she had no sooner done than the sultan said to her, 'Good woman, I have observed you a long time; what business brings you here?'
At these words, Aladdin's mother prostrated herself a second time; and when she got up again, said, 'Monarch of monarchs, before I tell your majesty the extraordinary and almost incredible business which brings me before your high throne, I beg of you to pardon the boldness or rather impudence of the demand I am going to make, which is so uncommon that I tremble, and am ashamed to propose it to my sultan.' In order to give her the more freedom to explain herself, the sultan ordered everybody to go out of the divan but the grand vizier and then told her she might speak without restraint.
Aladdin's mother, notwithstanding this favour of the sultan's to save her the trouble and confusion of speaking before so many people, was not a little apprehensive; therefore, she said, 'I beg your majesty, if you should think my demand the least injurious or offensive, to assure me first of your pardon and forgiveness.'
'Well,' replied the sultan, ' I will forgive you, be it what it will, and no hurt shall come to you: speak boldly.'
When Aladdin's mother had taken all these precautions, for fear of the sultan's anger, she told him faithfully how Aladdin had seen the princess Badroulboudour, and had fallen in love with her, the declaration he had made to her when he came home, and what she had said to dissuade him, 'But,' continued she, 'my son, instead of taking my advice and reflecting on his boldness, was so obstinate as to threaten me with some desperate act if I refused to come and ask the princess in marriage of your majesty; and it was not till after doing violence to my feelings that I was forced to come, for which I beg your majesty once more to pardon not only me, but Aladdin my son for entertaining such a rash thought.'
The sultan hearkened mildly, without showing the least anger; but before he gave her any answer, he asked her what she had brought tied up in that napkin. She took the china dish, which she had set down at the foot of the throne, before she prostrated herself before him; she untied it, and presented it to the sultan.
The sultan's amazement and surprise were inexpressible, when he saw so many large, beautiful, and valuable jewels collected in one dish. He remained for some time motionless with admiration. At last, when he had recovered himself, he received the present from Aladdin's mother's hand, crying out in a transport of joy. 'How rich and how beautiful!' After he had admired and handled all the jewels, one after another, he turned about to his grand vizier and showing him the dish, said. 'Look here, and confess that your eyes never beheld anything so rich and beautiful before.' The vizier was charmed. 'Well,' continued the sultan, 'what sayest thou to such a present? Is it not worthy of the princess my daughter? And ought I not to bestow her on one who values her at so great a price?'
These words put the grand vizier into a great fright. The sultan had some time before signified to him his intention of bestowing the princess his daughter on a son of his; therefore he was afraid, and not without grounds, that the sultan might change his mind. Thereupon, going up to him, and whispering he said, 'Sir, I cannot but own that the present is worthy of the princess; but I beg of your majesty to grant me three months before you come to a decision. I hope before that time that my son, on whom you have had the goodness to look with a favourable eye, will be able to make a nobler present than Aladdin, who is an entire stranger to your majesty.'
Though the sultan was very sure that it was not possible for the vizier to provide so considerable a present for his son to make, he hearkened to him, and granted the favour. So turning to Aladdin's mother, he said to her, 'Good woman, go home, and tell your son that I agree to the proposal you have made me; but I cannot marry the princess my daughter till some furniture I intend for her be got ready, which cannot be finished for three months; but at the end of that time come again.'
Aladdin's mother returned home much more overjoyed than she could have imagined, and told Aladdin all that had happened.
Aladdin thought himself the most happy of all men at hearing this news, and thanked his mother for all the pains she had taken. When two of the three months were past, his mother one evening went to light the lamp, and finding no oil in the house, went out to buy some, and when she came into the city, found a, general rejoicing. The shops, instead of being shut up, were open. The streets were crowded with officers in robes of ceremony, mounted on horses richly caparisoned, each attended by a great many footmen. Aladdin's mother asked the oil-merchant what was the meaning of all these doings. 'Whence come you, good woman,' said he, 'that you don't know that the grand vizier's son is to marry the Princess Badroulboudour, the sultan's daughter, to-night? These officers that you see are to assist at the procession to the palace, where the ceremony is to be solemnised.'
This was news enough for Aladdin's mother. She ran till she was quite out of breath home to her son, who little suspected any such thing. 'Child,' cried she, 'you are undone! you depend upon the sultan's fine promises, but they will come to nothing.' Aladdin was terribly alarmed at these words. ' Mother,' replied he, 'how do you know the sultan has been guilty of breaking his promise?'
'This night,' answered his mother, 'the grand vizier's son is to marry the Princess Badroulboudour.' She then related how she had heard it; so that he had no reason to doubt the truth of what she said.
At this Aladdin was thunderstruck. Any other man would have sunk under the shock; but soon he bethought himself of the lamp, which had till then been so useful to him; and without venting his rage in empty words against the sultan, the vizier, or his son, he only said, 'Perhaps, mother, the vizier's son may not be so happy to-night as he thinks: while I go into my room, do you go and get supper ready.' She accordingly went about it, and guessed that her son was going to make use of the lamp, to prevent the marriage if possible.
When Aladdin had got into his room, he took the lamp, and rubbed it in the same place as before, and immediately the genie appeared, and said to him, 'What wouldst thou have? I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, and the slave of all those who have that lamp in their hands; I and the other slaves of the lamp.'
'Hear me,' said Aladdin; ' thou hast hitherto brought me whatever I wanted as to provisions; but now I have business of the greatest importance for thee to execute. I have demanded the Princess Badroulboudour in marriage of the sultan her father; he promised her to me, but only asked three months' time; and instead of keeping that promise, he has planned to marry her to the grand vizier's son. I have just heard this, and have no doubt of it. What I ask of you is, that you bring them both hither to me.'
'Master,' replied the genie, 'I will obey you. Have you any other commands?'
'None at present,' answered Aladdin; and then the genie disappeared.
Aladdin went downstairs to his mother, with the same tranquillity of mind as usual; and after supper talked of the princess's marriage as of an affair wherein he had not the least concern; and afterwards sat up till the genie had executed his orders.
In the mean time, everything was prepared with the greatest magnificence in the sultan's palace to celebrate the princess's wedding; and the evening was spent with all the usual ceremonies and great rejoicings.
Suddenly the genie, as the faithful slave of the lamp, to the great amazement of bride and bridegroom, took them up, and transported them in an instant to Aladdin's house, where he set them down.
Aladdin had waited impatiently for this moment. 'Take this man,' said he to the genie, 'and shut him up, and come again tomorrow.' The genie took the vizier's son and carried him away; and after he had breathed upon him, which prevented his stirring, he left him.
Great as was Aladdin's love for the Princess Badroulboudour, he did not talk much to her, but only said, 'Fear nothing, adorable princess; you are in safety. If I have been forced to come to this extremity, it is not with any intention of affronting you, but to prevent an unjust rival's marrying you contrary to the sultan your father's promise to me.'
The princess, who knew nothing of these particulars, gave very little attention to what Aladdin said. The fright and amazement of so surprising and unexpected an adventure had put her into such a condition that he could not get one word from her.
Next morning the genie came at the hour appointed, and said to him,' I am here, master; what are your commands?'
'Go,' said Aladdin, 'fetch the vizier's son out of the place where you left him, and then take them back to the sultan's palace.' The genie presently returned with the vizier's son, and in an instant they were transported into the palace. But we must observe, that all this time the genie never appeared to either the princess or the grand vizier's son. His hideous form would have made them die with fear. Neither did they hear anything of the discourse between Aladdin and him; they only perceived the motion, and their transportation from one place to another; which we may well imagine was enough to frighten them.
Next day the princess was very melancholy and alarmed, and the sultan and his wife thought she must either be mad, or else have had a bad dream.
The rejoicings lasted all that day in the palace, and the sultaness, who never left the princess, did all she could to divert her.
But the princess continued so gloomy and ill-tempered that the sultan, provoked with his daughter, said to her in a rage, with his sabre in his hand, 'Daughter, tell me what is the matter, or I will cut off your head immediately.'
The princess, more frightened at the menaces and tone of the enraged sultan than at the sight of the drawn sabre, at last broke silence, and said, with tears in her eyes, 'My dear father and sultan, I ask your majesty's pardon if I have offended you, and hope you will have compassion on me, when I have told you what a dreadful thing has happened.' Then she told him all.
The sultan felt extreme uneasiness at so surprising an adventure. 'Daughter,' said he, 'efface all these troublesome ideas out of your memory; I will take care and give orders that you shall have no more such disagreeable and insupportable adventures.'
As soon as the sultan got back to his own apartment, he sent for the grand vizier. 'Vizier,' said he, 'have you seen your son, and has he told you anything?'
The vizier replied 'No.'