from thee all hurt and harm, and aid thee with a strong arm whereso
thou mayest be set." Now this was by Destiny of God the Great, that it
might be the means of Aladdin's escape. For
whilst he sat wailing
and
weeping over his case and cast away all hope of life, and utter
misery overwhelmed him, he rubbed his hands together for
excess of
sorrow, as is the wont of the woeful. Then, raising them in
supplication to Allah, he cried, "I
testify that there is no God
save Thou alone, the Most Great, the Omnipotent, the All-conquering,
Quickener of the dead, Creator of man's need and Granter thereof,
Resolver of his difficulties and duress and Bringer of joy, not of
annoy. Thou art my sufficiency and Thou art the Truest of Trustees.
And I bear my
witness that Mohammed is Thy servant and Thine
Apostle, and I supplicate Thee, O my God, by his favor with Thee to
free me from this my foul plight."
And
whilst implored the Lord and was chafing his hands in the
soreness of his sorrow for that had
befallen him of
calamity, his
fingers chanced to rub the ring, when, lo and behold! forthright its
familiar rose
upright before him and cried: "Adsum! Thy slave
between thy hands is come! Ask whatso thou wantest, for that I am
the
thrall of him on whose hand is the ring, the signet of my lord and
master." Hereat the lad looked at him and saw
standing before him a
Marid like unto an Ifrit of our lord Solomon's Jinns. He trembled at
the terrible sight, but,
hearing the Slave of the Ring say, "Ask
whatso thou wantest. Verily, I am thy
thrallseeing that the signet of
my lord be upon thy finger," he recovered his spirits and remembered
the Moorman's
saying when giving him the ring. So he rejoiced
exceedingly and became brave and cried, "Ho, thou slave of the Lord of
the Ring, I desire thee to set me upon the face of the earth." And
hardly had he
spoken this speech when suddenly the ground clave
asunder and he found himself at the door of the hoard and outside it
in full view of the world. Now for three whole days he had been
sitting in the darkness of the treasury
underground, and when the
sheen of day and the shine of sun smote his face he found himself
unable to keep his eyes open; so he began to unclose the lids a little
and to close them a little until his eyeballs regained force and got
used to the light and were purged of the noisome murk. Withal he was
astounded at
finding himself without the hoard door
whereby he had
passed in when it was opened by the Maghrabi, the
magician, especially
as the adit had been lidded and the ground had been smoothed,
showing no sign
whatever of entrance.
Thereat his surprise increased until he fancied himself in another
place, nor was his mind convinced that the stead was the same until he
saw the spot
whereupon they had kindled the fire of wood chips and
dried sticks, and where the African
wizard had conjured over the
incense. Then he turned him rightward and leftward and sighted the
gardens from afar and his eyes recognized the road
whereby he had
come. So he returned thanks to Allah Al
mighty, Who had restored him to
the face of earth and had freed him from death after he had cut off
all hopes of life. Presently he arose and walked along the way to
the town, which now he knew well, until he entered the streets and
passed on to his own home. Then he went in to his mother, and on
seeing her, of the
overwhelmingstress of joy at his escape and the
memory of past
affright and the hardships he had borne and the pangs
of
hunger, he fell to the ground before his parent in a fainting
fit. Now his mother had been passing sad since the time of his leaving
her, and he found her moaning and crying about him. However, on
sighting him enter the house she joyed with
exceeding joy, but soon
was overwhelmed with woe when he sank upon the ground swooning
before her eyes. Still, she did not
neglect the matter or treat it
lightly, but at once hastened to
sprinkle water upon his face, and
after she asked of the neighbors some scents which she made him
snuff up. And when he came round a little, he prayed her to bring
him somewhat of food
saying, "O my mother, 'tis now three days since I
ate anything at all." Thereupon she arose and brought him what she had
by her, then,
setting it before him, said: "Come forward, O my son.
Eat and be cheered, and when thou shalt have rested, tell me what hath
betided and
affected thee, O my child. At this present I will not
question thee, for thou art aweary in very deed." Aladdin ate and
drank and was cheered, and after he had rested and had recovered
spirits he cried:
"Ah, O my mother, I have a sore
grievance against thee for leaving
me to that
accursed wight who strave to
compass my
destruction and
designed to take my life. Know thou that I
beheld death with mine
own eyes at the hand of this
damnedwretch, whom thou didst to be my
uncle, and had not Al
mighty Allah rescued me from him, I and thou, O
my mother, had been cozened by the
excess of this
accursed's
promises to work my
welfare, and by the great show of affection
which he manifested to us. Learn, O my mother, that this fellow is a
sorcerer, a Moorman, an
accursed, a liar, a
traitor, a
hypocrite,
nor deem I that the devils under the earth are damnable as he. Allah
abase him in his every book! Hear then, O my mother, what this
abominable one did, and all that I shall tell thee will be soothfast
and certain. See how the
damnedvillain brake every promise he made,
certifying that he would soon work all good with me. And do thou
consider the
fondness which he displayed to me and the deeds which
he did by me, and all this only to win his wish, for his design was to
destroy me. And Alhamdolillah- laud to the Lord- for my deliverance.
Listen and learn, O my mother, how this
accursed entreated me."
Then Aladdin informed his mother of all that had
befallen him,
weeping the for
stress of gladness- how the Maghrabi had led him to a
hill
wherein was
hidden the hoard and how he had conjured and
fumigated, adding: "After which, O my mother,
mighty fear gat hold of
me when the hill split and the earth gaped before me by his
wizardry. And I trembled with
terror at the rolling of
thunder in mine
ears and the murk which fell upon us when he fumigated and muttered
spells. Seeing these horrors, I in mine
affright desiped to fly, but
when he understood mine
intent, he reviled me and smote me a
buffet so
sore that it caused me swoon. However,
inasmuch as the treasury was to
be opened only by means of me, O my mother, he could not descend
therein himself, it being in my name and not in his. And for that he
is an ill-omened
magician, he understood that I was necessary to him
and this was his need of me." Aladdin acquainted his mother with all
that had
befallen him from the Maghrabi, the
magician, and said:
"After he had
buffeted me, he judged it
advisable to
soothe me in
order that he might send me down into the enchanted treasury, and
first he drew from his finger a ring, which he placed upon mine. So
I descended and found four halls all full of gold and silver, which
counted as
naught, and the
accursed had charged me not to touch
aught thereof. Then I entered a
mighty fine flower garden everywhere
bedecked with tall trees whose foilage and fruitage bewildered the
wits, for all, O my mother, were of varicolored glass, and
lastly I
reached the hall
wherein hung this lamp. So I took it straightway
and put it out and poured forth its contents." And so
saying,
Aladdin drew the lamp from his breast pocket and showed it to his
mother, together with the gems and jewels which he had brought from
the garden. And there were two large bag pockets full of precious
stones,
whereof not one was to be found
amongst the kings of the
world. But the lad knew
naught anent their worth, deeming them glass
or
crystal. And
presently he resumed:
"After this, O mother mine, I reached the hoard door carrying the
lamp and shouted to the
accursed sorcerer which called himself my
uncle to lend me a hand and hale me up, I being
unable to mount of
myself the last step for the overweight of my burthen. But he would
not and said only, 'First hand me the lamp!' As, however, I had placed
it at the bottom of my breast pocket and the other pouches bulged
out beyond it, I was
unable to get at it and said, 'O my uncle, I
cannot reach thee the lamp, but I will give it to thee when outside
the treasury.' His only need was the lamp, and he designed, O my
mother, to
snatch it from me and after that slay me, as indeed he
did his best to do by heaping the earth over my head. Such then is
what
befell me from this foul sorcerer." Hereupon Aladdin fell to
abusing the
magician in hot wrath and with a burning heart, and
crying: "Wellaway! I take
refuge from this
damned wight, the