near him and asked him, saying: "O my son, an thou sense aught of pain
or suchlike, let me know, that I may fare forth and fetch thee the

physician. And today there be in this our city a leech from the land
of the Arabs whom the Sultan hath sent to summon, and the bruit abroad

reporteth him to be skillfulexceedingly. So, an be thou ill, let me
go and bring him to thee." Aladdin, hearing his parent's offer to

summon the mediciner, said: "O my mother, I am well in body and on
no wise ill. But I ever thought that all women resembled thee until

yesterday, when I beheld the Lady Badr al-Budur, daughter of the
Sultan, as she was faring for the baths."

Then he related to her all and everything that had happened to
him, adding: "Haply thou also hast heard the crier a-crying: 'Let no

man open shop or stand in street that the Lady Badr al-Budur may
repair to the hammam without eye seeing her.' But I have looked upon

her even as she is, for she raised her veil at the door, and when I
viewed her favor and beheld that noble work of the Creator, a sore fit

of ecstasy, O my mother, fell upon me for love of her, and firm
resolve to win her hath opened its way into every limb of me, nor is

repose possible for me except I win her. Wherefor I purpose asking her
to wife from the Sultan, her sire, in lawful wedlock." When

Aladdin's mother heard her son's words, she belittled his wits and
cried: "O my child, the name of Allah upon thee! Meseemeth thou hast

lost thy senses. But be thou rightly guided, O my son, nor be thou
as the men Jinn-maddened!" He replied: "Nay, O mother of mine, I am

not out of my mind, nor am I of the maniacs, nor shall this thy saying
alter one jot of what is in my thoughts. For rest is impossible to

me until I shall have won the dearling of my heart's core, the
beautiful Lady Badr al-Budur. And now I am resolved to ask her of

her sire the Sultan."
She rejoined: "O my son, by my life upon thee, speak not such

speech, lest any overhear thee and say thou be insane. So cast away
from thee such nonsense! Who shall undertake a matter like this, or

make such request to the King? Indeed, I know not how, supposing thy
speech to be soothfast, thou shalt manage to crave such grace of the

Sultan, or through whom thou desirest to propose it." He retorted:
"Through whom shall I ask it, O my mother, when thou art present?

And who is there fonder and more faithful to me than thyself? So my
design is that thou thyself shalt proffer this my petition." Quoth

she: "O my son, Allah remove me far therefrom! What! Have I lost my
wits, like thyself? Cast the thought away, and a long way, from thy

heart. Remember whose son thou art, O my child, the orphan boy of a
tailor, the poorest and meanest of the tailors toiling in this city;

and I, thy mother, am also come of pauper folk and indigent. How
then durst thou ask to wife the daughter of the Sultan, whose sire

would not deign marry her with the sons of the kings and the
sovereigns, except they were his peers in honor and grandeur and

majesty, and were they but one degree lower, he would refuse his
daughter to them." Aladdin took patience until his parent had said her

say, when quoth he: "O my mother, everything thou hast called to
mind is known to me. Moreover, 'tis thoroughly well known to me that I

am the child of pauper parents, withal do not these words of thee
divert me from my design at all, at all. Nor the less do I hope of

thee, an I be thy son and thou truly love me, that thou grant me
this favor. Otherwise thou wilt destroy me, and present death hovereth

over my head except I win my will of heart's dearling. And I, O my
mother, am in every case thy child."

Hearing these words, his parent wept of her sorrow for him and said:
"O my child! Yes, in very deed I am thy mother, nor have I any son

or life's blood of my liver except thyself, and the end of my wishes
is to give thee a wife and rejoice in thee. But suppose that I would

seek a bride of our likes and equals, her people will at once ask an
thou have any land or garden, merchandise or handicraft, wherewith

thou canst support her, and what is the reply I can return? Then, if I
cannot possibly answer the poor like ourselves, how shall I be bold

enough, O my son, to ask for the daughter of the Sultan of China land,
who hath no peer or behind or before him? Therefore do thou weigh this

matter in thy mind. Also who shall ask her to wife for the son of a
snip? Well indeed I wot that my saying aught of this kind will but

increase our misfortunes, for that it may be the cause of our
incurring mortal danger from the Sultan- peradventure even death for

thee and me.
"And, as concerneth myself, how shall I venture upon such rash

deed and perilous, O my son? And in what way shall I ask the Sultan
for his daughter to be thy wife, and indeed how ever shall I even

get access to him? And should I succeed therein, what is to be my
answer an they ask me touching thy means? Haply the King will hold

me to be a madwoman. And lastly, suppose that I obtainaudience of the
Sultan, what offering is there I can submit to the King's majesty?

'Tis true, O my child, that the Sultan is mild and merciful, never
rejecting any who approach him to require justice or ruth or

protection, nor any who pray him for a present, for he is liberal
and lavisheth favor upon near and far. But he dealeth his boons to

those deserving them, to men who have done some derring-do in battle
under his eyes or have rendered as civilians great service to his

estate. But thou! Do thou tell me what feat thou hast performed in his
presence or before the public that thou meritest from him such

grace? And secondly, this boon thou ambitionest is not for one of
our condition, nor is it possible that the King grant to thee the

bourne of thine aspiration. For whoso goeth to the Sultan and
craveth of him a favor, him it besitteth to take in hand somewhat that

suiteth the royal majesty, as indeed I warned thee aforetime. How,
then, shalt thou risk thyself to stand before the Sultan and ask his

daughter in marriage when thou hast with thee naught to offer him of
that which beseemeth his exalted station?"

Hereto Aladdin replied: "O my mother, thou speakest to the point and
hast reminded me aright, and 'tis meet that I revolve in mind the

whole of thy remindings. But, O my mother, the love of Princess Badr
al-Budur hath entered into the core of my heart, nor can I rest

without I win her. However, thou hast also recalled to me a matter
which I forgot, and 'tis this emboldeneth me to ask his daughter of

the King. Albeit thou, O my mother, declarest that I have no gift
which I can submit to the Sultan, as is the wont of the world, yet

in very sooth I have an offering and a present whose equal, O my
mother, I hold none of the kings to possess- no, even aught like it.

Because verily that which I deemed glass or crystal was nothing but
precious stones, and I hold that all the kings of the world have never

possessed anything like one of the smallest thereof. For by
frequenting the jeweler folk I have learned that they are the

costliest gems, and these are what I brought in my pockets from the
hoard, whereupon, an thou please, compose thy mind.

"We have in our house a bowl of China porcelain, so arise thou and
fetch it, that I may fill it with these jewels, which thou shalt carry

as a gift to the King, and thou shalt stand in his presence and
solicit him for my requirement. I am certified that by such means

the matter will become easy to thee, and if thou be unwilling, O my
mother, to strive for the winning of my wish as regards the Lady

Badr al-Budur, know thou that surely I shall die. Nor do thou
imagine that this gift is of aught save the costliest of stones, and

be assured, O my mother, that in my many visits to the jewelers'
bazaar I have observed the merchants selling for sums man's judgment

may not determine jewels whose beauty is not worth one quarter-carat
of what we possess, seeing which I was certified that ours are

beyond all price. So arise, O my mother, as I bade thee, and bring
me the porcelain bowl aforesaid, that I may arrange therein some of

these gems, and we will see what semblance they show."
So she brought him the china bowl, saying in herself, "I shall

know what to do when I find out if the words of my child concerning
these jewels be soothfast or not." And she set it before her son,

who pulled the stones out of his pockets and disposed them in the
bowl, and ceased not arranging therein gems of sorts till such time as

he had filled it. And when it was brimful, she could not fix her