desperate deed if I refused to go and ask your Majesty for the hand of the Princess.  Now I pray you to forgive not me alone, but my son Aladdin.”  The Sultan asked her kindly what she had in the napkin, whereupon she unfolded the jewels and presented them.  He was thunderstruck, and turning to the Vizier said:  “What sayest thou?  Ought I not to bestow the Princess on one who values her at such a price?” The Vizier, who wanted her for his own son, begged the Sultan to withhold her for three months, in the course of which he hoped his son would contrive to make him a richer present.  The Sultan granted this, and told Aladdin’s mother that, though he consented to the marriage, she must not appear before him again for three months.

Aladdin waited patiently for nearly three months, but after two had elapsed his mother, going into the city to buy oil, found every one rejoicing, and asked what was going on.  “Do you not know,” was the answer, “that the son of the Grand Vizier is to marry the Sultan’s daughter to-night?” Breathless, she ran and told Aladdin, who was overwhelmed at first, but presently bethought him of the lamp.  He rubbed it, and the genie appeared, saying, “What is thy will?” Aladdin replied:  “The Sultan, as thou knowest, has broken his promise to me, and the Vizier’s son is to have the Princess.  My command is that to-night you bring hither the bride and bridegroom.”  “Master, I obey,” said the genie.  Aladdin then went to his chamber, where, sure enough, at midnight the genie transported the bed containing the Vizier’s son and the Princess.  “Take this new-married man,” he said, “and put him outside in the cold, and return at daybreak.”  Whereupon the genie took the Vizier’s son out of bed, leaving Aladdin with the Princess.  “Fear nothing,” Aladdin said to her; “you are my wife, promised to me by your unjust father, and no harm shall come to you.”  The Princess was too frightened to speak, and passed the most miserable night of her life, while Aladdin lay down beside her and slept soundly.  At the appointed hour the genie fetched in the shivering bridegroom, laid him in his place, and transported the bed back to the palace.

Presently the Sultan came to wish his daughter good-morning.  The unhappy Vizier’s son jumped up and hid himself, while the Princess would not say a word, and was very sorrowful.  The Sultan sent her mother to her, who said:  “How comes it, child, that you will not speak to your father?  What has happened?” The Princess sighed deeply, and at last told her mother how, during the night, the bed had been carried into some strange house, and what had passed there.  Her mother did not believe her in the least, but bade her rise and consider it an idle dream.

The following night exactly the same thing happened, and next morning, on the Princess’s refusal to speak, the Sultan threatened to cut off her head.  She then confessed all, bidding him to ask the Vizier’s son if it were not so.  The Sultan told the Vizier to ask his son, who owned the truth, adding that, dearly as he loved the Princess, he had rather die than go through another such fearful night, and wished to be separated from her.  His wish was granted, and there was an end to feasting and rejoicing.