and hate you; and if you sought to relieve their distress they would
hate you more than ever in their hearts, because you would have
degraded them. You would have to be a spendthrift, which is vulgar, or
you would have to be a miser, which is mean. There is an old saying in
Chinese . . . how shall I put it in your language? Runnings fleet,
unhampered feet. You see? The rich have pampered feet. At best they
tread soft places. No, it is an evil thing to have too much. I would
that the lamp had never been mine."

"If it were mine," said Everychild, unconvinced, "I think I should be
happy."

"To be happy," said Aladdin, "means to want something and believe you
are going to get it after awhile. But when you've got everything it is
a good deal worse than not having anything. Because there's nothing
left for you to wish for. And wishing for things is really the
greatest pleasure in the world."

"But to wish for things, and never to get them?" said Everychild,
deeply puzzled.

"Let me explain," said Aladdin. "I remember when I was a little boy in
Peking there came a spring when I wanted a kite. Oh, how I longed for
a kite! And my mother said, 'Never mind, Aladdin. When your uncle
comes back from Arabia, where he has gone with the camel train, perhaps
he will bring you a kite!' And I was very happy all the spring and
summer, thinking I should have a kite when my uncle came back from the
camel train. And it was not until the next year, when I no longer
cared very much about having a kite, that I learned how my uncle had
died in the desert, quite early in the spring the year before."