“What wouldst thou have?” asked this terrible being. “I and the other slaves of the ring upon thy finger stand ready to serve thee.”
Aladdin was astonished beyond measure, but he made shift to say, “If you are able, take me away from here and back to my mother’s house.”
“To hear is to obey,” answered the genie.
At once Aladdin felt himself caught up and carried through the air swifter than the wind, and almost before he could draw breath he was back in his mother’s house, and the genie had disappeared.
His mother could hardly believe her eyes when Aladdin appeared so suddenly before her.
“My dear son, where did you come from, and where is your uncle?” she asked.
As soon as Aladdin could get his breath he told her the whole story. His mother listened and wondered. “Without doubt,” said she, “this man is not your uncle at all, but a magician who wished to use you for some wicked purpose.”
To this Aladdin agreed, but he was so hungry that he begged his mother to get him something to eat before they talked further.
His mother began to weep. “Alas!” said she, “I have not a morsel of food in the house, and no money with which to buy any.”
Aladdin remembered the lamp which was still in his waist-band. He drew it out. “Look!” said he. “This lamp must be worth something since the magician was so anxious to have it. Take it to some shop, or to one of the neighbors, and perhaps they will pay you enough for it for us to buy some rice.”