At another time, Aladdin, who had not been used to such visions, would have been so frightened, that he would not have been able to speak at the sight of so extraordinary a figure; but the danger he was in made him answer without hesitation, “Whoever thou art, deliver me from this place, if thou art able.” He had no sooner made an end of these words, but the earth opened, and he found himself on the very spot where the magician first brought him.
It was some time before Aladdin’s eyes could bear the light, after having been so long in total darkness; but after he had endeavoured by degrees to support it, and began to look about him, he was very much surprised not to find the earth open, and could not comprehend how he had got so soon out of its bowels. There was nothing to be seen but the place where the fire had been, by which he could nearly judge whereabouts the cave was. Then turning himself about towards the town, he perceived it in the midst of the gardens that surrounded it, and knew the way back by which the magician had brought him to it; then, returning God thanks to see himself once more in the world, where he never more expected to be, he made the best of his way home. When he got within his mother’s door, the joy to see her, and his faintness for want of sustenance for three days, made him faint, and he remained for a long time as dead. His mother, who had given him over for lost or dead, seeing him in this condition, omitted nothing to bring him to himself again. As soon as he recovered, the first words he spake were, “Pray, mother, give me something to eat, for I have not put a morsel of anything into my mouth these three days.” His mother brought what she had, and set it before him. “My son,” said she, “be not too eager, for it is dangerous; eat but a little at a time, and take care of yourself. Besides, I would not have you talk; you will have time enough to tell me what has happened to you when you are recovered. It is a great comfort to me to see you again, after the affliction I have been in since Friday, and the pains I have taken to learn what had become of you, ever since I found it was night, and you were not returned.”
Aladdin took his mother’s advice, and ate and drank moderately. When he had done, “Mother,” said he to her, “I cannot help complaining of you, for abandoning me so easily to the discretion of a man who had a design to kill me, and who at this very moment thinks my death certain. You believed he was my uncle, as well as I; and what other thoughts could we entertain of a man who was so kind to me, and made such advantageous offers? But I must tell you, mother, he is a rogue and a cheat, and only did what he did, and made me all those promises, to accomplish my death; but for what reason neither you nor I can guess.—For my part, I can assure you I never gave him any cause to deserve the least ill-treatment from him. You shall judge of it yourself, when you have heard all that passed from the time I left you, till he came to the execution of his wicked design.”
Then Aladdin began to tell his mother all that happened to him from Friday, when the magician took him to see the palaces and gardens about that town, and what fell out in the way, till they came to the place between the two mountains, where the great prodigy was to be performed; how, with incense which the magician threw into the fire, and some magical words which he pronounced, the earth opened, and discovered a cave which led to an inestimable treasure. He forgot not the blow the magician gave him, and in what manner he softened again, and engaged by great promises, and putting a ring on his finger, to go down into the cave. He did not omit the least circumstance of what he saw in crossing the three halls and the garden and his taking the wonderful lamp, which he pulled out of his bosom and shewed to his mother, as well as the transparent fruit of different colours, which he had gathered in the garden as he returned, two purses full of which he gave to his mother. But though these fruits were precious stones, brilliant as the sun, and the reflection of a lamp which then lighted the room might have led them to think they were of great value, she was as ignorant of their worth as her son, and cared nothing for them. She had been bred in a middling rank of life, and her husband’s poverty prevented her being possessed of such things, nor had she, or her relations or neighbours ever seen them, so that we must not wonder that she looked on them as things of no value, and only pleasing to the eye by the variety of their colours.
Aladdin put them behind one of the cushions of the sofa he sat upon, and continued his story telling his mother that when he returned and presented himself at the mouth of the cave, upon his refusal to give the magician the lamp till he had got out, the stone, by his throwing some incense into the fire, and using two or three magical words, stopped it up, and the earth closed again. He could not help bursting into tears at the representation of the miserable condition he was in, to find himself buried alive in a dismal cave, till by the touching of his ring, the virtue of which he was then an entire stranger to, he, properly speaking, came to life again. When he had made an end of his story, he said to his mother, “I need say no more; you know the rest. This is my adventure, and the danger I have been exposed to since you saw me.”
Aladdin’s mother heard with so much patience as not to interrupt him this surprising and wonderful relation, notwithstanding it could be no small affliction to a mother, who loved her son tenderly; but yet in the most moving part, which discovered the perfidy of the African magician, she could not help shewing, by marks of the greatest indignation, how much she detested him; and when Aladdin had finished his story, she broke out into a thousand reproaches against that vile impostor. She called him perfidious traitor, barbarian, assassin, deceiver, magician, and an enemy and destroyer of mankind. “Without doubt, child,” added she, “he is a magician, and they are plagues to the world, and by their enchantments and sorceries have commerce with the devil. Bless God for preserving you from his wicked designs; for your death would have been inevitable, if you had not called upon him, and implored his assistance.” She said a great deal more against the magician’s treachery; but finding, while she talked, her son Aladdin, who had not slept for three days and nights, began to nod, she put him to bed, and soon after went to bed herself.
Aladdin, who had not had one wink of sleep while he was in the subterraneous abode, slept very heartily all that night, and never waked till the next morning; when the first thing that he said to his mother was, he wanted something to eat, and that she could not do him a greater pleasure than to give him his breakfast. “Alas! child,” said she, “I have not a bit of bread to give you, you ate up all the provisions I had in the house yesterday; but have a little patience, and it shall not be long before I will bring you some: I have a little cotton, which I have spun; I will go and sell it, and buy bread, and something for our dinner.” “Mother,” replied Aladdin, “keep your cotton against another time, and give me the lamp I brought home yesterday; I will go and sell it, and the money I shall get for it will serve both for breakfast and dinner, and perhaps supper too.”
Aladdin’s mother took the lamp, and said to her son, “Here it is, but it is very dirty; if it was a little cleaner I believe it would bring something more.” She took a little fine sand and water to clean it; but had no sooner begun to rub it, but in an instant a hideous genie of gigantic size appeared before her, and said to her in a voice like thunder, “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.”
Aladdin’s mother was not able to speak at the sight of this frightful genie, but fainted away; when Aladdin, who had once before seen such another genie in the cavern, without losing time or reflection, snatched the lamp out of his mother’s hands, and said to the genie boldly, “I am hungry; bring me something to eat.” The genie disappeared immediately, and in an instant returned with a large silver basin on his head, and twelve covered plates of the same metal, which contained some excellent meats: six large white loaves on two other plates, and two bottles of wine, and two silver cups in each hand. All these things he placed upon a table, and disappeared; and all this was done before Aladdin’s mother came out of her swoon.
Aladdin went presently, and fetched some water, and threw it in her face, to recover her: whether that or the smell of the meats the genie procured brought her to life again, it was not long before she came to herself. “Mother,” said Aladdin, “do not mind this; it is nothing at all; get up, and come and eat; here is what will put you in heart, and at the same time satisfy my extreme hunger; do not let such fine meat be cold, but fall to.”